Estimation of Adult Equivalent Scale for Consumption Expenditure of Food and Non-food Items with Special Reference to Fruits and Vegetables in Rural and Urban Households of Junagadh District of Gujarat

Abstract

Consumption is an integral part of our life. Consumer patterns change for both micro and macro reasons. The per capita availability of vegetable was 415.76 gms/day and fruits was 228.79 gms/day in 2019-20 in India which was far below the quantity recommended by WHO. Therefore, it is important to understand changing consumption pattern of fruits and vegetables as well as food and non-food items in rural and urban areas. The present study is based on primary data and hence the household data pertaining to the research study from Junagadh district were collected with the help of interview method. The reference period for the study was year 2019-20 i.e. winter (November-2019 to February-2020), summer (March to June-2020) and monsoon (July to October-2020). The data were analyzed using tabular analysis, regression analysis without intercept for calculating adult equivalent scale (AES) The estimates of adult equivalent scales for main commodity group for different seasons for rural households revealed that the females in age group of 20-40 years accounted for the maximum expenditure share in total fruits and vegetables (TFV), total food (TF), total non-food (TNF) and total expenditure (TOT) commodities groups in all the seasons. In urban households, the adolescent (13-20 years) accounted for the largest proportionate share of expenditure in in TFV commodities groups in all the seasons. For TF and TNF commodity groups, 20-40 years male age groups accounted for the highest share in expenditure in winter and summer seasons while adolescent age group (13-20 years) which accounted for the highest expenditure share in summer season. In TOT commodity group, adolescent of 13-20 years accounted for the highest proportionate share of expenditure in winter and summer seasons whereas it was females in age group of (20-40 years in monsoon season. In overall households, the females in age group of 20-40 years accounted for the maximum expenditure share in TFV commodities groups in winter and summer seasons whereas, it was maximum in monsoon season for the males in age group of 20-40 years. For other commodity groups i.e.TF, TNF and TOT in all seasons, the female in 20-40 years age group accounted for the largest proportionate share of expenditure in different seasons.