Food consumption changes in Ethiopia

1. ETHIOPIAN DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Food consumption changes in Ethiopia
Mekdim Dereje
IFPRI ESSP
Ethiopian Economics Association
13th International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy
July 23-25, 2015
Addis Ababa
1

2. 2
Introduction
• Rapid changes in Ethiopia’s economy (Ethiopia one
of the fastest growing economies in the world)
• Important increases in agricultural production in last
decade
• Despite improvements in economy and in
agricultural production, still important nutritional
problems in the country
• Purpose of the analysis: Explore patterns and
changes in Ethiopia’s food economy, based on
nationally representative data

3. Data
• Rely on the Ethiopian Household Consumption and
Expenditure Survey (HICES) collected by CSA:
- Year 1995/96: 11,678 households
- Year 1999/00: 17,320 households
- Year 2004/05: 21,560 households
- Year 2010/11: 27,831 households
• Use CSA’s retail price dataset for deflation of
expenditures

4. Food versus non-food expenditures
1) Important welfare
improvements
• Increasing real
expenditures overall
• Food expenditures grew
by 19% between 2011
and 2000
• Increasing share of non-
food
- 2000: 37%
- 2005: 46%
- 2011: 52%
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000 2005 2011
Birr/capita
Food
Non-food

5. Cereals versus non-cereals
2) Increasing diversification in
the food basket
• Quantities of cereals
consumed is slightly
increasing:
- 1996: 127 kgs/capita
- 2000: 141 kgs/capita
- 2005: 150 kgs/capita
- 2011: 155 kgs/capita
• Share of cereals in
expenditures on the decline
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2000 2005 2011
Shareinfoodexpenditures(%)
cereals non-cereals

6. Non-cereal foods
3) Diversification into high-
value food types
• Non-cereal foods on the
rise:
- animal products
- oils and fats
- F&V
- Coffee/tea/chat
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2000 2005 2011
%foodexpenditures animal products oil and fat
F&V enset/kocho
coffee/tea/chat

7. Cereals
4) Considerable variation
within cereal consumption
• In kg terms, maize most
important cereals
• Maize consumption
increasing over time (51 kgs
in 2011; 37 kgs in 2000)
• In expenditure terms, teff,
wheat and maize equally
important (each about 7.5%
of expenditures)
• Processed cereals not
important yet overall (4.6%
of expenditures)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
2000 2005 2011kg/capita/year
teff wheat barley
maize sorghum other
processed

8. Urban versus rural
5) Important difference
between urban and rural
• Urbanization low in
Ethiopia but taking off
• Has implication on
Ethiopia’s food economy
• Urban residents have
different food basket:
- More consumption of teff
and meat
- Lower consumption of
maize, sorghum and
enset/kocho
0 5 10 15
teff
sorghum
maize
processed cereals
animal products
enset/kocho
F&V
% food expenditures
Rural
Urban

9. Sources of food expenditures
6) Food markets becoming more
important
• Food in rural areas mostly
acquired through own
consumption (42%)
• However, food markets (sales
of food for food purchase
(34%)) already important in
rural areas and very high in
urban areas
• Salaries/wages, sales of non-
ag. products, and remittances
important in urban areas 0 20 40 60
Auto-consumption
Sale ag. products
Sale non-ag.
products
Salary/wage
Remittances
Others
% food expenditures
Urban
Rural

10. Calorie consumption
7) Average calorie
consumption improving
• Average calorie
consumption 9% higher in
last decade
• Cereals stays major
source of calories:
- 2000: 65%
- 2005: 61%
- 2011: 62%
• Maize makes up 20% of
calorie consumption in
2011
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
2000 2005 2011
Kcal/day/adultequivalent
cereals non-cereals

11. Calorie consumption
8) Large variation in prices
paid per calorie
• Maize is the cheapest
source of calories
(followed closely by enset,
sorghum, and root crops)
• Processed cereals four
times as expensive as
non-processed
• Cereals half the price of
non-cereals
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
maize
enset/kocho
sorghum
root crops
barley
teff
wheat
sugar and salt
oil and fat
processed cereals
Birr/kcal

12. Income and the share of food/cereals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Poorest q2 q3 q4 Richest
Shareoffoodintotalexp.(%)
2011 2005
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Poorest q2 q3 q4 richest
Shareofcerealsinfoodexp.(%)
2011 2005
• 9) Important difference between the poor and non-poor

13. Income and cereal expenditures
• Share of cereals going
down for richer
households
• Teff (9.1% versus 4.4%)
and processed cereals
(8.9% versus 2.6%) more
eaten by the rich than by
poor
• Maize (13.0% versus
2.6%) and sorghum (6.9%
versus 1.8%) more eaten
by the poor than by the
rich
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Poorest q2 q3 q4 Richest
%foodexpenditures
teff wheat
barley maize
sorghum processed cereals

14. Income and non-cereal expenditures
• Share of non-cereals
going up for richer
households
• Animal products (17.6%
versus 6.6%) more eaten
by the rich than by poor
• Enset/kocho (6.4% versus
1.7%) and pulses (10.1%
versus 7.6%) more eaten
by the poor than by the
rich
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Poorest q2 q3 q4 Richest
%foodexpenditures
animal products pulses
oil and fat F&V
enset/kocho coffee/tea/chat
other

15. Conclusions
• Important food diet transformation in the last decade:
1/ Average quantity (+23%) and calorie (+9%) consumption
has improved significantly
2/ Share of cereals in expenditures on the decline (43% in
2000; 35% in 2011)
3/ Consumption of more expensive foods on the rise
(animal foods; processed foods; coffee/tea/chat)
• Large differences in food consumption by income levels
and between urban and rural populations

16. Conclusions
• Implications:
1/ Agricultural policy successful in promoting cereal
productivity in the past; however, more demand for
diversified foods; more emphasis required in the future on
diversification in production
2/ Agricultural markets play more important role in food
economy; further stimulate these markets and better
understand constraints in their functioning
3/ While average improvements, part of the population no
adequate diets; further continuation and strengthening of
nutrition-sensitive safety nets required