The role of private companies in improving nutrition of consumer groups in a developing country: a hedonic analysis of tilapia attributes in Bangladesh

Consumers in developed countries are often willing to pay for high quality food, while the willingness to pay of poor consumers in developing countries is uncertain. The nutritious value increases the willingness to pay for quality, whereas the lack of affordability reduces it. The purpose of this study is to identify the implicit price of the quality attributes of tilapia among different consumer groups in the domestic market of Bangladesh. A survey on 300 consumers of different areas of Bangladesh was conducted to estimate the hedonic price models. The results show that fish size is a main attribute for the purchase decision of all consumer groups. For all consumer groups, consumers pay 14% more for the bigger size (more than 1 kg) of tilapia. In addition, they pay 7% and 6% more if the fish is tasty and the eyes are transparent while they pay 7% and 3% less for its soft abdomen and presence of bones respectively. The implication of these findings is that private companies in the value chain have an incentive to supply tilapia of improved quality and earn more when the hedonic price of the quality attributes exceeds the costs. Under such circumstances, private companies have an incentive to deliver higher quality tilapia that potentially can also improve the nutritious situation of poor consumers in Bangladesh.