ANALYSIS OF CONSUMERS BEHAVIOUR ON RICE CONSUMPTION IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analyzed the consumer’s behavior on rice consumption in Bauchi State, Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting 450 respondents for the study. Data were collected using questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result shows that majority (81.3% and 85.1%) of the respondents were male and married. The result also showed that about 37.6% and 24.9% of the respondents had tertiary and secondary education. The result further shows the mean age, mean household size, mean annual household income, mean monthly quantity of rice purchased mean price of rice per mudu and mean monthly rice expenditure as 40 years, 9 persons per household, N370, 526, 19.74 and N779.38, 20,738 respectively. The result revealed that about 44.0% and 27.3% of the respondents consume rice on monthly and special occasions with majority (58.9%) of them having preferred white rice and stew as their best rice dishes. The result further showed that household size, educational level, occupation of the household head, marital status price of rice and household head income, were the significant (P<0.01, P<0.05 and P<0.10 respectively) factors determining rice consumption and expenditure in the study area. The result concluded that rice is a major staple food in every household in the study area, but it is not regularly consumed by most of the household in the study area because of the high cost. From the findings of the study, positive relationship between price and expenditure shows rice is no longer a luxury food but a necessity food which is now used to prepare different forms of dishes such as tuwo, kunu, masa, Dan wake and therefore serve as substitute for most cereal based food. It is therefore recommended that government should provide policies and programmes that will improve the production of rice in the study area and the country at large that will increase the supply of the commodity in the market, hence reducing its price.