Articles
CONSUMPTION PATTERN AND DEMAND PROJECTIONS FOR FRESH FRUIT IN INDIA
Article number
270_27
Pages
231 – 236
Language
Abstract
The demand for fresh fruit in India, particularly in its urban areas has been increasing at a high rate.
In view of this, the present paper deals with the consumption pattern of fresh fruits such as apples, mango, banana, sapota, citrus and guava alongwith demand projections for urban population.
The sample for this study was drawn from Delhi which is the biggest fruit market in Asia and is cosmopolitan in nature with a wide spectrum of consumers.
Multi-stage stratified random sampling design was employed.
In the first stage, the city was stratified into zones, then retail markets and households of various income-groups were the final unit of the study.
The relevant data used in this study have been collected both from primary and secondary sources.
Primary data was collected through personal interviews from 210 selected households.
Several types of functions such as linear, double-log, semi-log and log inverse were tried, but in estimating the demand, these functions had different elasticities.
In this study double-log function was finally used for estimating elasticities.
The demand projections are, however, mainly based upon the coefficient of income elasticities, the likely changes in per capita income and expected increase in the population over the projected period i.e. 1990–91.
In view of this, the present paper deals with the consumption pattern of fresh fruits such as apples, mango, banana, sapota, citrus and guava alongwith demand projections for urban population.
The sample for this study was drawn from Delhi which is the biggest fruit market in Asia and is cosmopolitan in nature with a wide spectrum of consumers.
Multi-stage stratified random sampling design was employed.
In the first stage, the city was stratified into zones, then retail markets and households of various income-groups were the final unit of the study.
The relevant data used in this study have been collected both from primary and secondary sources.
Primary data was collected through personal interviews from 210 selected households.
Several types of functions such as linear, double-log, semi-log and log inverse were tried, but in estimating the demand, these functions had different elasticities.
In this study double-log function was finally used for estimating elasticities.
The demand projections are, however, mainly based upon the coefficient of income elasticities, the likely changes in per capita income and expected increase in the population over the projected period i.e. 1990–91.
The study reveals that the annual per capita fruit consumption was about 30 Kgs. and of this the banana alone accounted for about one-third.
This is followed by apple, mango and citrus fruits.
On the whole, the consumers spent relatively more on apples.
The income elasticities for the individual fruits ranged between 0.11 to 1.31, the highest being in mango followed by apple and banana and the lowest in case of sapota.
The analysis of demand projections revealed that during 1990–91 the per capita demand for fruits will be about 36 kg per annum and on aggregate level it would be around seven million tonnes for urban population.
Authors
B.K. Sikka, K.C. Azad
Keywords
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