Demand for Diverse Diets: Evidence from Nigeria

Consumption of diverse diets is an important factor in promoting good health and nutrition. Most of the studies on food demand in developing countries focused largely on the quantity consumed of specific foods or food-groups with marginalized attention on dietary diversity. This study examines the extent of food consumption diversity and the factors influencing demand for diverse foods in Nigeria using micro-data on 18191 households. The transformed versions (logistic transformation) of Berry and Entropy measures of dietary diversity were used as regressands in the econometrics models employed for analysis. Low-income households and households whose heads are females or without formal education have lower than the norm in terms of diversity in food consumption. Income, food prices (captured by food price index), access to remittance, educational attainment up to secondary school, sex of household head and spatial factors are important determinants of demand for varied diets. Income improvement strategy, renewed emphasis on nutrition education especially in secondary schools, efforts to curtail food price inflation and sensitively-guided gender-based interventions are advocated, among others. Findings call for evaluation of the extent to which policy actions in agriculture and other relevant sectors weaken or advance diet diversity in order to devise holistic strategies for nutrition and health.