Consumer choices and demand for Tilapia in urban Malawi: What are the complementarities and trade-offs?

Fish consumption can reduce malnutrition in many fish-producing low-income countries. Despite concerted efforts to develop capture fisheries and aquaculture in many low-income countries, fish demand remains poorly understood due to weak and fragmented domestic markets, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. An important area that affects their development is limited understanding of the complementarities and trade-offs in choice and demand for fish products and how the choice and demand for fish products are affected by the socioeconomic characteristics of consumers, market factors and fish-specific attributes. Previous studies have assessed consumer choice and demand for fish in general, without considering species-specific consumer choices. We add to the literature by analyzing complementarity and trade-offs in consumer choice and demand for fresh and smoked/dried products of two tilapia species, Lake Malawi Oreochromis (Nyasalapia) spp. and Oreochromis shiranus using household survey data from urban Malawi. We employ Multivariate Probit and Seemingly Unrelated Regression models to analyze the correlates and complementarities and trade-offs in consumer choice and demand. Regression results indicate trade-offs in choices but complementarities in demand for tilapia products. We find that the correlates of choice are not the same as correlates of demand. Sex and years of schooling of the food decision maker, frequency of fish consumption, household income, access to fish price and market information, tilapia price and traits significantly influenced consumer choice and demand. Developing robust tilapia value chains requires exploiting the complementarities and trade-offs and policy support to boost tilapia production, lower prices and increase access to fish price and market information. More generally fish breeding programs should also link breeding objectives to consumer choices and demand for fishery products, particularly considering the rarely examined fish attributes such as ease of cooking, appearance, taste, and smell.