The Impact Of Income Growth On The Meat Consumption Of Rural Residents

Since the policy of reformation and opening,the income level of rural residents has been continuously improved,and the food consumption structure has changed significantly,the main manifestation is the rapid increase in meat consumption.In the decisive period of completing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects,the income gap between urban and rural residents will be further narrowed,the consumption capacity and willingness of rural residents will be further improved,and the consumption of major foods will be closer to that of urban residents.In the future,it will become an inevitable trend for rural residents to consume more meat.The continuous increase of meat demand leads to the "rigid" growth trend of China's feed grain demand,which will become a decisive factor affecting China's food security in the future.In addition,meat is the main source of high-quality protein and water-soluble vitamins,and reasonable meat consumption level is related to the dietary nutrition and health of rural residents,that form a part of human capital accumulation.Therefore,grasping the characteristics and influencing factors of rural residents' meat consumption is of great practical significance to judge the future changes of rural residents' food consumption,food security and human capital accumulation.The household survey data are drawn from the Chinese Rural Microeconomic Data Survey in eight Chinese provinces which is carried out by Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.Income elasticity of demand of different meat is estimated by applying a two-stage budgeting approach of Engel model and Almost Ideal Demand System(AIDS)that considering zero consumption.There are four major results in this paper.Firstly,income elasticities of meats demand are positive,indicating that meats consumption will increase if the income of rural residents reaches a higher level.Secondly,there are differences in the income elasticity of demand of meat.Among them,the income elasticity of demand of poultry is the largest,while those of beef and mutton is the least.Thirdly,if the problem of zero consumption is not considered,the results will be overestimated to varying degrees.The income elasticity of demand of beef and mutton will be overestimated by 0.12~0.30,while income elasticity of demand of pork will be overestimated by 0~0.01.Last but not the least,when China achieves the goal of completing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in the year of 2020,per capita consumption of pork,poultry,beef and mutton of rural residents whose income are below the target level will be increased by 3.42 kg,1.86 kg and 0.57 kg,while their consumption structure of meat will be further optimized.In conclusion,completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects will boost the per capita disposable income of rural residents,and then expand per capita meat consumption and optimize the structure of meat consumption.Meanwhile,the education level of household heads is positively correlated with meat consumption.Based on the above research conclusions,it is suggested that while ensuring the absolute safety of rations,it is necessary to pay attention to the effective supply of meat products.Secondly,it is suggested to make comprehensive use of traditional media such as TV and radio,as well as new media such as WeChat and live broadcast platforms to continuously improve the dietary nutrition awareness and enrich relevant knowledge of rural residents.