Vegetable Buying Behavior in Kurunegala District
Debarawatta, R. D. N. and Azardeen, O.
ABSTRACT
Dietary patterns rich in high vegetable intake are associated with a myriad of health benefits. The objective of this study was to explore the vegetable consumption behavior of consumers within the Kurunegala District. The specific objectives were to identify vegetable consumption rate among the cohort, to identify the barriers over vegetable consumption and to establish a relationship between factors affecting vegetable consumption. The results of descriptive analysis showed that females were making purchasing decisions in urban and semi urban areas except rural areas. Fair is the most popular place where rural (52%), semi urban (50%) and urban (42%) respondents purchased vegetables. The highest percentage of semi urban respondents (28%) used to purchase vegetables from groceries, while most of the respondents of rural area cultivated their own vegetables. Daily vegetable intake of majority of the respondents from rural and semi urban areas were below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended amount of 260 grams of vegetables per day. However, low income level households consume vegetables below the standard rate while, the high income level households intake vegetables above (336.2 g/day) the recommended rate. The results of the Binary Logistic Regression indicated that consumers in the urban sector have higher probability of consuming required rate of vegetables.
KEYWORDS: Consumption, Kurunegala district, Vegetable intake