Geographical indications for supporting rural development in the context of the Green Morocco Plan: Oasis dates

Abstract

Origin labelling is one of the most prominent approaches in the Green Morocco Plan with which the Moroccan government aims to support the marketing of domestically produced food and then improve the income of smallholder farmers. We analyse the preferences and attitudes of Moroccan consumers towards the recently established Protected Geographical Indication label "Majhoul dates of Tafilalet". The analysis is based on a survey of 303 Moroccan consumers and focuses on the influence of the label as extrinsic attribute on consumer choice. We use cluster analysis to segment the market and the Analytical Hierarchy Process to shed light on preferences of consumers under this labelling strategy. Results indicate two consumer types. The largest group seeks authenticity, origin, and quality. The label of origin in general and the origin from the oasis of Tafilalet in particular are the most important attributes affecting the purchasing decisions which fit with the goal of the labelling strategy implanted as part of the policy. The acceptance of the labelling by Moroccan consumers implies that the neighbouring countries might pursue similar approaches to support rural livelihoods in arid areas.

How Successful Is Origin Labeling in a Developing Country Context? Moroccan Consumers’ Preferences toward Local Products

“…The final sample consisted of 500 consumers distributed across the major cities of Morocco: Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes, and Fes. Those cities are representative of the country and are commonly used for assessing consumer behavior [18]. Given the cultural aspects related to the North African context for conducting consumer surveys [17], the data were collected by directly approaching the respondents in supermarkets, traditional markets, or streets [9].…”

“…The survey collected information on the consumers' socioeconomic characteristics, their preferences, attitudes, and ratings using a nine-point Likert scale [18,24] and pairwise comparison between both local products, that is, the PGI of clementines of Berkane vs. the non-labeled cherries produced in the Sefrou-Ifrane region. The main sample characteristics are reported in Section 3.…”

“…To pretest our questionnaire, we conducted an exploratory survey for both products by interviewing various stakeholders (e.g., producers, consumers, traders, and sector experts). The results of this explanatory survey served to guide the design of the final version of the survey and determine the most important attributes of each local product [18,39]. To implement the AHP, we used the defined attributes and levels for each product following the identified hierarchical structure.…”

“…A factor analysis of the respondents' attitudes ratings (using a nine-point Likert scale [18,24]) of different terroir products characteristics was conducted. The factors were extracted using principal component analysis.…”

“…The results revealed the importance of origin cues in consumer choice: French consumers tended to choose olive oil based on the GI, whereas Tunisian consumers mainly used origin and sensory cues. Recently, Lambarraa-Lehnhardt et al [18] examined Moroccan consumers' preferences regarding PGI-labeled oasis dates. To the best of our knowledge, no study has evaluated the market visibility of established origin labels by measuring consumers' preferences toward local products.…”