Determinants Of Fast Food Consumption Among Government Employees Of Kwara State, Nigeria

Profiling and understanding fast food consumption pattern and factors underlying the Food Away From Home (FAFH) are imperative for designing policies to meet sustainable increase in food production and pertinent for proper assessment of the agricultural product market opportunities in Nigeria. The study examined the expenditure on FAFH and its determinants among government employers in Kwara State, Nigeria. The expenditure of FAFH, food at home (FAH), and non-food items were also examined using budget share procedure. 250 government employees were randomly selected from 25 ministries and agencies of Kwara State; Nigeria. The study showed that that cooked rice menu, local food, rolls (particularly sausage), ice cream products and dough nuts were the main fast food consumed with double digits percentage of 22, 16.4, 14.8, 10.8 and 10 % respectively. The four items accounted for three-quarter (74%) of total FAFH expenditure. The mean FAFH expenditure for government employees was ₦19,530 per month and accounted for about 26.4% of total household expenditure while FAH expenditure gulps only 27.5%. The Probit regression result established that the coefficients of marital status (0.321), adjusted household size (0.008), disposable income (0.504) and TSAF (0.004) were found to significantly determine the respondent’s decision to consume fast food. Similarly, disposable income (0.208), time spent away from home (0.421), children whose age was > 12 years (-0.042), eat at home, (EAH) (-0.421) and Locality (LGA), (0.329) influenced the level of fast food consumption significantly. There should be an appropriate policy (targeting key agricultural products locally) that would take care of the anticipated increase in fast food outlets through increased in agricultural production which are primary raw materials used in the production of fast food products.