Consumers’ preferences for animal-source foods and retail outlets: The case of Tanzania

Baker, D., Mtimet, N., Pica-Ciamarra, U. and Nsiima, L. 2016. Consumers’ preferences for animal-source foods and retail outlets: The case of Tanzania. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 11(3):197–210.

Growth in population and income, as well as urbanisation, are contributing to the growing consumption of high-value foods in developing countries. However, public and private investments targeting high-value agricultural markets are constrained by limited information on the quality dimensions of the market, the nature of traditional retail formats, and consumer segmentation. This paper presents a simple and appropriate methodology to provide such information, and applies it in Tanzania to animal-sourced foods. It features a rapid survey, which is then aligned with nationally representative survey data. The results show that Tanzanian consumers demand, and are anticipated to continue demanding, relatively good-quality animal products but in rather low-valued product forms. Consumer segments are differentiated by level of wealth and by choice of retail format and retail product form, rather than by quality per se.