KHON

KAEN44
AGR.
44 (2) : 343-350

(2) J.: 343-350

(2559).(2016).

KHON KAEN AGR. J. 44 (2) : 343-350 (2016).

343

Organic food market trend and consumers profile in

Phnom Penh city, Cambodia
Sothea Kouy1, Parichard Sangkumchaliang1* and Satit Aditto1
ABSTRACT: Organic agriculture has received attention in recent decade on account of its biological feature, so
agricultural institutions have been formed and developed enormously in organic filed at the present time in Cambodia. This research was to identify organic food market trend and organic consumers profile which was conducted
in Phnom Penh City in this regard is the best place where sold organic product majority in Cambodia. Data was
collected from supermarkets by structure questionnaire within 456 respondents. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square
test were employed to quantify correlation. It was found that organic product in Cambodia is limited and narrowed.
However, there is a positive signal for organic market in Cambodia. The study shows that the consumers could be
divided in three categories including organic consumers (regular and occasional consumers), non-organic consumers,
and never-heard organic consumers. Gender, marital status, education, occupation and income were found relatively
statically significant related with consumer behavior. It can be implied that organic consumers mostly are the middle
age men who have higher education, married with kid, secure job, and better income are more propensity interested
in buying organic food. The main reason to purchase was about the health for the mand for their lovers meanwhile
the key reason stood behind consumers not to buy was extremely about the lack of information of organic product.
In this context, this relevant information would provide a good point to contribute significant effective to either
marketers or other related parties to target potential consumers and raise organic sector.
Keywords: Organic Food, Organic Market, Organic Consumer, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Introduction
Organic agriculture has received attention in
recent decade on account of its biological feature,
which offers benefit to health and environmental
friendly (Veata, 2013). Organic agricultural land
area around the world is about 37.50 million
hectares in 164 countries (FiBL and IFOAM,
2014). The data from IFOAM showed that the top
three countries which is the highest increasing
organic land area are Greece, Mexico, and
Kazakhstan, respectively. Additionally, the top
three largest organic markets are USA, Germany,
and France. The world organic food market sizes
have been increasing from 15.20 billion US dollars
in 1999 to 63.80 billion US dollars in 2012 (FiBL

and IFOAM, 2014). It has been noticeably least

developed in developing country including Asia.
Particularly, organic agricultural sector in
Cambodia has been formed for several years ago
(Country Report of Organic in Cambodia, 2014).
In 2003, many non-organizations have been
initiated to support organic product such as
German Agency for Technical Cooperation,
Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in
Agriculture (CEDAC), Community Cooperative for
Rural Development (CCRD), and Khmer Fields
Foundation (SRER Khmer) (Cheattho, 2010).
Moreover, people have more attention and
banned some kinds of pesticide and chemical
fertilizer imported and sold in Cambodia
(Makarady, 2007; Savoeun, 2008).

Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
40002
* Corresponding author: parisan@kku.ac.th
1

344
In 2002, Srer Khmer was founded by former
staff of Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations. This local NGO has implemented
50 projects related to farming community. About
720 farmers in 12 provinces were trained by this
association (Srer Khmer, 2011). KompongSpeu
province is the one which grows organic
vegetable training by The Cambodian Center for
Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC)
and has 9 shop branches in Phnom Penh city
recently (The Cambodian Center for Study and
Development in Agriculture [CEDAC], n.d). In
2005, CEDAC commenced selling organic
vegetable average 2,121.88 kg/year (Savoeun,
2008). In 2011, about 2,500 of organic rice
farmers had collaborated together to produce a
well-known aromatic organic rice and PhkaMalis
(jasmine rice) in Battambang Province (Yu & Diao,
2011). Moreover, organic products are available
in the supermarkets, restaurants, and some hotels
in Cambodia. The premium price of organic
product has range from 10% to 20% higher than
conventional product (Makarady, 2007; Cheattho,
2010). Along with this, Cambodian Organic
Agriculture Organization certifies organic product
such as rice, sugar palm, fruit, and vegetables
which are sold in supermarkets and organic shops
but they are still very limited (Cambodochine,
2004).
Regarding to consumers profile and
consumption of organic good in Cambodia has
not been understood well. Furthermore, the
previous research were organic consumer
between Thailand-Cambodia border (Pomsanam,
et al., 2014), and organic agriculture in Cambodia
(Cheattho, 2010; Makarady, 2007) which not
serve on organic consumption. There are lack of

44 (2) : 343-350 (2559).

information about organic consumer in Phnom

Penh. As a result, this present paper presents
about overview of consumer profiles and
consumption of metro polisin Phnom Penh City.
Methodology
Sample Size and Data Collection
This study was conducted in Phnom Penh
City in this regard is the best place where sold
organic product majority in Cambodia. Data were
collected from June to July 2015 in front of
supermarkets. About 456 respondents were
collected through the questionnaire survey at 95%
confidence level. The validity and reliability of
questionnaire were tested. Moreover, the
questionnaire was divided into three sections. The
first section was about the socio-demographic of
respondents, the second part distinguished
organic consumers profile while the last
emphasized on the reasons to buy and not to buy
organic vegetable, and the third part was focusing
on purchasing pattern of organic consumers.
Data Analysis
To extract the pertinent and useful information
for further manipulation and interpretation,
questionnaire checking was verified (i.e. all the
questions were answered completely). Then,
double check database with questionnaires were
implemented to ensure the quality of data. After
obtaining the accurate and reliable data,
normality distribution was run to verify errors by a
histogram or normal probability plot of the
standardized residual. Then, researcher applied
descriptive statistics such as frequency,
descriptive, explore, and multiple response

KHON KAEN AGR. J. 44 (2) : 343-350 (2016).

associated with chi-square in accordance with

each objective of the research.
Results and Discussions
In the Table 1 demonstrated about the
socio-demographic of the respondents. The
results with the456 respondents show that about
51.50% of the respondents were female. The
average age of the respondents is about 27 years
old (SD= 7.08), and ranges from 18 to 64 years
old. Regarding to marital status, about 69.70% of
respondents were single. The majority of
education level was bachelor degree (73%) and
about 98% of them were employed. Regarding to
the personal income, which is 38.80% of the
respondents had monthly income ranged from
150-300 USD (minimum wage in Cambodia equal
to 149 USD).
According to the consumer groups, there
were three kinds of consumers, which are
including organic buyer, non-organic buyer, and
never-heard of organic groups. The definition of
each groups as following: (1) Organic buyer
group is the people who had ever bought
organic product. (2) Non-organic buyers group is
the people who had ever heard organic product
but never consumed, and (3) never-heard of
organic group is the people who never heard
about organic product before. The results show
that the organic buyer group was including about
214 respondents (46.90%), while non-organic
buyer and never-heard of organic groups were
about 41.20% and 11.80%, respectively.
Regarding to the relationship between
consumers demographics and purchasing
behavior, the results show that more than half of

345
men (54.30%) were organic buyers while about
44.70% of women were non-organic buyers, and
less than one fourth (15.30%) of women were
never-heard organics term. It was relatively
statistically significant related with consumer
behavior (x2(2) =11.314, p< 0.01). According to
marital status, about 54.45% of respondent who
married and have kid(s) in their household seem
likely to consume organic food when compare
with others. Moreover, the education has highly
related to buying organic behavior. The results
show that about 64.60% of respondent organic
consumption holding university degree were more
likely to consume organic (x2 (10) = 68.571,
p < 0.001). Education was not the only factor that
affected the chance of buying organic.
Occupation (x2(2) = 6.929, p < 0.05), together
with income (x2(10) = 23.39, p < 0.01), was
highly statistically significantly concerned with
organic buying.
Most of middle age people (71.40%) ranged
from 46 to 55 years experienced with organic food
consumption while 44.10% of young adult ranged
from 26 to 35 years did not buy organic food.
Predominantly of 62.10% of consumers, bought
organic food, had kids under 18 years living with
family; in contrast, only 48.60 % of consumers,
bought organic food, had old people over
60 years lived in family. Additionally, 65% of
consumers, bought organic food, never had
serious diseased history in their family. Nearly half
of employers (47.60%) were more likely interested
in organic produce while income more than 1,000
USD/month (80%) was more possibly to take this
product.

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44 (2) : 343-350 (2559).

Table 1 Respondents socio-demographic analysis

Frequency Organic Buyer Non-Organic
Never-heard
Socio-Demographic
p-value
(N=456)
(n=214)
Buyer (n=188) Organics food (n=54)
Gender

x2(2)=11.314,
Male
221
54.3%
37.6%
8.1% p < 0.01**
Female
235
40.0%
44.7%
15.3%
Age

x2(8)=12.633,
18-25
238
47.9%
41.2%
10.9% p >0.05
26-35
179
45.8%
44.1%
10.1%
36-45
25
36.0%
36.0%
28.0%
46-55
7
71.4%
14.3%
14.3%
56-64
7
57.1%
14.3%
28.6%
Status

x2(6)=13.674,
Single
318
45.9%
43.4%
10.7% p <0.05*
Married
34
35.3%
50.0%
14.7%
Married with kids
103
54.4%
32.0%
13.6%
Divorce
1
0.0%
0.0%
100.0%
Education

x2(10)=68.571,
Illiteracy
3
0.0%
0.0%
100.0% p <0.001***
Primary school
6
16.7%
0.0%
83.3%
Secondary
19
26.3%
42.1%
31.6%
school
High school
47
51.1%
40.4%
8.5%
Bachelor
333
45.9%
43.8%
10.2%
Master or higher
48
64.6%
31.3%
4.2%
Occupation

x2(2)=6.929,
Employment
435
47.6%
40.0%
12.4% p <0.05*
Unemployment
21
33.3%
66.7%
0.0%
Income (USD/month)
x2(10)=23.390,
0-149
75
38.7%
41.3%
20.0% p < 0.01**
150-300
177
43.5%
49.7%
6.8%
301-450
98
51.0%
34.7%
14.3%
451-600
50
50.0%
36.0%
14.0%
601-1000
41
51.2%
39.0%
9.8%
More than 1000
15
80.0%
6.7%
13.3%
* Statistically significant level of 0.05, ** Statistically significant level of 0.01, and *** Statistically significant level
of 0.001

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KHON KAEN AGR. J. 44 (2) : 343-350 (2016).

In the Table 2 demonstrated about organic

consumers, which were distinguished into two
categories. They are including the regular
organic consumers or heavy consumers who
shopped more than three times a week. However,
occasional organic consumers were shopping
organic good less than three times a week. In
general, most of occasional organic consumers
shopped vegetables less than every two months,
25.2%. Only 18.7% and 17.8% bought organic
vegetables more than 3 times/week and every
week/month, respectively. Outstandingly, there

were around 40% of them purchase organic

vegetables every day were regular consumers. A
comparative socio-demographic profile between
regular and occasional consumers was apparent;
socio-demographic was no significant difference
between regular and occasional organic
consumers toward organic consumption. In this
case, it can be implied that organic consumers
mostly are the people who has a job rather than
household and retired people since the price of
organic product is a bit higher than conventional
one.

Table 2 Organic consumers socio-demographics profile

Socio-Demographic
Gender
Male
Female
Age
18-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-64
Status
Single
Married
Married with kids
Education
Primary school
Secondary school
High school
Bachelor
Master or higher

Frequency (n=214)

120
94

114
82
9
5
4

146
12
56

1
5
24
153
31

Organic Consumer
Regular Buyer (n=85) Occasional Buyer (n=129)
40.8%
38.3%

59.2%
61.7%

41.2%
34.1%
55.6%
80.0%
25.0%

58.8%
65.9%
44.4%
20.0%
75.0%

38.4%
50.0%
41.1%

61.6%
50.0%
58.9%

100.0%
60.0%
50.0%
35.3%
48.4%

0.0%
40.0%
50.0%
64.7%
51.6%

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44 (2) : 343-350 (2559).

Table 2 Organic consumers socio-demographics profile (cont.)

Organic Consumer
Regular Buyer (n=85) Occasional Buyer (n=129)

Socio-Demographic

Frequency (n=214)

Occupation
Employment
Unemployment
Income (USD/month)
0-149
150-300
301-450
451-600
601-1000
More than 1000

207
7

39.6%
42.9%

60.4%
57.1%

29
77
50
25
21
12

41.4%
41.6%
42.0%
32.0%
33.3%
41.7%

58.6%
58.4%
58.0%
68.0%
66.7%
58.3%

Regarding to the organic products, about

46.10% of organic consumers purchased
organic fresh vegetables and fruits, and 25.50%
of them consumed organic rice. On the other
hand, only 10.50%, 9.10% and 8.80% of
consumers revealed that they had bought
organic palm product, organic honey, and
organic moringa product respectively.
Approximately 64.60% of organic vegetable
consumers specified that they satisfied with the
range of organic vegetable offered in the organic
market or supermarket.

According to Table 3, it is clear that the more

level of satisfaction on organic food, the more
likely to pay (x2(4) = 9.490, p <0.05), so most of
organic consumers around 50% said that the
price of organic is reasonable and affordable
which it should be. However, 40% of them said
that the price is high. Also, only 1% of organic
consumers reflected that the price is not really
high as others viewpoint, maybe this kind of
consumers have higher income. On the other
hand, 53% of non-organic consumers view the
price is high that is why they hesitate to buy.

Table 3 Price perception ratio between organic consumer and non-organic consumer
Frequency (Percentage)
Price perception
Organic consumers
Non-organic consumers
Really high
12 (6%)
14 (7%)
High
86 (40%)
100 (53%)
Reasonable
105 (49%)
67 (36%)
Not high
10 (5%)
7 (4%)
Really not high
1 (1%)
0 (0%)
Total Sample
214 (100%)
188 (100%)
x2(4) = 9.490, p < .05*, * statistically significant level of .05

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KHON KAEN AGR. J. 44 (2) : 343-350 (2016).

One of the most significant results obtained

from this research was about the reasons that lead
organic-consumers made decision to buy.
Approximately 31% of them bought organic
product because they thought it is healthy for
them and their significant person was the first rank.
According to 30% of them declared that
consuming organic vegetable because it is
pesticide free was the second one. With respect
to the taste of vegetable, there were 21% of
consumers thought that organic vegetable shave
better taste than conventional one meanwhile
other factors showed lower scores. Noticeably,
the freshness of vegetables and conveniences
were rated only 12% and 6% in accordingly.
In particularly, non-organic consumers were
also elicited about the reason that made them
didnt want to buy organic product. The main
reason was that they received lease information
about organic product (27.10%), so how could
they buy it without trust and knowing? nonorganic consumers expressed that those were too
expensive for them approximately 22% while the
distance from shop to their house was about
24.90%. In contrast, organic label was not the
problem for non-organic consumers only 13%.
Conclusions
It can be concluded that organic product in
Phnom Penh city is limited and narrowed since
this is the late comer who just joints about the
international organic agriculture less than one
decade ago, yet most Phnom Penh citizens do
care about the organic food no matter how it is in
term of either health or environment concern.
Absolutely, there are more than 50% of number

of ever heard organic product are organic

consumers which predominantly by male in
proportion of 54.30. Positive signal, middle age
people who are employed, are the main target of
organic product which ranged from 46 to 55 years
along with monthly income more than 1,000 USD.
Further results, the higher education is the higher
propensity of buying organic product. Organic
consumers enjoy with the product availability in
organic shop or supermarket. There are many
reasons that cause organic consumers willing to
buy, but the main reason is known as the benefit
of health for their love and their own self,
however, non-organic consumers are not likely to
buy because of lack information on organic
benefit. A part of this convenient and price
becomes the barrier in their purchasing intention
since it is sold in limited market associated with
the luxury price. This information would provide a
good point for marketers, government, nongovernment organization or international
institution to set up policy or strategy to gain more
organic markets segmentation.
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