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Abstract
Chronic food production deficits since the early 1970s have prompted policymakers of Burkina
Faso to emphasize technological research with the goal of increasing the production of the mostconsumed
locally-grown cereals: sorghum, millet and maize. Meanwhile, urban consumers have
been developing preferences for rice and wheat, cereals that are primarily imported. This study
estimates demand relationships among food items in Ouagadougou, Burkina. The results of the
estimation suggest that prices, income, household composition, education, marital status and urbanization
were jointly important in explaining household expenditure allocations. Both local and
imported cereal consumption responded positively to an income increase. However, incremental
income changes would lead to relatively greater consumption of locally produced cereals by lowincome
households whereas high-income households would consume relatively more wheat and
rice. The household model is then used to demonstrate its relevance in addressing food policy
issues, by forecasting the levels of urban grain demand under alternative income and demographic
scenarios. With increased production due to advances in technology, the urban demand levels do
not exhaust the rural surplus of local cereals, but deficits persist in the rice-wheat sector. The
results underscore the importance of technological research since Burkina could become self-sufficient
in at least the production of sorghum, millet and maize.