Millet and sorghum are two important crops and source of calories for poor households in
semiarid West and Central Africa. This research analyzes the response of household demand
for millet and sorghum to income and prices in Niger and Nigeria using the latest Living
Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) data by a twostage
method. In the first stage, a Working-Leser model is estimated to obtain the elasticity of
food expenditure with respect to household total expenditure. In the second stage, a Quadratic
Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model, incorporating household socio-demographic
characteristics and regional dummy variables, is estimated for rural and urban households
separately. Unconditional expenditure elasticities, own-price elasticities, and cross-price
elasticities are obtained by combining the results of first and second stages. Results reveal
that millet and sorghum are necessities for households in Niger and Nigeria. As income grows,
household demand for the two crops will increase but at a lower rate than income growth in
both countries. Demand for sorghum and millet among rural households is less responsive to
income and price changes compared with urban households. Considering high population
growth rate and increasing urbanization rate in the two countries, it is expected that total
demand for millet and sorghum will continue to increase, but their share in household’s food
budget will decline.