Long Term Change in Dietary Patterns and Food Demand in Asia: India 1970-1990

摘要

The Centre has for some time made efforts to identify and estimate long term trends in food consumption and demand in Asia. The initial efforts used the balance sheet approach which is the quickest and most cost efficient way to estimate trends. For identification and estimation of the dynamics in consumption, one needs to identify consumer behaviour of income (or otherwise defined) groups; this way one can establish relations between income and expendable income for food. Engels' Law is in full operation in Asia, where economic growth of national economies is becoming a wide stream. In the past decennia economists have eagerly followed the trend in rice and wheat consumption with the purpose of establishing the point where per capita consumption and demand would level off. This point has largely been reached. The observation of trends in consumption and, demand yield, of course, far more information. confirms, first, that there are still significant regional differences in cereal consumption and magnitude of economic and income growth, and second, that consumption and demand differ among agriculture commodities.