Grain legume consumption patterns and demand A case of common bean in Uganda, cowpea in Nigeria and chickpea in Ethiopia ABSTRACT: This study provides information on consumption patterns of grain legumes focusing on common bean in Uganda, chickpea in Ethiopia and cowpea in Nigeria. Food system demands were estimated to provide consistent & unbiased price and income elasticities for several food categories, including the selected grain legumes. Findings suggest that in the coming years, grain legume farmers will need to produce more for feeding the growing population as well as current consumers who will demand more as their incomes increase. Findings will guide future research and policy efforts that aim at supporting grain legumes as an initiative for malnutrition and poverty reduction in developing countries. INTRODUCTION: In developing countries, grain legumes are a vital component of agricultural systems and household diets. Research analyzing the production of grain legumes have grown immensely, but literature on the consumption side remains sparse, which is partially due to previous lack of comprehensive household consumption data. A deeper understanding of current grain legumes consumption and demand is needed to guide future research investment on legume. This study aims to: Document the consumption of selected legumes, estimate their share in household food budgets and how it varies across household sub-groups; Estimate the responsiveness of grain legumes demand to changes in prices and income, and assess how these vary across household sub-groups. DATA AND METHODS: This study uses the nationally representative Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) data recently collected in each country. The household food demand is estimated using a two-stage censored demand system with a focus on common bean in Uganda, chickpea in Ethiopia, and cowpea in Nigeria. In the first stage, a Working-Leser (WL) model is estimated to explain household budget allocation between food and non-food items. In the second stage, a two-step Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model, controlling for censoring, is implemented to explain how households allocate their food budget among different food groups. Results from the WL and QUAIDS models are combined to obtain unconditional price and expenditure elasticities. Estimations are performed separately for rural & urban households. DISCUSSION: These results reveal that demand for grain legumes in the coming years will be high given their high income elasticities, and positive economic growth and rapidly increasing population in the three countries. The growth in demand also implies good income opportunities for households growing and selling legumes. However, if yields remain modest, demand for legumes could easily surpasses their supply, consequently putting pressure on prices. This could have negative effects on the nutrition of the poor who rely on legumes for their nutrition security but currently consume about two times less than households at the top of the wealth strata. Since the poor are more responsive to changes in legume prices, policies that aim at reducing malnutrition should support research investments that increase and stabilize grain legume productivity in developing countries. In the currently increasing legume export trade, further analysis of how increased income from legumes benefits the nutrition of the poor is of interest for policy makers and planners. RESULTS: Over 80% of Ugandan households consume bean in rural and urban areas. In Nigeria, urban households (88%) are more likely to consume cowpea than rural households (82%). About 22% urban households and 16% of the rural household in Ethiopia consume chickpea. Food expenditure share on legumes varies by country: In Uganda, 9.1% (6.7%) of rural (urban) household food budget is spent on beans; In Nigeria, 5.4% (4.8%) of the food budget is spent on cowpea in rural (urban) areas; in Ethiopia, about 1% of food expenditure goes towards chickpea; Other pulses, nut & seeds represent 4.0% (4.6%), 10.3% (11.2%), and 1.9% (1.1%) of food expenditure in rural (urban) Uganda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia, respectively. Food expenditure share on legumes varies by household economic status: In Uganda, the share of the food budget devoted to bean decreases with household wealth; In Nigeria, food expenditure share on cowpea decreases (relatively stable) with household wealth in rural (urban) areas; In Ethiopia, the food budget share on chickpea is lower for poor than non-poor households in both rural and urban areas. Leveraging legumes to combat poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation 1Virginia Tech, 2CIAT , 3ICRISAT and 4IITA Catherine Larochelle1, Enid Katungi2, Xin Ning1, Zhen Cheng1, Arega Alene4 & Kai Mauch3