Are healthier diets culturally affordable in Africa? evidence from four African countries

Joaquin Ameller, Sophie Drogué (), Kaleab Baye, Marie-Josephe Amiot (), Noora Kanerva, Agnes Le Port (), Marinel Hoffman, Abdelrahman Lubowa, Gaston Ampe, Mikael Fogelholm and Natalia Rosa-Sibakov
Additional contact information
Joaquin Ameller: UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Sophie Drogué: UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Kaleab Baye: AAU - Addis Ababa University
Marie-Josephe Amiot: UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Noora Kanerva: Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki
Agnes Le Port: UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Marinel Hoffman: University of Pretoria [South Africa]
Abdelrahman Lubowa: MAK - Makerere University [Kampala, Ouganda]
Gaston Ampe: MAK - Makerere University [Kampala, Ouganda]
Mikael Fogelholm: Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki
Natalia Rosa-Sibakov: VTT Technical Res. Ctr. of Finland Ltd

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: In 2023, between 713 and 757 million people experienced hunger globally, with Sub-Saharan Africa facing a prevalence of undernourishment at 20.4%. This study addresses the nutritional challenges affecting vulnerable groups, particularly women and young children, in eight African cities by modelling nutritionally adequate, economically affordable, and culturally acceptable diets. Our goal is to provide optimised diets for future consideration in food based national dietary guidelines for Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda. We employ a mathematical programming approach to optimise diets, in order to achieve nutrient adequacy with minimal changes to current consumption patterns, under a budget constraint. The results show that nutritionally adequate diets are possible but often require dietary shifts, including increased intake of vegetables, fruits, and legumes, while moderately reducing the intake of cereals and, to a lesser extent, roots and tubers. Affordability remains a key constraint, some cities face larger tradeoffs than others, reflecting different levels of dietary diversity and purchasing power. Our discussion highlights the trade-off between cultural acceptability and economic affordability, suggesting that higher budgets may facilitate easier acceptance of dietary changes. Consequently, a focus on minimising food expenditures alone could compromise diet suitability by neglecting cultural acceptability. Lastly, we recommend a multifaceted policy approach to enhance frameworks for both demand and supply sides to achieve healthier diets.

Keywords: Mathematical programming; Health and welfare; Diet affordability; Africa; Diet optimisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-inv
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05299244v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Agrekon, 2025, pp.1-23. ⟨10.1080/03031853.2025.2562813⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05299244v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05299244

DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2025.2562813

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().