An Analysis of Household Foods Demand in Rural Burundi Arnaud Niyomwungere 1 , Yu Wen 2* 1 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China 2 Agricultural Information Institute, Beijing 100081, China Email: arnold18y90200022@outlook.com; * yuwen@caas.cn Abstract. This study was aimed to investigate the roles of income and other socioeconomic variables such as household size, land size, head of household education level, raising the animals, source of income on food demand in rural Burundi. The demands for food and nutrients among the households in rural Burundi were examined using a recent survey done by the authors. An almost ideal demand system (AIDS) was employed to estimate the price and expenditure elasticities and the impact of socioeconomic variables on food demand patterns. An econometric model was then used to analyze the determinants of food demand. The estimated expenditure elasticities for the food groups range from 0.64 for oils to 1.36 for meats. These outcomes showed that there is a higher expenditure elasticities for meats, fish, and animal products, as well as cereals and grains. The results showed that the income and other socioeconomic variables exerted significant effects on food demand. The income and other socioeconomic variables exerted a significant impact on the food demand, and higher expenditure elasticity for food group items will increase remarkably with rising income. Keywords: almost ideal demand system (AIDS), food demand, non-parametric estimation, instrumental variables, Burundi 1 Introduction Food and nutrition demands are two aspects of the same question, in which food demand is related to the economics and nutrition demand is associated with the food demand. Malnourishment is not only caused by inadequate food intake but also caused by other variables that influence nutrient absorption in the body. For example, meats or fruits and vegetables may be consumed in insufficient quantities by lower disposable income either because they are given low preference due to the availability from the local market or because they are not affordable by a lower degree of market development. Food and nutritional policies need more information on the interaction between household socioeconomic characteristics, food prices, and the choices of nutrients or foods [1]. All the factors influencing food demand, in turn, will affect the nutrition demand. Imbalanced nutrient or insufficient food intake can cause many chronic diseases, such as different forms of malnutrition, kwashiorkor in children, and vitamin deficiency. There are no several studies that have analyzed the food consumption pattern in Burundi using single-equation models, such as the per capita consumption of animal in quantity estimated by the OLS(Ordinary Least Square) regression[2], or the food consumption structure in rural Burundi by the linear expenditure system and almost ideal demand system(AIDS)[3]. However, no study has been mentioned so far in estimating household food demand in Burundi. Our study is to find out how socioeconomic characteristics, prices, and expenditure influence food demands by using a recent survey done by the author. The first part of this study constructed the econometric model to identify influencing factors of major food consumption and food expenditure shares. The second part investigated the linearity in household behaviors by applying the AIDS model for the specification of a food demand system with food group effects. This model, in which expenditure shares (the share of expenditure being spent on some food items by consumers), was introduced by Deaton and Muellbauer in 1980 [4]. https://dx.doi.org/10.22606/afse.2020.42001 Advances in Food Science and Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 2, September 2020 15 Copyright © 2020 Isaac Scientific Publishing AFSE