| Heated debate is going on all over the world about the safety of biotechnology and whether promotion of commercial production of genetically modified food should be continued. Spreading to China, this debate has exerted enormous impact on the application of agricultural biotechnology in China. The extent of such impact, however, ultimately depends on the extent of acceptance of genetically modified foods by Chinese consumers, as the attitude of the consumer has a direct bearing on payback of China's enormous investment in this particular field, and will eventually determine the future direction of developing biotechnology in China. This research aims at analyzing the attitude of Chinese consumers towards genetically modified foods and factors influencing such attitude, on which foundation actual implication of such attitudes will be explored to provide a scientific basis for policy decision-making on China's development of agricultural biotechnology.In order to achieve the above goal, three specific objectives of this study are identified. They are: 1) consumer awareness of GMOs; 2) degree of consumer's acceptance and purchase will concerning GM foods; and 3) the determinants of consumer's attitudes towards GM foods. To achieve these objectives, based on previous research works, the econometrical models were developed to determine the consumer's acceptance of and willingness-to-buy GM foods in China. Date used in this study is from our primary questionnaire survey of consumers in 11 cities of 5 provinces (or municipalities directly under the central government) in eastern China in autumn 2002. The survey was completed on the basis of combining stratified sampling and random sampling, collecting 1005 valid samples in total. In accordance with the specific features of the objects under model observation, the models were estimated by Ordered-Probit and 0-1 Probit respectively for the consumer acceptance and willingness-to-buy will concerning GM foods.The research results indicate that Chinese consumers have developed certain awareness of GM foods with about 70% of the investigated responding that they have heard of GM foods, a mere 10% disparity between the Chinese awareness level andthose of some developed countries (e.g., USA, Japan and European countries) for the same period. Further study, however, shows that Chinese consumers have developed a relatively shallow understanding of genetically modified technology. Among the 6 assessment questions for testing the genuine level of awareness of GM foods, less than 40% of the respondents got right answers for more than 3 questions. This percentage is less than that of USA in 2001 and almost same as that of EU's countries in 1999. With regard to consumer acceptance and willingness-to-buy concerning GM foods in China, under circumstances identical to those of ordinary food of the same category, about 3/4 of the consumers are willing to buy at least one of the 8 types of GM food, while nearly half of the consumers respond that they are willing to buy GM foods of all the 8 types. In general, this indicates a roughly identical level of acceptance and purchase will to that in the USA for the same period, but much higher than that in most European countries. As many other countries, Chinese consumers also demonstrate great variance in their acceptance and purchase will towards GM foods under different food categories. To be more specific, the consumers are most willing to accept and buy GM foods that improve nutrition, followed by pest-resistant types foods with those for extending shelf life being the least preferred. Meanwhile, GM crop foods are more preferred than GM meat. Different consumers in China also exhibit distinctive difference in their acceptance and purchase will regarding GM foods with income level of the consumer, the government, the media and future prices of GM foods all playing an important role in determining consumer acceptance and purchase will. Further analysis of the situation, however, makes us worry about the prospect of developing agric...
|
PDF Full Text Request