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Staple Food Consumption Patterns in Urban Zambia: Results from the 2007/2008 Urban Consumption Survey

Author

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  • Mason, Nicole M.
  • Jayne, Thomas S.

Abstract

• The Zambia Urban Consumption Survey, a survey of 1,865 urban households in Lusaka, Kitwe, Mansa, and Kasama, was conducted in August 2007 and February 2008 by the Central Statistical Office in collaboration with the Zambia Food Security Research Project. • Survey results indicate that in Lusaka and Kitwe, wheat has overtaken maize as the most important staple in terms of urban consumer expenditures. Maize is no longer the dominant staple food in urban Zambia, except among the poor. This finding is consistent with broader regional trends toward declining dependence on maize for urban staple food needs. • Hammer-milling services are readily available to the vast majority of urban households and in most cases their cheapest maize meal option is to obtain maize grain and have it custom-milled for a fee. However, maize grain is not consistently available in public markets during the lean season (December-March). GRZ could promote urban food security by ensuring that maize grain is available in public markets at all times. • In Kasama and Mansa, and particularly among relatively poor households, cassava is an important consumption item and serves as a buffer against high maize prices and poor maize grain availability during the lean season. • Supermarkets have only 5-17% of the market share for staple foods and are frequented mainly by wealthier households. Urban consumers are heavily dependent upon non-supermarket, informal retail outlets such as public markets and grocers for their staple food purchases. Policies and public investments to support these traditional retailers, help them operate more efficiently, and reduce the transaction costs they face may have higher payoffs for most urban consumers as well as smallholder farmers than policies presupposing the rapid takeover of supermarkets and other more formal retail channels.

Suggested Citation

  • Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, Thomas S., 2009. "Staple Food Consumption Patterns in Urban Zambia: Results from the 2007/2008 Urban Consumption Survey," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 56810, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:midcpb:56810
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.56810
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    Cited by:

    1. Nadia A. Streletskaya & Samuel D. Bell & Grace Kuo & Emily Heneghan Kasoma, 2020. "Urban consumer preferences for nutrient fortified snacks in Zambia," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 693-706, October.
    2. Hichaambwa, Munguzwe, 2012. "Urban Consumption Patterns of Livestock Products in Zambia and Implications for Policy," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 132343, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. Chapoto, Antony, 2012. "The Political Economy of Food Price Policy: The Case of Zambia," WIDER Working Paper Series 100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Lividini, Keith & Fiedler, John L., 2015. "Assessing the promise of biofortification: A case study of high provitamin A maize in Zambia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 65-77.
    5. Antony Chapoto, 2012. "The Political Economy of Food Price Policy: the Case of Zambia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, Thomas S. & Shiferaw, Bekele A., 2012. "Wheat Consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa: Trends, Drivers, and Policy Implications," Food Security International Development Working Papers 146936, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    7. Unknown, 2010. "Smallholder Marketing Behavior and Urban Consumption Patterns in Eastern and Southern Africa," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 62155, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    8. Lin, Jessie & Gupta, Anubhab, 2022. "Implications of Farm Size and Staple Production on Rural and Urban Food Security and Dietary Diversity," 96th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2022, K U Leuven, Belgium 321161, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    9. Cascade Tuholske & Kwaw Andam & Jordan Blekking & Tom Evans & Kelly Caylor, 2020. "Comparing measures of urban food security in Accra, Ghana," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 417-431, April.
    10. Jordan Blekking & Cascade Tuholske & Tom Evans, 2017. "Adaptive Governance and Market Heterogeneity: An Institutional Analysis of an Urban Food System in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-16, November.
    11. Jane Battersby, 2019. "The Food Desert as a Concept and Policy Tool in African Cities: An Opportunity and a Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, January.
    12. Winnie Fung & Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool‐Tasie & Nicole M. Mason & Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere, 2020. "Do crop purchase programs improve smallholder welfare? The case of Zambia's Food Reserve Agency," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(4), pages 519-533, July.
    13. Fung, Winnie & Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda & Mason, Nicole & Oyelere, Ruth, 2015. "Can Crop Purchase Programs Reduce Poverty and Improve Welfare in Rural Communities? Evidence from the Food Reserve Agency in Zambia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211637, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Kuteya, Auckland N., 2013. "The Maize Price Spike of 2012/13: Understanding the Paradox of High Prices despite Abundant Supplies," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 171871, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.

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