Consumer awareness of food fortification in Kenya: The case of vitamin - A - fortified sugar
View/ Open
Date
2014-03Author
Pambo, Kennedy O
Otieno, David J
Okello, Julius J
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Food fortification is considered as an important strategy to address micronutrient malnutrition,
which is a key challenge in most developing countries. In Kenya, the National Food Security and
Nutrition Policy focus on pilot efforts on food fortification.
However, lack of empirical
information on consumers’ awareness for fortified foods remains the barrier to the uptake of
these enriched foods. This study assessed the consumers’ awareness and analyzed factors
affecting levels of awareness for fortified sugar. Awareness was assessed using descriptive
statistics while binary logit model was specified to analyze factors affecting the levels of
awareness. The study used primary data from a random sample of 350 consumers in Nairobi
County (a completely urban setup), and Kakamega County (a relatively rural setup). The study
found that about 55% of the households were aware of fortified sugar and that awareness levels
were statistically higher for urban consumers.
However, only 26
% of the respondents were aware
of the importance of vitamin
-
A in their diets.
Results from binary logit regression showed that
age of consumers, purchasing from supermarket, reading newspaper, dwelling place (
urban
or
rural)
as well as having a child below the age of five years, were the significant factors
influencing consumers’ awareness of fortified sugar. These findings offer useful insights for the
development of preference
-
based sugar fortification programmes in Kenya. Moreover, the results
would guide formulation of policies against micronutrient malnutrition in Kenya and other
developing countries, with similar conditions.
URI
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/173483/2/IFAMAFood2014.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11295/81692
Citation
Pambo, Kennedy O;Otieno, David J;Okello, Julius J:Consumer awareness of food fortification in Kenya: The case of vitamin - A - fortified sugarPublisher
University of Nairobi