Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Economic drivers of household food choices: Income elasticity of food demand in selected urban and rural districts of Tanzania

¹Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Tanzania
²Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dept. of Development and Strategic Studies, Tanzania
³Leibniz Centre for Agric. Landscape Res. (ZALF), Germany
⁴Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Thaer-Institute - Div. Urban Plant Ecophysiology, Germany

Abstract

Economic access to food is essential for promoting healthy diets and fostering sustainable food systems. Households in low-income countries like Tanzania spend the largest share of their income on food, limiting their access to healthy diets. Nutrition-sensitive interventions targeting household income can enhance dietary access. Achieving this goal requires understanding how food demand responds to income changes. This study employed the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System to explore responsiveness of household food demand to income changes. Cross-sectional data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 549 households in Ilala (urban) and Mkuranga (rural), Tanzania. Findings confirm that the highest proportion of household income (0.66) is spent on food. Demand for each food rises with income, as indicated by positive income elasticities. Households exhibit elastic demand for legumes, meat, fish, fruits, and milk, suggesting these are considered luxuries since small income increases drive higher demand. Staples (cereals, roots, plantains), oils, fats, and vegetables show the most inelastic demand, implying they are necessary foods. Staple demand is highly elastic among rural households but strongly inelastic in urban areas, illustrating reliance on staples in rural areas, potentially compromising dietary quality. Urban households display greater responsiveness in demand for legumes, meat, fish, fruits, and milk, which are regarded as healthier foods. Strikingly, households with high socioeconomic status (SES) show higher income elasticity of demand for staples, legumes, fats, oils, and vegetables than their low and middle-SES counterparts. This reflects high-SES households substituting similar items with premium brands, raising per unit expenditure on these categories. Collectively, irrespective of spatial location (rural/urban) and household SES, findings reveal that, except for vegetables, demand for healthy foods (fish, meat, legumes, fruits) is highly influenced by income changes. Income-boosting initiatives thus have potential to improve households' access to quality diets and promote sustainable food systems.

Keywords: Economic drivers, food choice, income elasticity of demand, rural and urban, Tanzania

Contact Address: Eward Mushi, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, P.O.Box 3007, Morogoro, Tanzania, e-mail: emushi45yahoo.com