In recent years user acceptance of a new technology has become of much interest. One of the most outstanding global problems facing Africa is the digital divide. However, the use and adoption of ...mobile phones is reducing the digital divide in Africa. In view of the role that mobile phones play in bridging the digital divide in Africa, this study extends the applicability of the technology acceptance model (TAM), without altering its parsimony and information technology focus, in mobile phone adoption. This paper extends the TAM model by adding two new constructs, perceived advantage and socio-economic characteristics. Consequently, the extended TAM was applied to adoption of mobile phones in farming communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study relies on a sample from 300 dairy farmers in Uganda which was analysed using structural equation modelling. Theoretically, it contributes to the limited literature on mobile phone adoption in agri-food sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and provides empirical evidence from Ugandan farmers. The research contributes to promoting mobile phone usage in farming communities beyond just normal communication. The research also has a strong practical implication for farmers as well as other stakeholders from the agri-food sector.
•We develop a model of mobile technology adoption in the Sub-Saharan Africa.•We have added to new constructs perceived advantage and socio-economic characteristics to TAM.•Data was collected from 300 Ugandan farmers with mobile phones.•Calls for awareness campaigns by relevant stakeholders to change the attitude of farmers.•Socio-economic characteristics influence significantly both perceived usefulness and ease of use.
There are numerous studies on food loss on the demand side examining consumer behavior towards food choice and food waste generation at the household level. In this paper, we target food loss on the ...supply side, with a focus on the industrial food processing environment. More specifically, we map food loss in each processing stage, that is sustainable operations. Primary data were conducted through a survey (complemented with observations and documentary analysis) in 47 food processing companies in Belgium to identify hotspots and quantify food loss. The findings show that processing is by far the most important food loss hotspot. While transportation, changeover, interrupted production, human errors and product effects at this stage often lead to substantial or excessive losses, causes of food loss during packaging and before or after production have a smaller impact. At subsector level, however, there are substantial differences with respect to the most important causes. The originality of this research can be evaluated in three ways: one, identifying hotspots of food loss in the industrial processing environment; two, measuring the magnitude of losses across different product categories and causes and three, how sustainable operations plays a significant role in food loss prevention.
Biofortification of staple crops could help to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies in humans. We show that folates in stored rice grains are unstable, which reduces the potential benefits of folate ...biofortification. We obtain folate concentrations that are up to 150 fold higher than those of wild-type rice by complexing folate to folate-binding proteins to improve folate stability, thereby enabling long-term storage of biofortified high-folate rice grains.
► Investments in green infrastructure are difficult to value. ► A correct, repeatable and understandable valuation contributes to public support. ► Combining cost–benefit and multiplier analyses ...shows the complete value of green investments. ► The VALUE model, as described in the article, can be used to estimate this value.
Increasing urbanization has created pressure on land use. Today more and more land in urbanized areas is used for housing, industry, community services or other economic functions. However, green spaces have a proven positive effect on people living in the neighborhood of green spaces, as well as on people working or recreating in the urbanized area. Therefore, green infrastructure investments have been put high on the agenda in many European countries. In order to convince the public and other stakeholders of the usefulness of these kind of green investments, it is necessary to give a correct, understandable and easily repeatable method to value the investment. The current article describes a model that can be used to put the value of green infrastructure investments into economic terms. Evaluating the project at site scale and regional scale will give a complete overview of all direct, indirect and use values of the investment. By using cost–benefit as well as multiplier analyses the monetary values can be estimated. The article shows that using this model helps to justify policy's support for and investment in green space.
Traditional food products represent a growing segment in the European food market. In order to maintain or expand their market share and profitability, the traditional food sector is also forced to ...innovate. More than for other food categories, the level of novelty and its conceptualization will be a critical determinant of consumer acceptance of innovations. Based on a pan-European survey (n=4828), consumer acceptance of innovations in traditional food products has been investigated. Consumer acceptance is linked to the perceived impact of the innovation on the traditional character of the resulting food product. Findings illustrate that consumers are generally open towards innovations in traditional food products. The highest levels of acceptance are found for innovations that reinforce the traditional character of the product (e.g. a label that guarantees the origin of the raw material) or provide benefits from improving negative attributes associated with the traditional character of foods (e.g. the reduction of fat or salt content). The more narrowly consumers define traditional food, the more their acceptance is influenced by the perceived impact of the innovation on the traditional character of the food product. The results demonstrate that the innovations covered in this study would barely succeed in attracting new consumers to traditional foods, while consumers with a medium or high consumption frequency of traditional food products expressed a clear positive acceptance for a wide variety of innovations in traditional foods. The traditional food sector can benefit from the insights provided by this study to customize specific products for specific consumer segments and to communicate and market their products accordingly.
•European consumers are open towards innovations in traditional food products.•Acceptance of innovations is influenced by one's definition of traditional foods.•Innovations in traditional foods may fail to attract new consumers.•Medium and heavy consumers of traditional foods accept similar innovations.
Unlike most studies that focused on specific innovations, this study systematically analyzed farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations in general. It reports willingness to pay (WTP; willingness ...to accept (WTA)) as a proxy for adoption, its determinants, applied methods, and statistical models. After searching and screening, 80 studies qualified for review. Majority (n = 30) of studies focused on farmers’ WTP for innovations in agricultural water provision or environmental and crop protection (n = 35), while the remaining studies handled crop or animal improvement innovations. Most studies were performed in developing countries, using stated preference methods for economic valuation, with 55% of the studies (n = 44) applying contingent valuation compared to 39% taking choice modeling approach. While farmers are generally willing to pay premium for improvement in agriculture technologies, WTP (WTA) depends on the innovation (system). For example, premiums ranged from about 0.125 to 2 USD/m3 of water depending on water supply (e.g. ground vs. surface water). Furthermore, the determinants of farmers’ WTP can be grouped into sociodemographic, biophysical, technological, institutional, and behavioral factors. As illustrated by relatively high WTP, the review demonstrates that farmers embrace most innovations, regardless of the context and methods applied.
Benchmarking farms, in order to advise farmers to cure inefficiency, may be biased if heterogeneity is not accounted for. Technological variability in agriculture indeed happens, but productive ...efficiency analysis with frontier methods usually assumes homogeneity. Heterogeneity influences investment motives and production strategies, but is not always clear-cut, for example, when gradation in external inputs use occurs. Unfortunately, these indistinct (no clear-cut) differences in technologies are very common within farming communities, but have often been ignored by the advisors focusing on the discrete ones such as organic versus conventional farming. This paper explores indistinct heterogeneity in efficiency analysis, aiming at identifying peers/reference farms while reflecting on their significance for benchmarking. The gradual differentiation between low and high input dairy farms in Flanders is used as a case, based on a five-year balanced panel data for 58 farms. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) version of the meta-frontier approach is used to account for heterogeneity. The research revealed that, although stemming from a continuous distribution, low and high input farming can be considered as different strategies but none can be said to be superior to the other. Coupling the efficiency scores with peer information allows distinguishing good and bad performing efficient farms within each strategy, and thus improves benchmarking using frontier analysis.
Fat bloom is one of the main quality problems in the chocolate industry. A bloomed chocolate product is characterized by the loss of its initial gloss and the formation of a gray‐whitish haze, which ...makes the product unappealing from a consumer point of view. In the industry, most of the fat bloom related problems arise in filled chocolate products, like pralines and chocolate‐coated biscuits. In these products, oil migration is considered the main cause of fat bloom development. It leads to the dissolution of solid cocoa butter crystals in the chocolate shell which may recrystallize with the formation of undesired crystals. These give rise, upon growth, to visual fat bloom. When looking at the available literature, most of the studies elucidate the possible mechanisms of oil migration and the subsequent fat bloom formation using model systems. These model systems are sometimes too distant from the real industrial applications and the important role of the microstructure of the products are often neglected, although it plays a crucial role in migration‐induced fat bloom development. The main objective of this review is to describe the relationships between chocolate microstructure, oil migration, and fat bloom.
Practical applications: This review can be used as a base for the development of microstructural strategies to retard oil migration and fat bloom development in filled chocolates. An important strategy to retard oil migration and migration‐induced fat bloom is the creation of more dense structures. By creating denser structures, the overall mobility is reduced leading to a decrease in the rate and extent of oil migration. Also, more dense structures hinder recrystallization and Ostwald ripening, thereby delaying the migration‐induced fat bloom development. As fillings are less standardized and not bound by legislation, modification of the filling composition and microstructure offers more opportunities in delaying fat bloom.
The main objective of the review is to describe the relationships between chocolate microstructure, oil migration, and fat bloom, as illustrated in this scheme. The numbers indicate the four parts that are discussed in this review.
The main objective of the review is to describe the relationships between chocolate microstructure, oil migration, and fat bloom, as illustrated in this scheme. The numbers indicate the four parts that are discussed in this review.
The food service sector was among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine consumers' attitudes towards and transparency perceptions of COVID-19-related safety measures ...and to identify determinants of consumers' intentions and behaviour regarding visiting restaurants and bars once reopened. By also surveying food service businesses, this study allows for comparison between both target groups. A total of 1697 consumers and 780 businesses participated in this study, conducted in Belgium both during and in between waves of infections. The findings demonstrate that consumers evaluated safety measures as important when revisiting restaurants and bars, against business owners' expectations. Both consumers' revisit intentions and behaviours are influenced by the perceived importance of hygiene measures (negatively) and past visit frequency (positively). This study highlights the importance of good compliance with safety measures as a strategy to attract customers during the reopening period. Further, our findings emphasize the importance of transparent communication by food service businesses and the government.
The global increase of cardiovascular diseases is linked to the shift towards unbalanced diets with increasing salt and fat intake. This has led to a growing consumers' interest in more balanced food ...products, which explains the growing number of health-related claims on food products (e.g., "low in salt" or "light"). Based on a within-subjects design, consumers (n = 129) evaluated the same cheese product with different labels. Participants rated liking, saltiness and fat flavor intensity before and after consuming four labeled cheeses. Even though the cheese products were identical, inclusion of health labels influenced consumer perceptions. Cheese with a "light" label had a lower overall expected and perceived liking compared to regular cheese. Although cheese with a "salt reduced" label had a lower expected liking compared to regular cheese, no lower liking was found when consumers actually consumed the labeled cheese. All labels also influenced the perceived intensities of the attributes related to these labels, e.g., for example salt intensity for reduced salt label. While emotional profiles of the labeled cheeses differed before tasting, little differences were found when actual tasting these cheeses. In conclusion, this study shows that health-related labels might influence the perceived flavor and emotional profiles of cheese products.
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