Understanding the biofortified cassava market in Nigeria: Determinants of consumer demand and farmer supply

Abstract

Biofortified foods are smart and strategic nutritious foods which plays critical role in addressing global burden of micronutrients in many emerging economies. While there is more and more consensus about the potential benefits of biofortification, the challenge lies on how to scale up its consumption and market system. This requires understanding of the dynamics of the biofortified cassava consumer demand and producers supply. Therefore, the study aims to identify the demand and supply drivers for biofortified foods and how it affects the food security of households across Nigeria.. A survey was administered to 240 willing consumers and 90 producers of biofortified cassava. The results revealed that price, marketing orientation, institutional support, price of substitute and education had a significant influence on supply, while the price of substitute, expenses on nutritional products, awareness of benefits, income, recommendation from experts, and education had a significant impact on demand for biofortified cassava. Our study lends support to the important role of communication to improve awareness and increase adoption, and also recommends institutional and infrastructural support to encourage market orientation and investments in biofortified crops. Our study provided evidences that scaling up sustainable market growth for biofortified foods required the convergence of consumer knowledge, awareness and expert recommendations, as well as effective communication strategies. Our concluded that dynamics of demand and supply of food must be targeted at enhancing access, availability and utilization of food to achieve goal of the SDGs.