ABSTRACT The study aims at assessing factors influencing consumer-buying behaviour of milk consumers in Tanzania a case study of Kinondoni district. It aims at investigating consumers' awareness on importance of milk for their health; and determining the impact of quality, distance from source of supply and socio-cultural factors on milk consumption. The data for the study were collected and through questionnaires and interview to a random selected sample of 83 individuals in fourteen wards of the study case area. The data was analysed using SPSS where descriptive statistics such as graphs, frequency and cross-tabs were used. Results showed that consumers are aware of the benefits of milk to their health and it is the most preferred drink to other drinks. Also quality and distance from the source of supply have been found to have a significant influence on consumption. Furthermore, age, marital status and ethnic origin are the socio-cultural factors that were observed to affect milk consumption. Thus, increasing milk consumption requires improving and/or maintaining milk quality, ensures reduce the distance between consumers and source of supply. Also education on variety of uses of milk, functions of nutrients found in milk, production process, and storage. Lastly, school milk feeding program should be taken seriously to build long-term future milk production.
