Is it Appreciation with Caution? Attitude towards Genetically Modified Foods
Keywords:
GM foods, awareness and appreciationAbstract
Despite its popularity in some parts of the West, Asia and South America, GM foods on the other hand are popular in very few countries in Africa in terms of its concept of production. Ghana is yet to discover more on its people’s attitude towards the consumption GM foods. This study used a purposive sampling method to select 140 respondents in supposedly middle – income communities in Accra; the capital city of Ghana. A Likert scale and a Kendall Coefficient of Concordance were used to determine their level of awareness and appreciation of GM foods respectively; after which a Probit model was used to examine the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on GM foods’ appreciation.  The study revealed that more than 90% were at least aware of GM foods whiles 70%, appreciative of it. Higher yields came out as the leading benefit of GM foods whiles chemical effect came out as the number one risk factor. It was also discovered that respondents with relatively higher levels of education and income tend to appreciate GM foods. The study therefore recommends more education and debate on the subject of GM foods as well as further studies on the appreciation, adoption and demand for GM foods in Ghana.
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