ABSTRACT

There is evidence to show that food choice involves a complex interplay of factors, which converged to affect demand for brands of consumer goods. This study is an attempt to understand what consumers of rice seek in their various brands, and factors that determine their choices. This is important to enable Nigeria remodel its domestic brands and improve its position in rice production and marketing. The study employed the multistage sampling technique in the selection of sixty households from whom data were elicited using a pre-tested and structured questionnaire. In data analysis, simple descriptive statistics and multinomial logit model were used. Results show that consumer choices of differentiated rice were influenced by price, grain size, taste, packaging, swelling capacity, ease of cooking, cleanliness, income, household size and availability. The study advanced arguments in favour of price as the major factor influencing the choices by consumers (95%). The result of the multinomial logit model revealed that education, gender, experience, household size, income, taste, swelling capacity and frequency of consumption were statistically significant at varied levels in determining consumer preferences for foreign rice in Nigeria. The study recommended that those involved in the rice value chain in Nigeria should be encouraged to adopt global best practices in order to take advantage of the increased demand in view of the ban on importation of foreign rice by the Nigerian government.