Household Demand for Plant-Based Protein Foods During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the demand for plant-based protein foods among households during the COVID-19 pandemic. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 1000 households from ten Local Government Areas in Lagos State, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a censored Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model. Households were categorized into non-poor, moderately-poor and core-poor using the FGT index. The study found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, though non-poor households had a higher expenditure on plant protein foods than both the moderately-poor and core-poor households, the moderately-poor and core-poor households, however allocated higher shares of their total food expenditure share on plant protein foods than the non-poor households. The result also showed that, while cowpea and groundnut were considered to be necessities for all households, soybean, lentils, and pigeon pea, were necessities for the core-poor households. The study therefore recommended that during periods of crisis, soybean, lentils, and pigeon pea should be made available for core-poor households because these households consider them to be very important in their diet and thus, will still purchase them even in the face of price shock.