Food expenditure patterns, preferences, policy, and access of Rwandan households

Abstract

Purpose An extended period of economic growth along with stubborn childhood stunting and wasting levels raises questions about how consumer food purchasing behaviors respond to income increases in Rwanda. The purpose of this paper is to assess the role income, prices, policy, agricultural production, and market access play on how rural households purchase different food groups. Design/methodology/approach Six separate log-normal double hurdle models are run on six different food groups to examine what affects the probability a household purchases in each food group and for those who do purchase, what determines the quantity purchased. Findings Rural Rwandans are price and expenditure responsive but prices have more impact on food group purchases. Crop production resulted in reduced household market procurement for its associated food group but had mixed effects on the purchases of all other food groups. Rural Rwandans purchase and consume low amounts of animal-based proteins which may be a leading factor related to the high stunting and wasting rates. Owning an animal increased the purchased quantity of meat but lowered the purchased quantity of most other food groups. Practical implications Results suggest that policies and programs have to address multiple constraints simultaneously to increase the purchases of the limited food groups in the rural household diets that may be contributing to the high rates of stunting and wasting. Originality/value This study is the first to evaluate the interplay among prices, household income, household production, policies and donor programs, and demographic variables on rural Rwandan household food purchases.

Stunting, food security, markets and food policy in Rwanda

“…Further research needs to delineate if and how personal production relates to personal use/consumption. Market accessibility is a protective factor presumably from better access to food markets, but the role of rural output markets in child stunting needs to be better understood and policies must factor the market effects into any new programs [44]. In particular, improved access to output markets and crop consolidation to achieve economies of scale in the absence of improved rural food markets is expected to lead to higher production of cash crops, lower production of food for home consumption, and inadequate opportunities to purchase nutritious foods in the market.…”

“…Geophysical conditions have been shown to impact the prevalence of childhood stunting. Distance to the main road and market have both been used as indicators for how well connected a household is to markets that may be used to purchase and sell food items [44]. Household altitude has been shown to increase the risk of stunting in children [45, 46].…”

Economic and Consumption Variables and Their Associations with Stunting Prevalence: A Provincial Analysis of the Indonesian Child Nutritional Status Survey 2019

“…The increase of animal-source food consumption as good quality protein only happened among upper middle and high-income groups. These groups can consume animal source food repeatedly with the maximum amount, which is 36.76% from total daily food consumption (Weatherspoon et al 2017). In addition, data also shows that the distribution of protein consumption in Indonesia is dominated by grains (47.08%), the domination of grains to fulfill protein adequacy level with limited consumption of animal-source foods can cause the lack of micronutrient intake such as amino acid, iron, and other micronutrient which can lead to stunting (Ernawati et al 2021).…”

Sensory analysis of 20% solids fortified blended porridge

“…Although recovery from moderate acute malnutrition and weight gain has been observed with the use of FBFs, there is limited evidence of its effectiveness in improving nutritional outcomes (Pérez-Expósito and Klein, 2009). Weatherspoon et al (2017) showed that food aid policy programs had a little impact on other food availability and purchase within a household. One deficiency with FBFs is their tendency to be used for all population groups, including adults, children, pregnant and lactating women, people with HIV/AIDS, and others (Hill et al, 2007).…”