Most Consumed Foods by Kenyan Households

Kenya is predominantly an agricultural country which relies mainly on agriculture for its development and livelihood.

Kenyan households spend the largest proportion of their budget on food. The largest proportion of their food budget is on staples. Although staples continue to be an important constituent of the food basket, their share in the total budget is expected to decline as incomes rise.

The food items commonly consumed by Kenyan households have been classified into the commonly known food groups namely: staples, fruits and vegetables, pulses, meat& and eggs, dairy products, oils & margarine, and beverages (soft drinks, tea/coffee).

Food consumption patterns vary according to socioeconomic level and household characteristics. In the past, traditional diets like millet, sorghum, roots and tubers were mainly consumed by low income households. On the other hand, cereals, milk, cheese, eggs, meat and sugars were for high income households, but this trend changed and at the moment, both low and high income households get to purchase and consume any of the foods.

The high-value foods such as vegetables and fruits, milk, meat, fish and eggs have been stated to be the ones receiving an increasing share of the household budget. Such diversification in the food basket (decline in staple consumption) is expected from a rise in per capita incomes and a decline in the relative prices of food items which are substitutes for cereals.

Other high-value foods such as vegetables and fruits, milk, meat, fish and eggs too are also being consumed widely by a good number of households in Kenya, thus being allocated a bigger share of the household budget.

According to a survey that was conducted by Tegemeo Institute, it showed that staples were an important constituent of household’s food basket. The main staples in the diet of most Kenyan households especially those residing the urban areas included: maize in form of flour, whole grain, green maize; other cereals like wheat (chapati, mandazi, cake, spaghetti, cereals) and rice.

Food items like Irish potatoes were tend to fall into the staple meals because they are mainly consumed as a staple as opposed to a vegetable by. In the staple group of foods, cassava, sweet 10 potatoes, sorghum and millet are also included since they are widely viewed as strategic crops in Kenya, as compared to maize and other staples like wheat and rice. They also have desirable qualities like high nutrition value like millet, high calorie content like cassava, drought and heat resistant like sorghum and can produce in depleted soils that are poorly fertilized and dry.

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