Search results

The impact of dietary changes associated with urbanization is likely to increase the demand for land for food production. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of urban economic development on changes in food demand and associated land requirements for food production.

Based on economic estimates from the Almost Ideal Demand System, feed conversion ratios, and crop yields, the authors forecast and compare future dietary patterns and land requirements for two types of urban diets in China.

The results show that the expenditure elasticities of oil and fat, meat, eggs, aquatic products, dairy, and liquor for the diet of capital cities are greater than those for the diet of small- and medium-sized cities. The authors forecast that capital city residents will experience a more rapid rate of increase in per capita demand of meat, eggs, and aquatic products, which will lead to much higher per capita land requirements. Projections indicate that total per capita land demand for food production in capital cities will increase by 9.3 percent, from 1,402 to 1,533 m2 between 2010 and 2030, while total per capita land demand in small- and medium-sized cities will increase only by 5.3 percent, from 1,192 to 1,255 m2.

The results imply that urban economic development can significantly affect the final outcomes of land requirements for food production. Urban economic development is expected to accelerate the rate of change toward an affluent diet, which can lead to much higher future land requirements.

It is the objective of this paper to elaborate determinants of food expenditure patterns for the generation 50+ in Germany on the basis of an Engel‐curve analysis.

Survey data for Germany are taken from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE) database. Food‐at‐home (FAH) expenditures of the generation 50+ are explained within a multiple regression analysis first. Then, a double‐hurdle approach based on the probit model and a truncated regression are utilized for reproducing the existence of food‐away‐from‐home (FAFH) expenditures and the share of FAFH expenditures on consumption expenditures across households. Available information on socio‐demographic variables, income and the health status of the respondents are introduced as regressors in the multivariate analyses.

FAH expenditures in the generation 50+ in Germany follow the theoretical expectations underlying Engel functions. With a rising income level, FAH expenditures increase as well but the income share of FAH expenditures declines as does the share of FAH expenditures in total food expenditures. Apart from income, the share of FAH expenditures in food expenditures rises with age, household size, and it is highest for the lowest education level. Moreover, it is higher for West than for East German households. Becoming a pensioner increases absolute FAH expenditures, but does not affect the FAH expenditure share significantly. Very different results are provided by the Engel‐curve analysis for food away from home. A rising income raises FAFH expenditures, whereas becoming a pensioner lowers it. The age variable is insignificant.

The estimated Engel curves suggest that food at home grows less with rising income than food away from home. In particular, the determinants of the per‐capita FAFH expenditures reveal important determinants of expenditures of the generation 50+ in a highly dynamic consumption category. The results have important marketing implications.

Despite the growing economic importance of the generation 50+ in industrialised countries, empirical evidence on how this age group behaves in its food expenditure pattern is often lacking. This study provides a first set of estimated coefficients from Engel curves for Germany. These show how income as well as sociodemographic and health variables affect per‐capita expenditures for FAH and FAFH consumption.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of off-farm work on food security in rural Bangladesh. We use rural household-level data and a nonparametric propensity score matching (PSM) estimator. Matching estimators are used in observational data to address the potential selection biases caused by nonrandom allocation of the treatment. Monthly food-consumption data and household income and expenditure surveys from rural Bangladesh for 2013–2014 are used in this chapter. We found that rural Bangladeshi households participating in nonfarm income-generating activities, especially in higher return nonfarm employment, enjoy higher levels of per-capita food expenditures and diet diversity – two of the measures of food security. In particular, we find that rural households increased diet diversity in cereals, fruits and vegetables, and meats. Finally, our estimates reveal that rural households participating in off-farm work increased per-capita food consumption by about Taka 1,576, on average, and increased per-capita expenditures on milk and milk products (Taka 212), and fruits and vegetables (Taka 235) significantly. Policy makers should design and implement policies that create off-farm livelihood activities. These nonfarm activities would help smallholder farm families to diversify, to supplement their income, and to continue their agricultural operations as well as increase food security.

We analyze the food security implications of off-farm labor reallocation decisions of rural farm households in transitional Albania. We accomplish this by examining local and nonlocal off-farm incomes for at-home food consumption expenditures.

An instrumental variable approach is employed to correct for endogeneity and censorship biases of off-farm income variables in a two-stage estimation of the food consumption expenditures.

We find that local off-farm income exerts a positive and significant effect on per capita food consumption expenditures of farm households, while private remittances from nonlocal off-farm income has the opposite effect on food consumption expenditures. In terms of regional heterogeneity, we discover that the mountain region spends significantly less on annual per capita food consumption compared to the central region. This confirms anecdotal evidence that food and nutrition insecurity in rural Albania is predominant in the mountain region.

Our findings suggest the need for policy makers to promote a development agenda that enables farm households to exploit the synergies among the various income-generating activities in the rural economy. This spectrum of income-generating activities forms complex livelihood strategies adopted by rural farm households to improve and maintain their food security.

We distinguish between local and nonlocal sources of off-farm income. Knowing which off-farm income source(s) has the largest impact on household welfare through improved food security status should be of interest to policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm income on food expenditure, using survey data of 493 rural households from Gansu, Henan and Shandong provinces in China.

A two-stage least squares estimator is used to jointly estimate the determinants of off-farm income and the direct impact of off-farm income on food expenditure while controlling for the endogeneity issue associated with off-farm income variable.

The empirical results show that gender, education of household head, household size, farm size, the presence of children, smartphone use and asset ownership mainly determine off-farm income, and the off-farm income affects food expenditure of rural households significantly. In particular, the results show that a 1,000 yuan increase in per capita off-farm income increases per capita food expenditure by 61 yuan. Further estimations reveal that off-farm income has a larger effect on food expenditure of high-income rural households relative to their low-income counterparts.

Although poverty implications of off-farm income have been well documented, few studies have analysed the effects of off-farm income on food expenditure of rural households. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no studies on this issue that focus on rural China. Therefore, the present study attempts to provide a first insight into the association between off-farm income and food expenditure of rural households in China, with the aim of providing useful evidence for policymakers in their efforts to reduce rural and urban food consumption gap and further increase social welfare.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of large income and expenditure shocks on household food expenditures and determines whether the impacts of large shocks differ among households, especially low-income households.

The study’s data are drawn from a household survey conducted in rural China. Multivariate analysis examines the impacts of large income and expenditure shocks on food expenditures.

The impacts of large positive income shocks on food expenditure are moderate. However, households reduce their per capita food expenditures within a range of about 25-30 percent after suffering large negative shocks. The greatest impact is found for shocks where expenditures more than double, followed by the impact of shocks where income declines by more than half. Moreover, food expenditures among low-income households are much more sensitive to large negative income and expenditure shocks. The paper concludes with policy implications.

This is the first Chinese study to empirically examine the impacts of different income and expenditure shocks on household food expenditures. The results have important implications for smoothing households’ food consumption after they suffer from shocks.

Population and income are growing rapidly in South Asia, spurring the demand for food in general, and the demand for higher-valued food items in particular. This poses particular food security challenges for densely populated and emerging countries, such as Bangladesh. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the increasing and changing cereal consumption pattern in developing countries using Bangladesh as a case.

Using Bangladesh’s Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2000, 2005a, b data, and applying a two-stage quadratic almost ideal system estimation procedure, the present study separately estimates the expenditure elasticities for rural and urban households for five food items: rice, wheat and rice and wheat products, pulses, fish and vegetables. Second, using the estimated elasticities, projected population and the per capita GDP growth rates, this study projects the consumption of the sampled food items by 2030.

This study demonstrates that in 2030 both rural and urban households in Bangladesh will consume more wheat, pulses and fish, but the urban households will consume less rice compared to the current levels of consumption in 2015.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on developing countries that examines the evolving food items consumption separately by rural and urban households. Using Bangladesh as a case, this study warns that with rapid urbanization and income growth, developing countries need to supply more wheat, fish and pulses. The provision of the maximum usage of scarce resources, such as arable land, the development and dissemination of improved varieties and the best management practices must be ensured to boost domestic food production in developing countries to cater to the future evolving food consumption.

Fast growth in China has led to significant improvement in people's living standards and average income. However, it has also brought about a huge rise in inequality. The purpose of this paper is to analyse regional and rural‐urban inequality using a few income and consumption indicators.

Data are collected from official statistical sources for all the Chinese provinces over 1978‐1995. Both parametric and non‐parametric methods are used to study the inequality between regions and between the rural and urban sub‐populations. The parametric approach is to test whether per capita incomes among provinces converged over time. The non‐parametric approach is the calculation and decomposition of the Gini coefficient by population sub‐group and income source.

The results show no evidence of growth convergence in per capita GDP, income and expenditure across provinces, but clear evidence of divergence in per capita rural (and urban) incomes and total expenditures. Three‐quarters of inter‐provincial income inequality are explained by inter‐rural/urban inequality. Inter‐provincial inequality explains more than half of rural inequality and less than half of urban inequality in most years.

This paper uses one of the most complicated datasets for the Chinese regions. It studies inequality using different economic indicators. It considers the different dimensions of inequality in China using two different approaches. The results are important for regional development policies.

The study aims to examine the impact of migration on household consumption expenditures in Bangladesh.

The paper uses coarsened exact matching methods to examine the causal impact between migration and household welfare using the dataset on Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 on 12,213 households.

The study reveals that migration has a positive impact on household welfare improvement through increases in their consumption expenditures. Households with migration status are found to spend more on food, non-food (housing, durable goods, fuel, cosmetics, cleaning, transport, clothing, taxes, insurance, recreation) items and medical. However, the authors do not find any evidence of impacts on education expenditures.

The availability of panel data and the use of other variables (e.g. household investment expenditures, household budget allocation for agricultural input expenses, etc.) would have been able to provide vivid results.

This paper adds to the Bangladeshi migration literature by offering a novel empirical assessment of the Bangladeshi migrants and its impact on household welfare by drawing upon a recently published, nationally representative sample of Bangladeshi households.

The study attempted to assess the food security status of urban agriculture households in Ghana and India. Also, the extent of urban agriculture participation and its effect on food security in Ghana and India were examined.

A total of 650 urban agriculture farmers were interviewed for this study in Ghana and India. Food security status of urban households was assessed by the use of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, whereas the determinants of the extent of urban agriculture and its effect on food security were analysed by the use of the heteroskedastic linear regression and the Seemingly Unrelated Regression models, respectively.

From the study on average, households in Ghana were mildly food insecure, but that of India was moderately food insecure. The results further revealed that various demographic, economic, institutional and health and nutrition factors differently influenced urban food security and urban agriculture. Also, the extent of urban agriculture participation positively influenced food security.

Several studies in Asia (India) and Africa (Ghana) on urban food security have been geographically limited to New Delhi, Mumbai and Greater Accra, with few studies in the Middle Belt of Ghana, and Bihar in India. Besides, there is a limited, rigorous, empirical study on the effect of the extent of UA on food security in Asia (India) and Africa (Ghana) individually and together. Moreover, we extend the frontiers of the methodological approach by applying the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model to understand if the factors that affect food-security accessibility based on two food security accessibility tools are correlated.