Abstract

Fruits are essentially composed of vitamins that are capable of improving the health of consumers.  This study examined the consumption pattern of fruits among rural and urban households in Edo south agroecological zones of Edo state, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inference statistics. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse socioeconomic characteristics and fruit consumption types. Budget share analysis was used to analyze household budget share on fruit while regression analysis was adopted to set demand elasticities and analyze determinants of fruit consumption. The result shows that the average income level in the rural and urban centres were about ₦38,000 and ₦118,000 respectively. Pineapple was the most consumed fruit (53.40 %), while star apple was the least consumed (2.91 %). The budget share was highest for food items (0.44), while the budget share for fruits was 0.17 indicating an overall low level of fruit consumption. In rural areas (0.42) a higher budget share was allocated for fruit than those in the urban centres (0.14). Age, household size, and income were significant determinants of household expenditure on food. Fruits were observed to be a normal good with elastic price elasticity and a substitute to fruit juice and medicinal supplements. It is therefore recommended that policy attention should be focused on the price control system to food with high nutritive value such as fruits, to be more affordable to urban dwellers.

Keywords: Fruit, Consumption Pattern, Elasticity, Luxury goods, Edo State