On August 14, 2020, Food Security published a paper "Enabling trade across borders and food security in Africa." While progress has been made worldwide in efforts to eliminate hunger over the past three decades, Africa still faces food security challenges. This paper attempts to analyze whether the elimination of trade barriers through reductions in documents, time and costs to export and import paperwork will improve food security in Africa. 

Model estimates using data from 45 countries over the 2006-2015 period show that greater inefficiency in document work and longer import/export hamper improved food availability and access. This suggests that reforming trade operations through elimination of paperwork and delays in operations at customs is one of the effective policies for improving food security in Africa.

The full article is available at:

Bonuedi, I., Kamasa, K. & Opoku, E.E.O. Enabling trade across borders and food security in Africa. Food Sec. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01095-y

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki (Research Strategy Office)