International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume I, Issue III, March 2017 | ISSN 2454-6186

Determine Consumer Preference for Rice Types in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka

S.A.M.H.Senarath, G.C.Samaraweera

 Department of Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna.

Abstract:- Rice is a major food in Sri Lankans diet. Different types of rice are available for human consumption and rice types are related with rice consumption in Sri Lanka. Rice type can be described based on mainly quality characteristics, physical characteristics and chemical characteristics of rice. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine consumer preference for rice type in Hambantota district, Sri Lanka. Main three physical attributes and two rice types were used for this study. Physical attributes of rice such as rice color, rice grain size, and degree of milling were considered for the study. Main rice types considered were raw rice and parboiled rice. A questionnaire survey of consumer preference for rice was carried out by using a purposively sample of 100 consumers in Hambantota administrative complex considering the easy access to respondents with different occupation categories. Data analysis was done by using preference ranking methods. Moreover, Chisquire test was used for identify the significant of characters. The study revealed that consumers’ most preferred rice color was red
color rice. Based on rice grain size long slender (Basmati) was the most preferred. The majority (75%) of consumers preferred partially-milled rice. Raw rice had higher preference. Therefore, according to the present study, the most preferred rice types were long slender (Basmati) rice and partially-milled red color
raw rice in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka.

Key words: Consumer preference, Raw rice, Parboiled rice, Rice color, Rice grain size, Degree of milling

I. INTRODUCTION

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the main agricultural crop in Sri Lanka. Rice is the staple food in Sri Lanka. It is important as main convenient meal in almost most of Sri Lankans. Present rice production has already achieved self sufficient status (Walisinghe and Gunaratne, 2012). The rice consumption of consumers is varied with consumer preference for different types of rice and different attributes of rice. The preference of consumer may depend on socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, income, house hold number, education level, nationality, race and socioeconomic status, etc (Tengpongsathon and Nanthaicahi, 2006).

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