Abstract

The paper investigates food consumption patterns including total food expenditures and food budget shares, sources of food, food expenditures by major food group and expenditures for food consumed outside the households. The survey with households was conducted in 2007. The survey was performed through face to face interviews with 386 households from the provinces. Of the total household expenditures, an average of 42.29% constituted food expenditures. Food expenditures varied among food groups as well. Milk and dairy products, meat, poultry, fish and other meat products as well as floury foods had the largest share in expenditures. As expected, the value of food expenditures increased with household size and income. About 56.44% of total monthly expenditure of rural households represents the value of consumption from own resources. The average daily food consumption of rural households is about 3519 calories for adults. Approximately 55% of the daily calorie intake is composed of cereals and floury foods whereas 4.60% is composed of meat and fish and 1.42% is composed of vegetable group of foods.

Key words: Food consumption, food consumption patterns, rural diet.