Are Urban Consumers in Niger Willing to Pay for Safe and Nutritious Food

Abstract

Nondiversified and poor-quality diets are some of the main causes of hidden hunger and associated illnesses. Yet there is limited research on consumer valuation of food quality attributes especially those related to nutritional quality in low-income countries. Consequently, we assess urban consumers preference for food quality attributes of value-added cereal products in Niamey, Niger. We combine qualitative and quantitative methods to assess 205 randomly sampled consumers preferences and the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for food quality attributes. Multinomial logit models are estimated using Maximum Simulated Likelihood and comparing two alterative specifications of consumer preferences. In addition, we account for taste and preference heterogeneity inherent to consumers responses to a change in quality attributes. We find that consumers are highly sensitive to the nutritional quality attribute as measured by the expiration date, the presence of micronutrients, and the product origin. These results suggest a market demand for quality food products beyond traditional cereals but demand is heterogenous and class-dependent. Food processors and policymakers should better communicate quality attributes of products through a sound promotion strategy marked by quality labeling. Keywords: Food Labeling, Consumer Surplus, Choice Experiment, Niger, Nutrition, WTP THIS PAPER SHOULD BE ENTERED INTO THE T.W. SCHULTZ YOUNG ECONOMIST COMPETITION. Acknowledgement : This study was made possible by the support of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sorghum and Millet through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Program activities are funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-13-00047.