Analyse non paramétrique et paramétrique de la relation entre les dépenses et la consommation alimentaire des ménages au Mali

National audienceWe investigate the relationship between per capita expenditure and households’ food consumption through per capita calorie intake, dietary diversity score and share of different groups in the calories, using data from a 2001 nationally representative survey on Malian households. Using a non parametric method, we find non linear Engel curves, and therefore employ a quadratic demand model to estimate the Engel functions. We find a significant and positive relationship between per capita expenditure and calorie intake, lending support to the conventional wisdom that income growth can alleviate inadequate calorie intake. However, in rural areas, diet remains particularly unbalanced as per capita expenditure increases: decreasing share of cereals is only compensated by increasing share of oils and fats. In both rural and urban areas, the share of fruits and vegetables is insensible to per capita expenditure. This highlights the limit of households’ monetary poverty alleviation to improve their food security. The results also suggest that: calorie intake improves with increasing transfers in kind (urban areas); diet quality improves with household head education (rural and urban areas); the share of meat, poultry, milk and eggs improves with decreasing health budget share (urban areas); the share of fruits, vegetables, roots and tubers improves with decreasing transport budget share (rural areas)