Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy, Research, Capacity and Influence

Key Facts

• In Senegal, rural households consume less rice than urban households, but demand for rice is increasing for both types of households (rice consumption as a proportion of cereals has gone up from 24% in 1990 to 40% in 2018).
• Urban households spend more on unbroken grain rice while rural households spend more on broken rice.
• Urban households consume relatively more unbroken grain local rice while rural households consume more broken imported rice.
• To substitute imports, production and availability of locally grown broken rice needs to increase for both rural and urban households. For rural households, better availability of good quality local rice also needs to
be ensured.
• Rice demand is price inelastic, so subsidies and taxes would have little effect on consumption.