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African Journal of Agricultural Marketing ISSN: 2375-1061 Vol. 2 (8), pp. 154-159, August, 2014. Available online at 
www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. 
 
 
 

Full Length Research Paper 
 

Multinomial logistic regression in examining factors 
driving consumer preference for locally produced rice 

in Nigeria 

 

Akimade V. Esther 
 

Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ondo State University of Science and Technology, 
Okitipupa, Nigeria. 

E-mail: estherakimade9@gmail.com 

 
Accepted 16 June, 2014 

 
This study applied a multinomial logistic regression in examining factors driving consumer preference 
for locally produced rice in Nigeria. The data for the study were collected in Niger and Ekiti states in 
2008 under the post harvest study programme of Africa Rice (EX-WARDA). Results of the various 
analyses underscored the significance of socio-economic factors as major drivers of consumer 
preference for local rice in Nigeria. Five of the coefficients of the explanatory variables (age, marital 
status, education of household head, primary activity of household head and sex of household head) 
significantly influence the consumer preference for Pategi relative to Aroso (imported rice). Similarly, 
five variables (age of household head, educational status of household head, and sex of household 
head) influence significantly, consumer preference for Igbemo relative to Aroso. Aside socio-economic 
variables, other factors found to have influence on consumer preference are frequency of purchase and 
price. In spite of the various types of local rice available in the markets, majority of consumers can 
identify different types based on their physic-chemical characteristics. Nevertheless, the two most 
highly rated criteria for selection of rice bought in the market are whiteness and absence of foreign 
materials. Further analysis also confirmed that about 82% of Nigerian eats rice at least once in a day. 
The significance of the socio-economic variables is an indication that policies and programmes for the 
development of the Nigerian rice sector should, in addition to enhancing the physico-chemical 
characteristics of rice, include value reorientation and sensitization of the people on the nutritional 
qualities of local rice. 

 
Key words: Factors influencing, socio-economic, local rice, Nigeria. 

 
INTRODUCTION 
 
There are quite a range  of diverse socio-cultural factors dishes are known to be prepared from different types of 
underlining   the   consumption  pattern   and   consumer local rice in Nigeria. The consumption  and  utilization  of  
preference for  rice in  Nigeria.  These   factors, however, various types of local rice  also vary  across  the country 
vary across the various geo-political zones in the country. depending on the divers’  traditional  food  consumption  
Aside,  the  significance  of  physical  and  organoleptic patterns in the  country.  Different  local dishes prepared 
characteristics of rice can also not be under-emphasized from rice also have different type of   rice suitable for its 
in this respect as they often determine different types of preparation. Probably for the choice of taste, colour and  
menu  that  can  be  prepared  from  rice .   Thus, several stickiness after cooking  some  consumers prefer certain 



Akimade          154 
 
 
 

Table 1. Study areas and number of samples. 
 

State No of LGA No of community per LGA No of sample per community No of samples per state 

Ekiti 2 2 50 200 
Niger 2 2 50 200 
Total 4 8 200 40 

 
 
 
type of local rice for a particular dish. However, infor-
mation as regards what informed consumer choice of a 
particular type of local rice is still lacking. Aside, 
information of the effects of various factors that are likely 
to influence the choice of local rice selected by 
consumers is also not available. Yet, such information is 
necessary not only for the purpose of rice quality 
improvement but also for strategic planning of rice sector 
in Nigeria. Different physico-chemical characteristics of 
rice are usually considered by rice consumers when 
making their choice of different types of rice bought in the 
market. This study, therefore, investigates the criteria that 
are normally considered when making the decision of the 
type of rice to be purchased in the market. 

 
METHODOLOGY 
 
Data collection 
 
The underlying data used for this study was derived from a survey 
carried out as part of the post harvest study conducted under the 
programme of increasing the quality and competitiveness of locally 
produced rice in sub-Saharan Africa through the use of New Rice 
for Africa (NERICA) and the promotion of improved post-harvest 
technologies sponsored by the Africa Rice (EX-WARDA). This 
study adopted a systematic random sampling technique for the 
selection of the representative samples from two states in Nigeria 
(Ekiti and Niger states) bearing in mind the divers’ socio-cultural 
and traditional food consumption patterns in the country and also 
ensure geographical representation of the samples. Ekiti is situated 
in the Southern part of the country while Niger state is located in the 
Northern part. The traditional consumption patterns across the 
country is such that the Northern states are mainly cereal based 
while the Southern states are mainly tuber based though rice 
consumption across the country is fast increasing. Thus, from each 
state, two rice producing Local Government Areas (LGAs) were 
purposively selected. From each LGA, one urban and one rural 
community were chosen. From each community, representative 
samples of 50 rice consumers were selected using systematic 
random sampling approach. Thus, at least 100 samples were drawn 
from each LGA making a total of 200 respondents per state as 
shown in Table1. 

 
ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE AND MODEL SPECIFICATION 
 
Model specification and estimation procedure 
 
Estimating multinomial logistic regression requires that one 
category of the dependent variables is chosen as the comparison 

category. Separate relative risk ratios are determined for all inde-
pendent variables for each category of the independent variable 
with the exception of the comparison category of the dependent 

variable,  which  is   omitted from the analysis. Hosmer and Stanley, 

 
 
 
2000; Hilbe, 2009). In this case, ‘Aroso’ which is a brand of imported 

rice was chosen as the base category and all other type of the local 

rice are compared with the base outcome. The empirical form of the 

multinomial logic model is given below. 

 
Model 
 

 1 and 
 

 
2 

 
Where the ith is individual, yi is the observed outcome (different 

types of local rice) and Xi is a vector of explanatory variables. The 
unknown parameters β j was typically estimated by maximum 
likelihood using STATA package. The explanatory variables used in 
this study included; income, price, physico-chemical characteristics 
of rice, frequency of consumption, sex, age, level of education, 
marital status, primary activity, and length of residency in the 
community among others. 

 
Marginal effects (MEs) 
 
For an unordered multinomial model, there is no single conditional 

mean of the dependent variable, y. Instead there are m alternatives, 

and the probabilities of these alternatives can be modelled 
(Cameron and Trivedi, 2009). Interest lies in how these probabilities 

change as regressors change. For the multinomial logit model, the 

MEs can be shown to be: 
 
 
pij 

      
 

 

pij (  ji ) 3 
 

 
xi 

 

       
 

Where 

 

l  

p
ill 

 
 

 is the probability weighted average of the 
 

l . The marginal effects vary with the point of evaluation, xi  
because Pij varies with xi. The signs of the regression coefficients 

do not give signs of the MEs. For a variable x, the ME is positive if  

ij i  . 
 

 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 
 
Socio-economic characteristics of rice consumers in 

Nigeria 
 

Sex of respondents: The sex of the head  of  the  house 



 
 
 

 
hold, play a significant role not only in the quantity of food 
consumed by the household but also in the type and 
quality and form in which such food is consumed. A 
female- headed household is likely to be more conscious 
of the quality and the combination of different variety of 
food consumed by the household than male-headed 
household. There is a significant variation between the 
North and the South as indicated by the data from Niger 
and Ekiti states. While virtually all the sampled household 
in Niger state are male-headed (99.0%), a significant 
proportion of sampled households from Ekiti state are 
female-headed (30.2%). 
 
Age of respondents: The average age of rice consumers 
as shown by the analysis of samples from the two states 
in Nigeria ranges from 49 years in Ekiti state to 43 years 
in Niger state with a national average of 46 years. In both 
cases, however, the average age of respondents falls 
within the actively working population. While younger 

children will prefer food with high protein nutrients for 
growth, those in the active working age may prefer calorie 
supplied food such as carbohydrates. The old age group 
on the hands may just require a maintenance ration. 
 
 
Marital status of respondents: Marital status plays a 
major role in the household feeding patterns. A single or 
unmarried individual may or may not have any feeding 
pattern as he or she can choose to eat away from home 
and the choice of food may be dictated by whatever is 
available at the eating point. A married person cultivates 
the habit of eating at home as a way of socializing with 
the family members. This will definitely affect the type and 
quantity of food consumed by the household. Analy-sis of 
data shows that over 90% of the representative samples 
of rice consumers from the two states are married. About 
8% of representative samples from Ekiti state are single 
while insignificant proportion of 1.5% are widows or 
widowers. 
 
Year of residence of respondents: It is possible for 
consumption patterns to change over time with year of 
residence of individual in a particular community. Even 
though individuals will have preference for their traditional 
foods, taste and preference change with location over 
time. Thus, a northern resident of southern origin in 
Nigeria may change his or her consumption pattern from 
tuber-based to cereal-based having stay for some time in 
the north. In this study, it was found that the average 
residency period of respondents was about 33 years 
which is long enough for them to have imbibed the food 
consumption tradition of their respective communities. 
 

Level of education of respondents: The level of 

education of household head has serious implication for 

the type and quality of food consumed by the households. 

A  highly  educated  household  head  will  prefer a  small 
 

155          Afr. J. Agric. Mark. 
 
 

 
quantity of variety of foods with different nutritional 

contents (balance diet) to a bigger quantity of low 

nutritional components. The survey revealed that a 

significant proportion (36%) of the respondents in Niger 
state had no education compared to (1%) for Ekiti state. 

A sizeable proportion of the respondents, however, had 

secondary and post secondary education while about 

one-third of the respondents had primary education. 
 
Primary activity of respondents: People in wage 
employment do mix and interact with people in the public 
almost on daily basis, the tendency to acquire knowledge 
of various kinds of food and nutrition is high. In most 
cases, such knowledge influences their food consumption 
pattern. Available evidence from this study showed that 
majority of the respondents (about 84%) from Niger state 
are farmers as against 16% recorded for Ekiti state. A 
significant proportion of the respondents in Ekiti state are 
traders (37%) and government workers (17%). For those 
who engage in non-farm as their primary activities, are 
close to 40% of them also took up farming to augment 
their income and household food consumption. A detail of 
socio-economic characteristics of respondents is pre-
sented in Table 2. 
 
 
Identification of different types of rice by the 

consumers 
 
One of the major objectives of this study is to find out the 
ability of rice consumers to identify different types of rice 
in the market based on some of their physico-chemical 
characteristics. Ability of consumers to identify a particular 
type of rice will depend on whether such consumer have 
eaten that type at least in the last 12 months, frequency 
of consuming that particular type and the source of such 
rice. This study investigated these criteria and some other 
related ones and the result of the analysis is pre-sented 
in Table 3. From Table 3, virtually all the respon-dents 
(99.5%) can identify the different rice types they 
consumed as they have all eaten them in the last 12 
months. In terms of frequency of consuming this rice type 
the table shows that about 82% of the respondents 
consume them on daily basis while another 14% even 
consume them about twice in a day. There was no signi-
ficant variation in responses among respondents from 
both states. The sources of the various types of rice 
consumed by the respondents, however, presented a 
different picture. While, all the respondents from Niger 
state claimed they produce the type of rice they eat, 
virtually all respondents from Ekiti state buy from the 
market. In terms of the internal market dynamics for local 
rice in country, Niger can be classified as one of the net 
rice producing states while Ekiti is usually considered as 
one of the net rice consuming states. This is a true 
reflection of the marketing channel for local rice in Nigeria 
as most of the local rice consumed in the south is brought



Akimade          156 
 
 
 
Table 2. Summary of socio-economic characteristics of rice 

consumers. 
 
 Socio-Economic Variables Ekiti Niger Average 

 

 Sex of respondents (%)    
 

 Male 69.8 99.0 84.4 
 

 Female 30.2 1.0 15.6 
 

 Age (mean) years 49 43 46 
 

 Marital status    
 

 Married 90.9 99.5 95.2 
 

 Single 7.6 0.5 4.0 
 

 Widow/Widower 1.5 0.0 0. 8 
 

 Year of residence in the 
33 32 32.5  

 
community (mean)  

    
 

 Level of Education 
39.9 23.6 31.7  

 
Primary  

 
7.1 2.0 4.5  

 
Junior secondary  

 
30.3 12.6 21.5  

 
Senior secondary  

 
10.1 9.5 8.8  

 
Post secondary  

 
1.0 35.7 18.3  

 
No Education  

 
7.1 5.5 6.3  

 
Can read and write  

 
4.5 11.1 7.8  

  
 

 Primary activity of    
 

 respondents 
16.1 83.7 48.9  

 
Agriculture  

 

7.8 0.5 4.1 
 

 
farm manager  

 

37.3 0.0 18.6 
 

 
trade  

 

4.7 3.6 4.1 
 

 
artisan  

 

16.6 9.7 13.1 
 

 
government workers  

 

5.2 0.0 2.6 
 

 
nothing  

 

6.7 2.6 4.6 
 

 
student  

 

5.7 0.0 2.8 
 

 others  

    
  

Source: Field Survey, 2008 
 

 
from the north even though some of the states in the 

south also produce rice in appreciable quantities. 

 
Criteria for selection of rice bought by respondents 
 
Different rice physico-chemical characteristics have been 
chosen by rice consumers as a way of identifying and 
recognizing different types of rice bought in the market. 
This study investigated the criteria that are normally 
considered when making the decision of the type of rice 
bought in the market. The distribution of respondents by 
first criterion for selection of rice bought in the market is 
presented in Table 4. Two of these criteria rated high in 
both states. While almost half of the respondents in Ekiti 
state indicated absence of foreign matter as their first 
criteria, 48% of respondents in Niger state rated 
whiteness as their first criteria. Above all, these two 
criteria have to do with the physical appearance (pre-
cooking properties) of the commodity. Surprisingly, price 

 
 
 

 
is one of the list criteria usually considered in the 
selection of local rice bought by the consumers. The 
reason why price was not rated high among the criteria 
may be due to the fact that there is usually no significant 
difference in prices of the various types of local rice sold 
in the market. The above criteria were applied to the 
selection of different types of rice consumed in both 
states and the result is presented in Table 5 for Ekiti state 
and Table 6 for Niger state. For the consumers of Aroso, 
the most significant criterion for selection is absence of 
foreign matter. The consumers of Pategi and Igbemo, 
however, considered their taste as the most important 
criterion for selection. It should be noted that Aroso is 
imported rice while pategi and Igbemo are local rice in 
Ekiti state. Thus, it is obvious that the most important 
discriminating factor between imported and local rice is 
the absence of foreign matter as consumers of local rice 
found a better taste in the its consumption. Similar result 
is observed in Niger state where, those who consumed 
Manbechi, Lalangba, Malelisa, Bisilayi and Nnagbati 
considered taste as the most important criterion for selec-
tion and those who consumed Ebangichi and Dokochi 
considered ease of cooking and whiteness as the most 
important criteria respectively. Thus, in terms of the 
physical characteristics of local rice in Nigeria, absence of 
foreign matter and whiteness were generally consi-dered 
as most important criteria for selection by the consumers 
while for the chemical characteristics, taste and ease of 
cooking were considered as most important criteria. 
 
 
 
Income distribution and type of rice consumed 
 
Income dictates to a large extent the consumers’ choice 
of goods. A rational consumer will make a right choice of 
superior and high quality goods as income increases. 
Similarly, there is a high tendency that rice consumers in 
Nigeria are likely to consume more of high quality 
imported rice as their income increases. In this study, 
therefore, efforts were made to investigate the type of rice 
consumed by consumers in various income classes and 
the result is as shown in Table 7. The classification of 
income into three groups is to reflect the three socio-
economic classes in the country. The minimum wage in 
Nigeria is currently at N18, 000 per month and anybody 
below or within this income bracket is usually regarded as 
belonging to the low income class. The middle income 
class earns between N12, 000 and N50, 000 per month 
while anybody earning more than N50, 000 per month in 
Nigeria is classified as belonging to the high income 
group. This classification was applied to the data and the 
result showed that majority of the consumers of imported 
rice falls within the middle and the high income class. 
This is represented by 60.2% of the respondents. Inte-
restingly too, a little above one-fifth of the respondents 
who fell within the low income class also consume impor-



157          Afr. J. Agric. Mark. 
 
 
 

 
Table  3.  Identification  of  different  types  of  local  rice  consumed  (%  of  
Respondents). 

 
 Variables Ekiti Niger Average 
 Can identify rice type? 99.0 100.0 99.5 
 Eaten rice in the last 12 months 99.0 100.0 95.5 
 Frequency of consumption    
 One in a day 82.9 81.4 82.2 
 Twice in a day 9.0 18.1 13.6 
 Three times in a day 8.0 0.5 4.2 
 Source of Rice    
 Self produce 0.0 98.0 49.0 
 Bought 100.0 1.5 50.7 
 Combination 0.0 0.5 0.3 

 
Source: Field Survey, 2008 

 
 
 
Table 4. First criteria for selection of rice bought (% of Respondents). 
 

Criteria 
Ekiti Valid Niger Valid 

Average  

Frequency Percent Frequency percent  

  
 

Absence of Foreign Matter 97 49.7 26 13.4 31.6 
 

Whiteness 45 23.1 93 47.9 35.5 
 

Rate of Breakage 1 .5 3 1.5 1.0 
 

Shape of Grain 1 .5 10 5.2 2.7 
 

Ease of Cooking 5 2.6 20 10.3 6.5 
 

Stickiness After Cooking 1 .5 1 .5 0.5 
 

Taste 42 21.5 4 2.1 11.8 
 

Good Aroma 2 1.0 31 16.0 8.5 
 

Price 1 .5 6 3.1 1.8 
 

Total 195 100.0 194 100.0 100.0 
  

Source: Field Survey, 2008 
 
 
 
ted rice. This group probably might receive such rice as 

gift or are simply attempting to keep on with the joneses. 
 
 
Distinguishing between imported and local rice in 

Nigeria 
 

Notwithstanding, the superiority of imported rice to local 
rice in terms of quality, some rice consumers in Nigeria 
still found it difficult to differentiate between the two 
brands of the commodity. This may be particularly so 
considering the fact that the quality of some locally 
produced rice when properly processed using modern 
processing equipments, not only match that of the 
imported ones but in some cases, is actually better than 
imported rice. Quite a significant level of progress have 
been made by some large scale rice processors in 
Abaliki, Minna ,Ebonyi and Niger states respectively such 
that  the  quality  of  locally  produced rice coming out of 

 
 
 
these mills can actually compete with those of the 

imported rice in the country. Figure 1 represents the 

ability of respondents to distinguish between local and 

imported rice. On the average, 88% of the respondents 
can distinguish between the two brands of the commodity 

while about 12% found it difficult to do that. Those 

respondents who could not distinguish between local and 

imported rice were found mainly in Niger state. 
 
Determinants of consumer preference for local rice in 

Nigeria 
 
In this study, the determinant of consumer preference for 

rice in Nigeria is modelled around the socio-economic 

variables of local rice consumers, household income, 

prices of local rice and the physico- chemical charac-

teristics of rice. In estimating the model using multinomial 

logit, Aroso, which is the only imported rice among all the 

rice samples, was set as the  natural  base  category  and 



Akimade          158 
 
 
 

Table 5. Type of rice consumed by criteria for selection in Ekiti. 
 

 First Criteria for Selection Name of rice Consumed in Locality 
  Aroso Pategi Igbemo 

 Absence of Foreign Matter 73.11 0.0 6.7 
 Whiteness 5.4 0.0 0.0 
 Rate of Breakage 1.1 0.0 0.0 
 Shape of Grain 1.1 0.0 0.0 
 Ease of Cooking 3.3 0.0 6.7 
 Stickness After Cooking 1.1 0.0 0.0 
 Taste 15.1 88.9 80.0 
 Good Aroma 0.0 11.1 6.7 
 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 

 
Source: Field Survey, 2008 

 
 

Table 6. Type of rice consumed by criteria for selection in Niger. 
 

Name of rice   First Criteria for Selection of Rice if Bought    Total 
 

 Absence of 
Whiteness Shape of Ease of Non Stickiness 

Taste Rising 
Price 

Absence of 
 

 Foreign of Grain After Foreign  

 

Grain Cooking Capacity 
 

 Matter  Cooking   Matter  

       
 

manbechi 6.7 6.7 6.7 20.0 0.0 46.9 6.7 6.7 100.0 
 

ebangichi 0.0 9.1 9.1 45.5 0.0 36.4 0.0 0.0 100.0 
 

lalangba 0.0 22.2 11.1 0.0 11.1 44.4 11.1 0.0 100.0 
 

malelisa 22.2 11.1 0.0 0.0 11.1 55.5 0.0 0.0 100.0 
 

Bisilayi 18.2 9.1 0.0 27.3 9.1 27.3 9.1 0.0 100.0 
 

Nnagbanti 6.7 20.0 6.7 13.4 13.4 40.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 
 

dokochi 0.0 50.0 0.0 25.0 0.0 25.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 
  

Source: Field Survey, 2008 
 
 

Table 7. Income distribution by types of rice utilize for dishes. 
 

 
Income class/month 

 Local Imported 
 

 
Frequency Valid percent Frequency Valid percent  

  
 

 <= N18, 000 2 1.1 42 22.6 
 

 >N18, 000<=N50,000 30 16.1 101 54.3 
 

 > N50,000 0 0.0 11 5.9 
 

 Total 32 17.2 154 82.8 
  

Source: Field Survey, 2008 
 

 
11.8 

 
 
 

 yes 

 no 

 
 

88.2 
 
Figure 1. Ability to distinguish between local and 

imported rice. 

 
the result of the analysis is presented in Table 8. This 
result is, therefore, interpreted in relation to imported rice 
(Aroso). For this reason, only the data from Ekiti state 
was utilize for this analysis since all the respondents from 
Niger claimed they only consumed local rice. The model 
shows some modest level of fitness with a Pseudo R-
square of 42%. This, however, is an indication that there 
are still others variables beyond those included in this 
model that further explain the consumer preference for 
local rice in the country. Nonetheless, the regressors are 
jointly statistically significant at the 0.05 level, because 
the LR chi2(20) = 86.35. Two set of regression estimates 
are   given  having  used  the  normalization 1 = 0. Five of 



 
 
 

 
Table 8. Multinomial logistic regression for local rice preference 

in Nigeria. 
 

 Rice type Coef Std. Err. Z P>|z| 
 Pategi     
 Income 2.18e-06 0.0000308 0.07 0.944 
 Age 0.1501559* 0.0547444 2.74 0.006 
 Marital -16.52089* 3.669827 -4.50 0.000 
 Howlong -0.037004 0.0228061 -1.62 0.105 
 Eduate -0.661697 0.286929 -2.31 0.021 
 Primactiv 0.620210* 0 .2075199 2.99 0.003 
 Freg c 0.7489914 -1.43 0.154 
 Price 0.0078617 0.0053935 -1.46 0.145 
 Firstecr 0.208088** 0.1067368 1.95 0.051 
 Sex 0.23546* 9022692 3.59 0.000 
 Cons 4.608975 - - - 
 Igbemo     
 Income 0.0000541 0.0000384 1.41 0.159 
 Age 0.1448862* 0.0685851 2.11 0.035 
 Marital 0.5153597 0.8481717 0.61 0.543 
 Howlong -0.0378402 0.026376 -1.43 0.151 
 Educate -2.009622* 0.7973646 -2.52 0.012 
 Primactiv 0.3057458 0 .2222881 1.38 0.169 
 Frg 19.122910 3.744939 -5.11 0.008 
 Price -0.017928* 0.006781 -2.64 0.008 
 Firstcr 0.2132729** 0.1137525 1.87 0.061 
 Sex 1 .974674* 1.000667 1.97 0.048 
 Cons 11.75444 - - - 

 
(Rice type==Aroso is the base outcome) * Significant @ 5% 

**@ 10 per cent 
 

Number of obs = 176 
LR chi2(20) = 86.35 
Prob > chi2 = 0.0000  
Log likelihood = -60.091757 
Pseudo R2 = 0.4181 
* Wald Test of the Joint Significance of Regressors 

Chi2( 20) = 1507.15 Prob > chi2 = 0.0000 
 
 
 
the coefficients of the explanatory variables (age, marital 
status, education of household head, primary activity of 
household head and sex of household head) significantly 
influence the consumer preference for Pategi relative to 
Aroso (imported rice). Similarly, five variables (age of 
household head, educational status of household head, 
frequency of purchase, price and sex of household head) 
influence significantly, consumer preference for Igbemo 
relative to Aroso. Since the result of individual test of 
variable will vary with the omitted category (Aroso) a joint 
test of significance of the explanatory variables (Wald 
Test) was carried out. The result of the Wald test further 
shows that the significant variables are also jointly signifi-
cant and have strong implication for consumer preference 
for local rice in Nigeria. Meanwhile the marginal effects of 
the regressors presented in Table 9 showed that the 

159          Afr. J. Agric. Mark. 
 
 

 
Table 9. Marginal effects of the regressors. 

 
 Variable dy/dx Std. Err. Z P>z 
 Income 0.84e-10 0.00000 0.50 0.614 
 Age 4.90e-07 0.00000 0.50 0.615 
 Marital 2.10e-06 0.00001 0.38 0.705 
 Howlong -1.28e-07 0.00000 -0.45 0.653 
 educat -6.83e-06 0.00001 -0.48 0.628 
 primac 1.03e-06 0.00000 0.47 0.641 
 freq -0.0000651 0.00014 -0.46 0.642 
 price -6.09e-08 0.00000 -0.45 0.651 
 firstc 7.22e-07 0.00000 0.45 0.655 
 sex 6.66e-06 0.00001 0.50 0.619 
 
 
 
effect of a unit change in these factors on consumer 

preference for local rice in Nigeria is very negligible. 

 
CONCLUSION 
 
This study greatly underscored the significant influence of 
socio-economic characteristics of rice consumers on their 
preference for local rice in Nigeria. More importantly, the 
significance of the socio-economic variables is an indica-
tion that policies and programmes for the development of 
the Nigerian rice sector should, in addition to enhancing the 
physico-chemical characteristics of rice, include value 
reorientation and sensitization of the people on the 
nutritional qualities of local rice. This is very important in 
order to encourage consumers to further develop good 
taste in local rice. It is obvious from this study that 
cleanliness of local rice is one major way of promoting 
local rice consumption as such; more attention will be 
required right from the harvesting stage to the milling 
stage. Between these two stages, the two major criteria 
(absence of foreign matter and whiteness or colour) can 
be successfully handled. 
 
 
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Cameron AC, Trivedi PK (2009). Microeconometrics 

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Hilbe JM (2009). Logistic Regression Models. Chapman 
& Hall/CRC Press. 

Hosmer DW, Stanley L (2000) . Applied Logistic 

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