Food Security and Other Economic Development Challenges Facing African Countries: Are they caused by Commodity Price Volatility?

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-2009

Publication Title

International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium Analytic Symposium “Confronting Food Price Inflation: Implications for Agricultural Trade and Policies” Proceedings

Abstract

Paper presented at the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium Analytic Symposium “Confronting Food Price Inflation: Implications for Agricultural Trade and Policies”.

Africa contains some of the world’s poorest people. It is also the region with the slowest economic and agricultural sector growth in the past half-century. Its governments have intervened in sectoral and macroeconomic policies, and they have been very slow in adopting market reforms. The agricultural sector is very important to many African countries since it is the largest contributor to employment, food, incomes, foreign exchange, tax revenues and critical linkages to other sectors of the economy. That the sector is faced with internal structural bottlenecks that have stifled agricultural productivity is well understood. Yet, African countries are also faced with the direct and indirect impacts of both internal and external shocks. These have exposed many poor Africans, especially the rural subsistent farmers, to persistent hunger and malnutrition that would require long-term strategies to mitigate. Recent food and oil price shocks have also threatened food security in all countries, but in particular the fragile and lowincome food-deficit countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Compounding concerns in Africa is the failure to achieve global agricultural market reforms last July during the Doha Development Round of the WTO. The recent global financial crisis is also expected to have significant contagion effects on investment in African agriculture. Therefore, the challenges posed by exposure to external shocks cannot be ignored, and they require a combination of short and long-term responses. The main thrust of this paper is that recent concerns about the volatility of commodity prices aside, many African countries are faced with endemic structural and policy challenges in ensuring MDG-related food security and poverty alleviation. Second, it reveals that many African countries, especially the fragile and low income ones, have become highly dependent on agricultural imports. Third, it analyzes recent African economic performance and identifies the challenges in growing the agricultural sector. Finally, the paper provides policy recommendations for sustaining agricultural sector growth as the primary means in achieving food security and economic development.

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