Solar-Dried Traditional African Vegetables in Rural Tanzania: Awareness, Perceptions, and Factors Affecting Purchase Decisions

Abstract

This paper analyzes rural households’ awareness, perceptions, and factors influencing decisions to purchase solar-dried traditional African vegetables (TAVs). Solar-dried vegetables have higher nutritive value, good appearance, good taste, and better hygiene than open sun–dried vegetables. A simple random sampling was used to obtain 244 rural households in Dodoma and Singida regions of Tanzania. Descriptive statistics were used to measure awareness and perception of solar-dried TAVs while logit regression was employed to estimate factors influencing households’ decision to purchase solar-dried vegetables. The study findings indicate that about 36% of rural households are aware of solar-dried TAVs and know their nutritional and health benefits. Most households purchase and consume the open sun–dried types due to lack of knowledge of the benefits of solar dried vegetables. The decision to purchase solar-dried vegetables is influenced by sex of household head, income level, previous experience in consuming sun-dried vegetables, and knowledge of the nutritional and health benefits of the solar-dried vegetables in diets. Thus, awareness creation and promotion of solar drying of TAVs is suggested as an effective way to continuously access nutritious vegetables, particularly in regions faced with frequent droughts.