IV - Difficulties in Buying Vegetables

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IV Difficulties in Buying Vegetables .

All housewives were asked” “Since Christmas have you been able to buy as many vegetables as you needed for your meals?” This question was general and if housewives had not been able to buy particular sorts of vegetables the answer was not counted as “No” unless they had been unable to get other sorts of vegetables instead.

It should be noted that the period covered was January and February.

Results were:-

	%
Yes	97.0
No	2.0
No information	1.0
Sample:	2535

Thus almost all housewives had been able to buy enough vegetables of one sort or another for their meals.

Breakdowns by urban and rural, by areas, by income groups and by those who grow and do not grow vegetables show no statistically significant differences.

Housewives were then asked: “Are there any particular sorts of vegetables which you have been unable to buy as much as you would like of for any reason?” (Since Christmas)

	%
Yes	27.5
No	71.8
No information	.7
Sample:	2535

Rather more than a quarter had had difficulties in getting particular sorts of vegetables. A higher proportion had had difficulty in urban than in rural areas.

	Urban	Rural	Total
	%	%	%
Yes	29.6	14.8	27.5
No	39.7	84.4	71.8
No information	.7	.8	.7

Breakdown by areas shows some differences

	Scotland	North of England	Midlands & Wales	South, S.W. & E. Anglia	London	Total
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	37.3	27.6	25.8	20.2	33.2	27.5
No	62.7	71.7	72.9	79.5	65.8	71.8
No information	-	.7	1.3	.3	1.0	.7
Sample:	268	699	555	595	418	2535

Scotland and London are the areas in which difficulties were most frequently experienced. In considering the relatively low inability to buy in the Southern regions it should remembered that a high proportion of rural interviews were included here.

Analysis by income group is as follows:-

	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class D	Total
	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	16.6±6.2	25.0±3.8	31.2±3	26.5±3	27.5
No	82.0	74.2	68.3	72.7	71.8
No information	1.4	.8	.5	.8	.7
Sample:	145	523	966	895	2535

In the lower income groups higher proportions had been unable to buy than in the upper income groups. Class D, however, shows a slightly lower figure than Class C. It may be noted here that of all the reasons given for inability to buy certain sorts of vegetables 27.3% were “too expensive”.

There is some differences in the replies received from those who do and who do not grow some of their own vegetables.

	Those growing vegetables.	Those not growing vegetables .	Total
	%	%	%
Yes	22.3	32.8	27.5
No	76.6	66.9	71.8
No information	1.1	.3	.7
Sample:	1294	1229	2535

The vegetables of which housewives said they had not been able to buy enough were as follows :-

	% of those having difficulty .	% of whole sample
Onions	68.9	18.9
Leeks	25.3	7.0
Cauliflowers	18.1	5.0
Cabbages, savoys.	5.8	1.6
Sprouts and sprout tops	.6	1.5
Celery	5.0	1.4
Lettuce	3.3	.9
Sample:	695	2535

Other vegetables were mentioned only by very small proportions

Housewives were asked why they had been unable to buy the vegetables mentioned. Results are given only for onions, leeks and cauliflowers as in the case of other vegetables the numbers unable to buy are not large enough to give statistically significant results.

	% unable to buy
	Onions	Leeks	Cauliflowers
None in shops, scarce.	9.4	87.0	8.6
Too expensive	.2	12.4	91.4
Other reasons	.4	.6	-
Sample:	479	177	116

In the case of cauliflowers price is the biggest difficulty.

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