What determines consumption of nutritious foods by the urban poor in Africa?
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 26 July 2021
Issue publication date: 3 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Malnutrition remains a big public health issue especially in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze factors that influence consumption of nutrient-rich foods among children aged 6–59 months and women of reproductive age (15–49 years) in the urban informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda. This study uses multicomposite soft porridge as an example of a nutritious product.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 574 households from urban informal settlements in Kampala and Nairobi. A systematic random sampling approach was used to select respondents, and interviews were conducted on their sociodemographics, porridge consumption and purchase behavior. Probit regression models were used for the analysis.
Findings
Results indicate that households with access to nutrition information are more likely to consume porridge with diversified ingredients, compared to households without nutrition information. Additionally, consumption of fortified porridge flour has a lower probability of consuming porridge flour with diversified ingredients.
Practical implications
The evidence echoes the need for increased dissemination of nutrition information, which will trigger willingness to pay and consumption of nutritious foods. Further, it underpins the need for processor-level interventions to avail these foods at affordable prices for the benefit of low-income consumers.
Originality/value
This is among the first papers assessing factors that influence consumption of nutritious and diversified soft porridge by children aged 6–59 months and women aged 15–49 in the informal settlements of East Africa.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, through the project number 15.7860.8-001.00 “Making Value Chains Work for Food and Nutrition Security in East Africa”. Additional funding by the flagship program “Food Systems for Healthier Diets” under the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) is also gratefully acknowledged. The donors were not involved in the research in any way. The project was led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and implemented in partnership with other local and international organizations. The authors of this paper thank the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) for their cooperation and support during the fieldwork, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Current affiliation of Matthias Jager is The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, (GIZ) Germany.
Citation
Chege, C.G.K., Namazzi, S., Mutua, M.M., Onyango, K.O. and Jager, M. (2022), "What determines consumption of nutritious foods by the urban poor in Africa?", British Food Journal, Vol. 124 No. 1, pp. 350-365. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-03-2020-0190
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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