Browsing by Author "Msuha, Basil"

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Rural and urban household demand analysis for cassava in Dar es salaam and Coast Region, Tanzania
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2016) Msuha, Basil
Cassava is one. of the most important root and tuber crops mostly grown for food in Tanzania, though in Africa, it is a marginalized crop in food policy debates burdened with the stigma of being an inferior food. This study examined the major factors that drive changes in cassava consumption pattern across income groups and consumer characteristics among urban and rural households to inform food policy formulation. The study, among other things, sought to provide evidence on whether or not cassava had become a normal food commodity in selected urban and rural households. Special attention was also given to the question of whether household social demographic characteristics had any significant effect on cassava consumption. Cross sectional household data were used to estimate single equation demand models by employing Working-Leser Engel model through the use of OLS method. Cassava expenditure elasticity was estimated for selected urban and rural areas across different income groups to test Engel’s law. Descriptive analysis was used to identify the most preferred form of cassava product among consumers. The results revealed that boiled cassava is the most preferred product in the study areas. The empirical evidence failed to reject the hypothesis of no relationship between household’s preferences and income levels thus lead to the conclusion that the household’s preferences to cassava products is independent of their income levels, whether low, middle or high income, almost all households bought a particular cassava product based mainly on their own assessment of the taste. The study provided empirical evidence to reject the hypothesis of no difference in mean household expenditure and cassava budget share between urban and rural households in the study areas and lead to a conclusion that monthly average total households expenditure was different in