FACTORS AFFECTING THE INTEGRATION OF LOCAL TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS INTO QUALITY ASSURANCE SCHEMES

: This paper investigates the factors that affect the decisions of the Prespes Beans’ (Fassolia ‘Prespon ʼ) producers to certify their product as a product of protected geographical indication (PGI). The study was based on primary data collected by means of a questionnaire completed by both PGI certified and non-certified producers. The logit model was used for the indication of factors that affect the producers’ decision to certify or not to certify their product as PGI. Descriptive statistics were also used for the study of leaders’ social features. The research results showed that the producers’ decision of adopting the protected geographical indication (PGI) certification was significantly linked to membership producer organizations (cooperatives or other groups), the years of agricultural experience, the size of the cultivated land as well as the motives for joining quality assurance schemes.


Introduction
The rising demand for traditional products, which have been lately linked to the healthy diet, has led to the creation of a consumer movement that seeks highquality products (Panagou et al., 2013). This movement leads to the development of quality assurance schemes to ensure that certain quality standards of different food qualities are met (Hajdukiewicz, 2014). In order to better regulate the origin and the certification of agricultural products, the European Union decided to develop a reputation for high-quality European products, introducing a specific rule system regarding product indications and designations: the protected designation of origin (PDO) label, the protected geographical indication (PGI) label and the traditional specialty guaranteed (TSG) label (Hajdukiewicz, 2014).
Consumers tend to be more interested in identifying products from specific regions of better quality than their competitors (Parrott et al., 2002). Producers' Polyxeni Karagkiozi et al. 190 interest in this type of products increases as well (Teuber, 2011) as linking products to specific landscapes, cultural traditions and historical monuments allows for higher prices. Famous local products may also serve as an advertisement for their place of origin since people tend to create positive links between the famous product and its origin. Consequently, tourism flourishes and the area's general development is promoted (Parrott et al., 2002). Thus, increased production and consumption of certified products have become one of the most significant trends of the contemporary market (Parrott et al., 2002).
In Greece, a traditional product that reflects cultural inheritance is the common bean (Trichopoulou et al., 2007). Bean cultivation is very popular in many parts of West Macedonia, especially in the area of Prespes Lakes, where bean is traditionally cultivated (Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2016). Under the pressure of saving and reviving this traditional cultivation (Fassolia Prespon), it was decided by the local Agricultural Cooperative "Pelekanos" to apply for the product registration as a protected geographical indication (PGI) product. The product is nowadays officially registered in the European Union database (European Commission, 2016).
Detailed knowledge about the factors towards this certification scheme is particularly limited for producers. The present paper seeks to fill the research gap by presenting empirical results for the producers of Prespes beans. The cultivation of beans has become one of the most important cultivations of the region both at an economic level and at a social level. It plays a significant role in the local cuisine and can contribute significantly to the improvement of the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in the area. Therefore, the analysis of the factors concerning the adoption of quality assurance schemes is of special interest.
The principle goal of this paper is to identify factors that affect the decisions of the Prespes bean producers to certify their product as a product of protected geographical indication (PGI). The specific objectives of the research reported here are to examine the producers' personal features and attitudes and explore whether the implementation of quality assurance schemes depends on the producers' motives. Therefore, analyzing and studying the producers' personal features, attitudes and motives may encourage further adoption of quality assurance schemes by producers and enhance the socio-economic development of the region.
The European Union by creating the systems known as PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and TSG (Traditional Specialty Guaranteed) gave positive assistance to producers to help them maximize the advantage they have in quality terms and support their efforts to win the competition (Hajdukiewicz, 2014). Famous 'local/regional productsʼ may create positive links between the place and the product, which consequently may have positive effects on the producers' income and generally on the whole development of the region (Marchini et al., 2014). The integration of local traditional products into quality assurance schemes seems to be an appropriate tool that allows producers to ask for a higher price over the same category products (Hajdukiewicz, 2014). Danezis et al. (2016) discovered that producers by adopting the designation of origin for their products may have positive economic effects, as they lead to a higher retail price and bring in higher financial benefits.
The profitability of French Comté cheese can be very well compared with that of its competitors after the adoption of the PDO certification (Sparf, 2010). On the other hand, an empirical study based on the French Brie cheese producers has shown that the adoption of PDO certification is not so attractive as the costs of raw materials get higher, but certified producers benefit from a price premium on their product which offsets their higher production costs (Bouamra-Mechemache & Chaaban, 2010). Although Southern Italy has recently experienced a severe economic crisis, the certified citrus fruits play a significant role because they have become an important and strategic sector of the national economy after the adoption of product designations (Scuderi and Pecorino, 2015). Empirical studies made by Tregear et al. (2007) and Borowska (2010) have shown that local products may be considered as top-quality products and a type of cultural capital, as they provide the opportunity for more social and economic benefits to local rural regions. Similarly, local products may potentially serve as a profitable resource of local development and at the same time they may promote many local particularities through special or geomorphological features that are strongly connected with the area (Tregear et al., 2007;Belletti et al., 2017;Hajdukiewicz, 2014).
As a result, the quality assurance systems were created to promote and protect valuable food names and at the same time enable producers to adapt production to meet consumer demands and expectations, and promote social and economic objectives (e.g., health outcomes and growth in desirable sectors) (Karipidis et al., 2009).
To conclude, all studies published so far prove that certified local traditional products represent a dynamic developing sector where agricultural production is differentiated in terms of quality, by promoting the agricultural local tradition and the socio-economic rural development.

Materials and Methods
This research was carried out in Florina Prefecture (Greece) and more specifically in the broader area of the Prespes municipality by means of questionnaires completed by producers during personal interviews. The sample studied in this research comprised all forty local producers that joined the PGI certification, according to the data of the Agricultural Cooperative "Pelekanos" and of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Florina Prefecture and an equal number of non-certified bean producers. To make this research easier and more effective, two different questionnaires were created for each of the bean producer groups (certified and non-certified farmers) with the same or similar questions. The questionnaire was divided into three basic units: the first included questions on the personal features of the farm leaders, their networking as well as their training during their active years in agriculture; the second unit dealt with general features of the farms, and the third unit comprised attitudes, motives and sources of information that led bean producers to adopt the certification. Therefore, all factors that affected the producer decision to adopt or not to adopt this certification system were successfully recorded.
Primary data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 Statistics, where descriptive statistics measures were used for the study of the leaders' personal data. The logit model was used for the indication of factors that affect the producers' decision to certify or not to certify their product as PGI and Stata 9 was used for the estimation of the logit model.
The choice of adopting new technologies or innovations (in our case the choice of certifying or not certifying a product as PGI) can be described by the following probability function (cumulative probability distribution function) which gives the adoption probability (Cramer, 2004;Gujarati, 2003;Greene, 2000): (1) According to Equation (1), if P is the probability of adopting a new technology -innovation, then 1 -P is the probability of not adopting the technology -innovation as shown in the following Equation (2): (2) Consequently, according to Equations (1) and (2), we could write the following: where odds ratio ( 1) is the adoption probability to the non-adoption probability, the ratio being modified in every modification of the X i independent variables.
According to Cramer (2004) and Gujarati (2003), the logit modification of the adoption probability ( 1) i P Y = can be denoted as (Cramer, 2004;Gujarati, 2003): is the logarithm of the odds ratio. In this way, the logarithm becomes a linear function of the X i independent variables and our model changes from classic linear (as to the parameters) to regression model.

Factors affecting the integration of local traditional products into quality assurance schemes 193
The model is estimated in terms of econometrics in order to get the β i coefficients. Moreover, the Hosmer and Lemeshow Ĉ test was used for the goodness of fit estimation. The statistical Ĉ is considered to be distributed according to Pearsonʼs χ 2 distribution. The χ 2 value corresponding to the significance level of α > 0.05 proves that the logistic regression model fits the data well.
Finally, an additional measure for the goodness of fit test of the logit model is the correct classification of observations between the different groups (certified and non-certified Prespes beans producers). This measure includes the number of observations made correctly and erroneously based on the probability of an incidence (e.g. certification and non-certification). If the estimating probability is higher than 0.5, then the producer has adopted the certification; on the other hand, if the probability is lower than 0.5, the producer has not adopted the certification (Siardos, 2000).
The variables used in the logit model in order to define factors that affect the producers' decision to certify their local traditional products as PGI products are described in Table 1.

Results and Discussion
According to the research results (Table 2), the certified PGI producers were men in the majority (70.0%), farmers by profession (100.0%), 20-50 years old (average age: 43.4 years) and completed 9.5 years of education on average. Furthermore, 95.0% of the certified bean producers were members of an agricultural cooperative or a producer group, 60.0% attended agricultural seminars in the past and family tradition was the most important motive for becoming a farmer (47.5%).
The total size of the cultivated land of the PGI bean producers varied from 2.5 to 28 hectares, more specifically 10 hectares being the average size of the land. It is worth mentioning that the majority of the PGI bean producers (82.5%) had less than 25 years of agricultural experience, 17.5% of them had 25-35 years of experience and none of the certified producers worked in the agricultural sector for more than 35 years.

Factors affecting the integration of local traditional products into quality assurance schemes 195
As to the personal features of the non-certified bean producers, most of them were men (77.5%), farmers by profession (92.5%); they were up to 50 years old (average age: 46.3 years) and completed 8.7 years of education on average. Here, we should underline the fact that 82.5% of the non-certified bean producers were not members of an agricultural union or a producer group and they never attended an agricultural seminar (82.5%), and they completed 8.7 years of education on average. The most important motive for the non-certified producers (55.0%) to become farmers by profession was family tradition.
The total size of the cultivated land of the non-certified bean producers varied from 1 to 14 hectares, more specifically 5 hectares being the average size of the area. As to the agricultural experience of the non-certified bean producers, the research has shown that 42.5% of them had up to 15 years of experience, 20.0% of them had 15-25 years of experience and 37.5% of them worked in the agricultural sector for more than 25 years (Table 2).
Consequently, the profile of the PGI certified and non-certified bean producers could be presented as in Table 2.  Tables 3 and 4 show separately the percentages, means and standard deviations of the independent variables incorporated in the logit model for PGI certified and non-certified bean producers.  Estimation and results of the logit model Table 5 shows that the following variables were statistically significant (P<0.05) in the integration of local traditional products in quality assurance schemes. These are producer farming experience, participation in a cooperative or a producer group, easier trading of the product, higher market prices, quality assurance of the product and total size of the cultivated land.
More specifically, the variables 'PRICESʼ, 'TRADING OF THE PRODUCTʼ and 'QUALITYʼ, that operate as motives for joining quality assurance schemes, were the most significant variables as concerned the probability of certifying the Prespes beans as a PGI product. Producers who considered higher market prices as an important motive for the product's certification as PGI were 45.3% more likely to join quality assurance schemes than those with different motives. In addition, the probability to adopt organic practices was 38.0% for producers who considered the easier trading of their products an important entry motive. Moreover, the research showed a positive correlation between the adoption probability of quality assurance schemes and product quality. Consequently, the Fassolia Prespon producers considering quality assurance of beans an important motive for their product certification as a protected geographical indication (PGI) product were more likely (29.73 times) to enter quality assurance schemes and to certify their product as PGI than those with different motives.
Another category of variables that affected the probability of adopting organic agriculture was the producer networking in cooperatives or other groups ('NETWORKINGʼ) and the years of agricultural experience ('TIMEʼ). More specifically, the Fassolia Prespon producers that were members of a cooperative or other producer groups were 38.0% more likely to certify their product as PGI than the non-members of cooperatives or other groups.
On the contrary, the years of agricultural experience had a negative effect on the probability of adopting quality assurance schemes. The results showed that when time of agricultural experience increased by 1 unit (1 year), probability of joining quality assurance schemes decreased by 11.0%. Therefore, producers with Factors affecting the integration of local traditional products into quality assurance schemes 197 longer agricultural experience were less likely to certify their product as a product of protected geographical indication compared to others. According to the results of this research, the total size of the cultivated land ('SIZEʼ) had a positive effect on the probability of adopting quality assurance schemes. More specifically, when the size of the cultivated land increased by 1 unit (1 hectare), the probability of certifying the product as PGI increased 1.08 times. Consequently, Prespes bean producers that cultivated more hectares were, compared to others, more likely to enter quality assurance schemes.
The variables called 'SEXʼ, 'INFORMATIONʼ and 'AGEʼ were not statistically significant (P<0.05) to affect the producersʼ decision to certify their product as PGI.
As mentioned before, a measure for the goodness of fit test of the logit model was the correct classification of observations between certified and non-certified bean producers (Table 6). According to Table 4, 85.0% of the producers that have not certified their product as PGI have been correctly predicted by the logit model that they have not joined quality assurance schemes. Similarly, 37 producers (92.5%) that certified their 'Fassolia Presponʼ as a PGI product have been predicted correctly by the model. Only 9 producers were classified erroneously, and this result leads to the conclusion that the logit model was very well fitted to the data, as it predicted correctly 88.8% of the producers. The aforementioned conclusion is also verified by the Hosmer and Lemeshow test, where value χ 2 = 4.552 corresponded to the level of significance α=0.804, which means that the model was well fitted to the data.
Similarly to several other studies (Sparf, 2010;Teuber, 2011;Marchini et al., 2014;Danezis et al., 2016), the present study worked out that the higher price was the most important determinant in affecting the producer decision to certify his/her product as PGI in a positive way. The study revealed that one significant factor in determining the success of a geographical indication was that the certification added value to the product; specific characteristics or farming attributes of high quality food products distinguish them from similar offerings in the marketplace (Tregear et al., 2007;Hajdukiewicz, 2014;Belletti et al., 2017). According to Hajdukiewicz (2014), one factor with an important role in affecting the implementation was the producer membership in cooperative organizations. This result is also confirmed by the present study. Moreover, the present study findings indicate that product trading affected the adoption of the designation of origin. Many studies have shown that geographical indications play an increasingly important role in trade facilitation (Karipidis et al., 2009;Sparf, 2010;Hajdukiewicz, 2014). This study has identified more specific factors which affected the adoption. There was a strong link between the total size of the cultivated land and the positive probability of adoption. This study also revealed a statistically significant negative effect of the years of agricultural experience on the probability of adopting quality assurance schemes.
All the above results show that producer motives for adopting a new innovation were mostly economic. According to the results of the study, the type of the economic motive was the factor that had the most important role in affecting the producer decision to certify his/her product as PGI in a positive or negative way.
Therefore, taking measures that reinforce the market organization and create trading channels for the certified local traditional products may become more effective and may encourage more producers to adopt quality assurance schemes.

Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to indicate and analyze factors that affect the decisions of the Prespes bean ("Fassolia Prespon") producers to certify or not to certify their product as a product of protected geographical indication (PGI). Personal features of the producers, their attitudes and motives were also studied so that an accurate picture of the questions can be formed. Many factors can affect the adoption of quality assurance schemes by Prespes bean producers. Higher market prices, easier trading of the product, producers' participation in cooperatives or groups and quality assurance of the product had a positive effect οn the probability of certifying the bean cultivation as PGI cultivation. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the probability of adopting quality assurance schemes and the total size of cultivated land under beans. Producers of "Fassolia Prespon" with larger cultivated land were more likely to participate in quality assurance schemes compared to others. On the contrary, total length of agricultural experience had a negative effect on the probability of adopting quality assurance schemes and this means that producers with longer experience in agriculture, compared to others, were less likely to certify their product as PGI. It is worth mentioning that the most important determinants which were proved to be statistically significant belong to the category of certification motives (prices, trading and quality). This shows the great importance of these motives, not only for the adoption of quality assurance schemes by the producers, but for the continuation of implementation of these schemes as well. Therefore, the positive correlation between the aforementioned motives and the adoption of quality assurance schemes must encourage the introduction of measures that will not only provide a better price for the producer nor ascertain the trading of the product, but they will assure the quality of the local traditional product as well. In this way, the general development of the area will also be promoted. Measures that may serve the above purpose are the following: a) the creation of cooperatives trading PGI products that will enhance the negotiating power of the producers and will, eventually, lead to better prices and easier trading of their products; b) an advertising campaign that will inform the consumers at the national and international levels about the PGI products; this campaign will eventually enhance the negotiating power of the producers and achieve higher prices and easier trading of these products; c) the creation of an agency specialized in the consumer information about products with protected geographical indication.