Preference for Local Products

This indicator is useful in situations when an intervention aims to promote the sales of locally produced products (e.g. certain types of organic vegetables) or inputs (e.g. feeds or fertilizers) as opposed to products that are imported from other regions and countries. Such data is essential for understanding the extent to which the produce of the local producers can compete with the imports (that are often managed by larger companies).

1) Select a limited number (1 - 5) of the products (and their varieties / types) that you want to ask consumers about (for example in the case of agriculture, certain varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers). These should, preferably, be products that people are at least vaguely familiar with, so that they are able to say whether they prefer them or not.

2) If you enquire about more than one product, define how many products people have to prefer in order to be labeled as ‘preferring local products’ (for example, at least 2 out of 3 products).

3) Define who the target consumers are (for example, adults who visit local vegetable markets or customers of local supermarkets).

4) Conduct individual interviews with a representative sample of the target group consumers (e.g. people visiting local vegetable markets), asking them whether they usually prefer to buy the local or an imported variety of a given product. Before asking this question, remind them about the usual price of each type of product and if possible, show them average-looking examples of both ‘competing’ products.

5) To calculate the indicator's value, divide the number of respondents who usually prefer to buy locally produced products by the total number of respondents (exclude those who did not know or could not decide). Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by gender and age group.

1) Ensure that the enumerators ask all questions and provide the information in a highly neutral manner, so that they do not (even unintentionally) influence what the respondent says. The respondent should not be forced to say which product s/he prefers – there should be an answer option ‘does not know / cannot decide’.

2) Consider whether (and if so, how) the enumerators should allude to the idea that the products your intervention (wants to) promote are local – in some countries, local pride / patriotism makes people claim that they prefer local products even if in their day-to-day lives they purchase imported products (due to lower prices or other factors). If you decide to raise this, instruct the enumerators to only briefly mention the place of origin and otherwise talk about other characteristics of the product.

3) It is recommended that the enumerators ask the respondents why they prefer the local or the imported product (do not accept answers “because it is local” or “because it is imported” – enquire why is local / imported better).