Determinants of household food consumption in mwanza region, Tanzania

By using the 2011/2012 Tanzania Household Budget Survey, this study finds out the determinants of household food consumption in Mwanza Region. The results show that seven variables-namely household size, total durable goods expenditure, non-food consumption, total household income monthly, total household consumption monthly, consumption monthly per adults and consumption monthly per capita were all significant at 5% level (p=0.000). Again the multiple regression model was used to explain the determinants of household food consumption. Household location, sex, age marital status, household size, Total durable goods expenditure, Non-food consumption, Total household income monthly, Total household consumption monthly, Consumption monthly per adults and Consumption monthly per capita were found to have strong relationship with total household food consumption. Also findings shows that the independent variables are statistically significantly predict the dependent variable F(7, 3535) = 0.0026, p <.0005 this means the regression model is a good fit of the data. It is concluded that there is a suspected existence of food insecurity and vulnerability to poverty in the study area which could be as a result of high cost of food items compared with the income. It is recommended that, family planning should be sensitize to reduce household size by providing education and family planning methods, better policy attention should be focused on the price control system to durable goods and provision of subsidies on the food items should be explored by government.