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From Corn to Popcorn? Urbanization and food consumption in Sub-Sahara Africa: Evidence from rural-urban migrants in Tanzania

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  • Cockx, Lara
  • De Weerdt, Joachim

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa is currently in the midst of an unprecedented wave of urbanization that is expected to have wide-ranging implications for food and nutrition security. Though this spatial transformation of the population is increasingly put forward as one of the main drivers of changes in food consumption patterns, empirical evidence remains scarce and the comparative descriptive design of existing research is prone to selection bias as urban residence is far from random. Based upon unique longitudinal data from the Tanzania National Panel Survey and the Kagera Health and Development Survey, this study will be the first to assess the impact of urbanization on food consumption through comparing individuals’ food consumption patterns before and after they have migrated from rural to urban areas. We find that even after controlling for individual fixed heterogeneity, baseline observable characteristics and initial household fixed effects, urbanization is significantly associated with important changes in dietary patterns, including a shift away from traditional staples towards more processed and ready-to-eat foods. While there is some evidence of changes that can be deemed beneficial from a nutritional point of view - including increased consumption of vegetables and animal source foods - the results also largely confirm concerns about the association between urbanization and heightened consumption of sugar and fats. In addition, we find no support for the hypothesis that urbanization is associated with more diverse diets. Finally, the results clearly indicate that rural-urban migration significantly contributes to reducing volatility in food consumption.

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  • Cockx, Lara & De Weerdt, Joachim, 2016. "From Corn to Popcorn? Urbanization and food consumption in Sub-Sahara Africa: Evidence from rural-urban migrants in Tanzania," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 249270, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaae16:249270
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.249270
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    Cited by:

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    2. Smale, Melinda & Theriault, Veronique & Vroegindewey, Ryan, 2020. "Nutritional implications of dietary patterns in Mali," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 15(3), September.
    3. Onodu, Bonaventure & Culas, Richard & Nwose, Ezekiel, 2020. "Nutritional and health values of indigenous root and tuber crops compared to imported carbohydrate (such as wheat): A case study example from Delta state Nigeria," 2020 Conference (64th), February 12-14, 2020, Perth, Western Australia 305252, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Sandro M. Reia & P. Suresh C. Rao & Marc Barthelemy & Satish V. Ukkusuri, 2022. "Spatial structure of city population growth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
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    6. Ren, Yanjun & Castro Campos, Bente & Peng, Yanling & Glauben, Thomas, 2021. "Nutrition transition with accelerating urbanization? Empirical evidence from rural China," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(3).
    7. Giacomo Falchetta & Nicolò Golinucci & Matteo Vincenzo Rocco, 2021. "Environmental and Energy Implications of Meat Consumption Pathways in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Ameye, H., 2018. "Secondary Towns The Nutritional Sweet Spot. A study of East Africa," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277211, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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    Keywords

    Community/Rural/Urban Development; Crop Production/Industries; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety;
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