Consumers are becoming more aware of the quality attributes of different
commodities found in the market and are choosing products that closely match
their tastes and preferences. The consumer behavior model postulated by
Lancaster (1966), says that products are consumed for the characteristics they
possess, other than the product itself, and are associated with consumer
preferences/utility. For example, in the case of rice, the quality characteristics
(attributes) have important price based implications in terms of incentives for
producers and consumers. This study empirically analyzes the relationship
between price and product attributes towards consumer’s choice for rice in Benin,
using the hedonic pricing approach and discrete choice modeling at the household
level. The results of econometric estimation indicate that consumers pay a
premium for grain size, aroma, color, wholeness and cleanliness of grain and
convenience attributes across the different regions studied. Consumers (rural and
urban) prefer parboiled and imported rice over domestic rice and raw rice.
Country of origin was found to influence rice preference indirectly through
perceived quality. Socioeconomic factors are not important in consumer
purchasing decisions. The results from this study suggest that both domestic and
imported rice varieties have positive and negative implicit prices this emphasizes
the importance of quality based attributes in future breeding programs to make
domestic rice more competitive to imported rice.