An analysis of consumer demand for fruits in Sri Lanka. 1981–2010

Micronutrient deficiency has become a serious health concern in many countries and Sri Lanka is no exception. Inclusion of vegetables and fruits, which are rich in micronutrients, in the diet is considered as one of the most cost effective measures to alleviate such deficiencies. The purpose of this paper is to analyze consumer demand for fruits in Sri Lanka. The specific objectives are to: (i) describe the patterns of fruit consumption across various households groups (ii) document the changes that have taken place in the local fruit supply for meeting the changes in demand, and (iii) to estimate price and income effects of changes in fruit consumption during 1981–2010. The study was conducted using secondary data which were extracted from government publications. The analysis shows that banana, papaw, mangoes and pineapple are the major fruits consumed and the consumption levels of such fruits have been rising over the years. The urban households and the households in high-income deciles are found to be allocating a relatively higher proportion of their food expenditure on fruits. The country is self sufficient in most of the fruits and only a small portion is traded. The results of econometric estimations reveal large income effects and relatively small price effects. A larger role for income based interventions as opposed to price based interventions to improve fruit consumption in Sri Lanka is evident from the results.

► Consumption of banana, papaw, mangoes and pineapple has been increasing. ► Urban and high-income households spend more on fruits. ► Own price effects are small and the income effects are large. ► Income based interventions are recommended to improve fruit consumption.