Characterization of Pork Consumers and Preference for Quality Traits in Ethiopia

This study was carried out to characterize the socio-economic features of pork consumers, their preference for pork quality traits and motivational drivers to eat pork. Purposive and random sampling methods were used to select sampling areas and supermarkets. As it was difficult to find pork consumers in person, pork retailers at supermarkets were interviewed to describe their customers' (pork consumers') socio-economic features, volume of pork purchase and preference for different pork quality traits. For this, a total of 40 supermarkets were selected in six major Towns in Ethiopia. Structured questionnaire was used to collect the data through person to person interview. Selected supermarkets were clustered into three categories as small, medium and large scale pork retailers based on the volume of pork they sold per day. Collected data were analyzed using appropriate statistical procedures of SAS and SPSS software packages. Our data analysis showed that pork was mostly consumed by youth and adult groups in Ethiopia. Most pork consumers were people from Asian and European origin. Gender had no influence (P>0.05) on pork consumption. Leanness and freshness were mostly preferred pork quality traits. About 58% of the respondents were motivated to eat pork in order to get fat. Findings of this study can be used to develop research and development strategies for improving desired traits of pork and also pork marketing system of the country.