Survey for Organic Products
The survey was conducted with the aim to explore the “knowledge” of people for organic products. It has been conducted for a third time during the last four years on behalf of Cyprus Organic Producers Association. The survey was administered by European University Cyprus between the 19th – 26th of September 2013. It was nationwide and covered both urban and rural areas in a representative sample of 607 people aged 18 and above. The sampling method employed was a combination of a random-stratified-systematic and the data was gathered through telephone interviews.
The “knowledge” index for organic products has been steadily increasing during the last four years with knowledge averaging at 2.19, on a scale of 1-4, compared to 2.15 in 2010. Furthermore, a steady movement is noted in people not being “at all” aware of organic products to those “somewhat” knowing, a proof that more and more people become informed about the existence of organic products. Specifically, 84% of Cypriots today, compared to 76% in 2010, are at least “somewhat” aware of organic products. Out of those, the great majority continues to be informed through media or through a friend or family member. The use of Internet as a medium to be informed continues its upward trend, from 8% four years ago to 15% today. “Organic shops”, from which people receive information, stand out as an important differentiation point compared to the previous waves. The survey points out a 4% increase in the use of these shops as an informative medium and as a matter of fact women note to use organic shops more than men do.
Furthermore, “purchase” of organic products is at the same level as it was in 2011, even though it has followed an increasing trend since 2010. In 2010 purchase was at 52%, climbing at 59% three years later, while at the same time the majority of Cypriots prefers buying local organic products rather than imported ones. It should be noted that people mostly buy vegetables, fruits, cereals, eggs and legumes. On the contrary, those who seem not to buy organic products, denote as a main reason that “it just did not happen”, something that justifies the room for improvement.