Description of the Cheese Market in Liberia, Guanacaste

Abstract

The present research focused on providing a description of the cheese market in the central canton of Liberia, Guanacaste, with the aim of offering information that allows for an understanding of the behavior of this agri-food sector. To ensure that the collected information was valid and representative of the sector under study, a multi-stage methodology was employed. In the first stage, a stratified sampling was developed based on the types of businesses dedicated to both direct and indirect cheese sales in the area. This information was supplied by the patent office of the canton's municipality. Subsequently, a simple random sampling was applied within each stratum with a proportion of 0.52. As a second stage, an intentional sampling was carried out with 384 final cheese consumers. The combination of both stages revealed that the demand for this type of product is significant, indicating that consumers spend an average of 70 million colones per month. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the artisanal cheese market is the preferred choice among buyers by the product flavor. However, this sector needs to reinforce essential aspects in the production and sale of a product, such as labeling, packaging, as these are the attributes of greatest relevance in purchase decisions. This collected information is of great assistance to artisanal cheese producers, as it allows them to tailor their sales and production strategies to the actual needs of the Liberian market.