Despite concerted efforts to develop the fisheries sector in many developing countries, fish demand remains poorly understood due to weak and fragmented domestic markets, particularly in Africa south of the Sahara. An important area that affects the development of the fishery sector is limited understanding of how the choice between different fish products is affected by the socioeconomic characteristics of consumers, marketing factors and fish-specific attributes. Previous studies in Malawi have assessed consumer choice and demand for fish in general, without considering species-specific consumer choices.
Working Paper 31 analyzes consumer choices and demand for two species of tilapia, Lake Malawi Oreochromis (Nyasalapia) spp. (Ny) and Oreochromis shiranus (Os), in unprocessed and processed form, in urban Malawi. The authors use data collected from a sample of 584 urban households in Malawi’s two major cities, Blantyre and Lilongwe. Multivariate probit and seemingly unrelated regression models are employed to analyze the correlates of consumer choice and demand for tilapia products. Even though most consumers chose farmed tilapia (Os) over the wild tilapia (Ny), the results of the study indicate trade-offs in choice but complementarities in demand for unprocessed and processed tilapia products. The authors find that the correlates of choice are not the same as correlates of demand for tilapia products. This is explained by heterogenous consumer profiles, market conditions, and tilapia trait descriptors. Developing robust tilapia value chains requires exploiting these complementarities and trade-offs, policy support to boost tilapia production, and reducing its relative caloric price to consumers. These measures will contribute to increased consumer demand. More generally fish breeding programs should also link breeding objectives to consumer choices and demand for fisheries’ products, particularly considering rarely examined fish attributes such as its nutritive value and body texture.
Authors: Christopher T. M. Chikowi, Dennis O. Ochieng, and Charles B. L. Jumbe, December 2019.
The working paper is available here. (PDF 909 KB)
UPDATE (August 27, 2020)
The article “Consumer Choices and Demand for Tilapia in Urban Malawi: What are the complementarities and trade-offs?”, authored by Christopher Chikowi, Dennis O. Ochieng, and Charles Jumbe has been accepted for publication in Aquaculture. The final version of the article, containing full biographic details, is available on ScienceDirect until October 10, 2020. Please follow this link to read or download the article.
Christopher T. M. Chikowi is a MSc student in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR).
Dennis O. Ochieng is an Associate Research Fellow at IFPRI Malawi and leads the Strengthening Agricultural Markets and Institutions theme within the Malawi Strategy Support Program (MaSSP).
Charles B. L. Jumbe is a Professor of Economics at the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR).
Acknowledgments
This Working Paper is an output of the Bunda Grant Scheme program of IFPRI-Lilongwe. This mentorship scheme provides selected MSc students from the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Bunda College) with opportunities to improve, publish, and disseminate the research that they undertake during their MSc training by working with a seasoned researcher from IFPRI. The Bunda Grant Scheme program is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The views expressed in this working paper imply no endorsement by IFPRI-Malawi, USAID, or anyone except the authors.
The authors acknowledge financial support for data collection from AquaFish - Africa Center of Excellence at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
