Consumer Preferences to Organic Agricultural Products: The Case of South Serbia

Organic farming is considered to be increasingly important, because organic agricultural products are healthier than products which are produced by excessive use of chemical substances. Consumers worldwide are increasingly choosing to buy organic agricultural products although they are usually more expensive. The main objective of this paper is to give us an answer about the importance of organic agricultural products for consumers in the territory of Southern Serbia, but also to identify the basic ways to increase demand for these products. The paper presents the results of conducted survey, which indicate that consumers in Southern Serbia give relatively little importance to organic agricultural products. Based on the conducted tests of independence and determined contingency coefficient, it can be seen that the level of education has an impact on the consumer's decision to buy organic agricultural products, while gender don’t have influence on this decision. Preferences to organic agricultural products is highest among the population between 36-55 years. These results suggest that it is necessary to take appropriate measures in order to increase demand for agricultural products of organic origin in Southern Serbia. Based on the answers of polled consumers, the growth in demand for these products may be affected by rising living standards, better control of the product on the market by inspection and better education of consumers about the importance of these products for their health through electronic and print media.