Heckman Modeling of Factors Explaining Livestock Products? Expenditures among Households in Nigeria

摘要

Consumption of animal products is essential for supplying protein in man?s diet. However, inadequate protein intake is a major nutritional hurdle in many Nigerian households. This study analyzed the factors influencing livestock products? consumption expenditures in Nigeria. The data were the 2009/10 Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey (HNLSS). Heckman selection model was used for parameter estimation given that the selection bias parameter (mill lambda) was statistically significant (p<0.01). The results showed that southern geopolitical zones had higher average expenditures on all categories of livestock products. The Heckman?s Model showed statistical significance (p<0.01) with rho (the error correlation parameter) being perfectly correlated. The parameters of North-Central zone (-1566.51), South East (2472.84), South South (10382.92), rural sector (-2835.92), household size (2469.50) and per capita food expenditure (proxy for income) (0.29) were statistically significant (p<0.05). It was concluded that poverty often makes households to deemphasize the importance of livestock products in their daily diets and that efforts to enhance people?s income would assist in improving their animal protein intakes.