0023-6152

AA00697606

27378

Unrefereed

0023-6152

AA00697606

High levels of pesticide and chemical fertilizer inside vegetables are always risky to Vietnamese people in general, Hanoi’s people in particular when only about 30% of the area for vegetable production in Hanoi are controlled and safely certified by the government. The consumers still become worried, even some of them do not totally trust the safe vegetables because the chemical residue, pesticide levels are difficult to fully check and control due to insufficient capability of the state’s agencies. Organic vegetables known as no chemical pesticide and no synthetic fertilizer bring a new choice for consumers. This study aims at evaluating current status of organic vegetables consumption and eliciting consumers’ willingness to pay for organic ones in big cities like Hanoi in Vietnam. A sample of 185 respondents surveyed at four big supermarkets in Hanoi was analyzed by descriptive statistics and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) under double bounded dichotomous choice approach. These results found that about 15% of the consumers already had experience of using organic vegetables, however, eighty–eight percent wanted to try and buy if organic products exist in the market. Major reasons for the limitation in consumption of the organic foods were the lack of information about organic market, inconvenience to buy. Average price paid for organic vegetables was about 70% higher than that of conventional ones. Besides, the consumers who had higher income, more concern about safety of vegetables, and organic–consumed experience in the past would be likely to pay more for organic vegetables. These findings suggest that information about organic vegetables should be widely publicized to consumers and that new organic vegetables shops opened are priority to expand organic market share in the future.