الفهرس 
2 Organic agricultureOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
As people become more concerned about health and environment issues, food quality and safety, organic agriculture spreads rapidly and organic food consumption becomes popular in many countries more than any other time. Although there is an increased supply of organic food in Egypt, organic food consumption is still uncommon and organic products are present in few outlets in big supermarkets and a few specialized organic shops.
To our knowledge, this is the first study to deal with organic consumption in Egypt. The purpose of this study is to determine the most influential demographic factors which affect organic food consumption in a developing country such as Egypt, as well as the degree of organic penetration in consumer habits. Moreover, there is a need to identify the motivation and barriers towards organic food consumption, the willingness to pay for these products and opinions towards locally grown organic products.
To achieve the purpose of this study, a field research, quantitative approach was selected. Data was collected through a questionnaire that targeted three groups of people in Cairo city: students at the faculty of agriculture at Cairo University, staff of the faculty of agriculture at Cairo University and consumers of Carrefour hypermarket. Respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire during a face-to-face interview.
The results show that income level, age, presence of children in household, education level and gender affect organic food consumption. The degree of organic penetration is relatively high with respect to other countries but we have to take into consideration the relatively high level of education and income of our sample which is not representative of the whole Egyptian population. Health concern is the first motivation of organic food consumption; moreover, it is the first motivation for which consumers are willing to pay an extra price for organic food above the price of conventional counterparts. High prices of organic products and distrust of organic products’ genuineness are the major barriers towards organic food consumption. Finally, respondents are ready to support locally grown organic products regarding quality and price on the condition that it has the same quality as its imported counterparts.