Poor consumers’ preferences for nutritionally enhanced foods

Abstract

Purpose Micronutrient malnutrition is a public health problem in many developing countries, especially in the poorest population segments. Fortification and other food-based approaches, such as using more nutritious ingredients in processing, could help to address this problem, but little is known about poor consumers’ attitudes toward nutritionally enhanced foods. The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether poor consumers in Africa would purchase foods with more nutritious ingredients and the related willingness and ability to pay. Design/methodology/approach A survey and choice experiment were conducted with 600 randomly selected households in the poorest neighborhoods of Nairobi (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda). Participants were asked to choose between various alternatives of porridge flour with different types of nutritional attributes. The data were analyzed with mixed logit models. Porridge flour is widely consumed among the urban poor, so that the example can also provide interesting broader lessons. Findings Poor consumers welcome foods that are micronutrient-fortified or include new types of nutritious ingredients. However, willingness to pay for nutritional attributes is small. New ingredients that are perceived to have little effect on taste and appearance are seen more positively than ingredients that may change food products more notably. Practical implications New nutritionally enhanced foods have good potential in markets for the poor, if they build on local consumption habits and are not associated with significant price increases. Originality/value This is among the first studies to explicitly analyze poor consumers’ preferences for nutritionally enhanced foods.

Trait preference trade-offs among maize farmers in western Kenya

“…Choice experiments have been applied in diverse fields such as choice of modes of transportation ( Hensher et al, 2005 ), health ( Hole and Kolstad, 2012 ), marketing ( Feit et al, 2010 ; Louviere et al, 2010 ; Louviere and Woodworth, 1983 ), and environmental economics ( Veettil et al, 2011 ). More recently, CEs have been applied in agricultural value chains to evaluate the demand for nutritious foods and food safety ( Wanyama et al, 2019 ; Ortega et al, 2011 ), preferences for crop traits ( Kassie et al, 2017 ; Ward et al, 2013 ; Asrat et al, 2010 ), preferences for weather index insurance products ( Sibiko et al, 2018 ), and the design of sustainability standards ( Meemken et al, 2017 ). Others include system characteristics such as product marketing options and supply chain differentiation ( Ochieng et al, 2017 ; Schipmann and Qaim, 2011 ), and input support policy preferences ( Marenya et al, 2014 ).…”

Food Security and Dietary Quality in African Slums

“…The analysis is based on data from a household survey conducted in four different slums in Nairobi and Kampala between November 2016 and February 2017. The survey was part of a larger research project on value chains for food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations in East Africa carried out in cooperation with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) [30,31]. Nairobi and Kampala were purposively selected for this study, as they are among the largest cities in East Africa and both have sizeable populations living in slums.…”

Consumer preference for novelty in processed foods: a developing country perspective

“…This study gives a developing country perspective on consumer preferences and tradeoffs between novelty and other quality attributes of processed foods. The study contributes to the growing literature on choice experiments in Africa (Meenakshi et al , 2012; Probst et al , 2012; Nandonde et al , 2013; Alphonce and Alfnes, 2017) and consumer valuations of novel food products or products produced using unfamiliar technologies (such as fortification, bio-fortification and genetically modified) in Africa (Kimenju and De Groote, 2008; Naico and Lusk, 2010; Chowdhury et al , 2011; De Groote et al , 2011, 2014, 2018; Kikulwe et al , 2011; Demont et al , 2012; Meenakshi et al , 2012; Oparinde et al , 2016; Okello et al , 2018; Wanyama et al , 2019).…”

“…To our knowledge, apart from Oparinde et al (2016) and Wanyama et al (2019), who examined the tradeoffs between nutrition and sensory taste, and De Groote et al (2018) between nutrition and naturalness, no study in Sub-Saharan Africa has assessed the tradeoffs between different quality attributes in novel products. This study gives a developing country perspective on consumer preferences and tradeoffs between novelty and other quality attributes of processed foods.…”