Rice demand pattern and its intervening factors in Nigeria

The study examined rice demand pattern and its intervening factors in Nigeria. To achieve this, the study examined the socio-economic characteristics of rice-consuming households, average income of households, quantity of rice, expenditure share of rice, rice meals consumption patterns, rice meals consumption habitand factor affecting rice meals consumption patterns. Both primary and secondary data were used to generate information for this study. A multi-stage sampling procedure, involving four stages, was used to select 812 households. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that rice consumption/demand was more in the urban centres than the rural centres of the study area, mostly among the married and the medium-size male-headed households with tertiary-education. Rice constituted the largest share of the household total food expenditure, ranging between about 28 and 21% among the high income and urban household, to 28 and 24% among the low income and rural households. The result of the multiple regressions showed that the pattern of rice consumption in Nigeria is a phenomenon linked with socio-economic characteristics of households, the type of rice, level of education, ease of preparation and urban lifestyles. Attention must be paid to these factors if Nigeria is to attain self-sufficiency in rice for sustainable consumption.