Determinants of household expenditures on vegetables in Malaysia

The World Health Organization recommends an optimal diet of at least two daily servings of fruits (160 grams) and three daily servings of vegetables (240 grams) to prevent diet and nutrition related chronic diseases. However, statistics show that although the average daily per capita consumption of vegetables in Malaysia increased steadily by about 70% between the periods of 1980s (66 grams) and 2000s (112 grams), the amounts consumed are still far below the recommended dietary guidelines. It is thus surmised that Malaysians are not eating adequate amounts of vegetables relative to their consumption of other staple foods (e.g. fish, meat or rice).

Given the under-consumption of vegetables amongst Malaysians, it is the objective of this study to examine the socio-demographic determinants associated with household expenditures on vegetables (fresh and preserved) in Malaysia. A better understanding of the socio-demographic determinants associated with household expenditures on vegetables may be relevant to public health authorities concerned with the dietary patterns of Malaysians as well as consumer insight analysts intent on distinguishing their target markets.

To accommodate the censored nature of household expenditures on vegetables, a sample selection system is applied to 21,542 observations from the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey 2009/2010 to examine the factors associated with the likelihood of purchasing and amount spent on fresh and preserved vegetables in Malaysia. The sample selection parameterization ameliorates shortcomings of the Tobit system and also improves statistical efficiency of the empirical estimates relative to two-step estimation given that demand for fresh and preserved vegetables may conceivably be interdependent.

Results indicate that household size, urbanicity, ethnicity, age, education, and income are closely associated with expenditure patterns of fresh and preserved vegetables in Malaysia. Specifically, households with additional family members tend to consume more fresh and preserved vegetables. Urbanites are less likely to purchase and spend less on vegetables than rural households. Ethnically, Chinese and Indian households spend more on both fresh and preserved vegetables than Malays. Households headed by older-middle age and retiree persons display higher purchase likelihoods and expenditures on both vegetable types than those led by younger household heads. Tertiary educated household heads exhibit lower purchase likelihoods of both types of vegetables and spend less on these items than their less-educated cohorts. Meanwhile, lower-middle income households display higher purchase likelihoods and expenditure levels than poverty-low or high-income households.

Based on these results, several observations are noted vis-à-vis the determinants of household expenditures on vegetables in Malaysia.