Cost and affordability of recommended diets in Rwanda using [near] real-time market data

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dc.creatorManners, Rhys
dc.creatorLecy, Kate Schneider
dc.creatorWarner, James
dc.creatorMatsiko, Eric
dc.creatorVasanthakaalam, Hilda
dc.creatorBenimana, Gilberthe Uwera
dc.creatorSpielman, David J.
dc.date2026-06
dc.date2026-05-18T19:43:30Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T15:41:04Z
dc.descriptionCountries are increasingly benchmarking food assistance and labour laws on the cost of nationally recommended diets. Benchmarking is made against national annual estimates, which fail to account for sub-national and intra-annual variation in cost, blunting the impact of policies. Using monthly market price data collected by the Government of Rwanda (April 2019-March 2024), we estimate the cost of the country’s proposed food-based dietary guidelines, using a standardised diet costing methodology. We found rural areas experienced greater inflation in diet cost over the study period than urban areas (41% vs 28%), yet the recommended diet was 12.7% higher in urban locations. Diet costs were approximately 6% lower in districts with international border crossings to Tanzania, but 7% more in those with borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fruits and vegetables (110% and 71%) and starchy staples (86% and 83%) contributed most to cost increases in rural and urban locations respectively. Seasonal diet cost fluctuations were also evident with a seasonal amplitude of 5.6% and 6.9% in rural and urban locations, synchronised to Rwanda’s agricultural calendar. 70% of employed Rwandans would find the recommended diet unaffordable, if spending 52% of wages on food. Diet costs varied 4.2-fold across all districts throughout the study period, meaning that uniform national policies to address costs and affordability would be systematically inadequate in high-cost settings and wasteful in low-cost ones. That such spatial–temporal variation exists in a small, relatively market integrated country like Rwanda suggests variation would be at least equally consequential in other low and lower-middle-income countries. High-frequency and sub-national monitoring of prices, diet costs, and affordability provides essential intelligence for policymakers to enable spatially and seasonally targeted interventions, improving both the adequacy and efficiency of food policy.
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/182978
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/111630
dc.languageen
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/176590
dc.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/144172
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceManners, Rhys; Lecy, Kate Schneider; Warner, James; Matsiko, Eric; Vasanthakaalam, Hilda; et al. 2026. Cost and affordability of recommended diets in Rwanda using [near] real-time market data. Food Policy 141(June 2026): 103085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2026.103085
dc.subjectcosts
dc.subjectfood prices
dc.subjectfood affordability
dc.subjectrecommended dietary allowances
dc.subjectmarkets
dc.subjectfrequency distribution
dc.titleCost and affordability of recommended diets in Rwanda using [near] real-time market data
dc.typeJournal Article

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Instituto Internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas Alimentarias (IFPRI)