Articles
Food Demand Patterns in Tanzania: A Censored Regression Analysis of Microdata
Authors:
Ananda Weliwita ,
United Nations Human Settlements Program, Nairobi, KE
David Nyange,
Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, TZ
Hiroshi Tsujii
Natural Resource Economics Division,
Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JP
Abstract
This paper estimates price and food expenditure elasticities of demand for twelve food groups in Tanzania by applying the linearized Almost Ideal Demand system to the latest household survey data. In estimation, particular attention is paid to the presence of zero expenditure and the effects of demographic characteristics on food demand patterns. The results indicate that maize, rice, other cereals, pulses, sugar, edible oils, fish, starch, fruits and vegetables, meat, and other foods are price inelastic while milk and dairy products have unitary elasticity of demand. Most of the food groups are income elastic. The results also reveal that household income and family size have significant effects on food demand patterns. Main policy implications of the results include inter alia (a) income oriented policies will have a greater effect on promoting food consumption than price related policies, (2) a significant price decline associated with increased production of maize and rice will benefit a majority of households since the two commodities have high budget shares and low own-price elasticities of demand, and (3) meat was found to be inelastic with respect to the expenditure on food.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sjae.v5i0.3474
SJAE 2003; 5(1): 9-34
How to Cite:
Weliwita, A., Nyange, D. and Tsujii, H., 2011. Food Demand Patterns in Tanzania: A Censored Regression Analysis of Microdata. Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics, 5, pp.9–34. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/sjae.v5i0.3474
Published on
26 Aug 2011.
Peer Reviewed
Downloads