Climate Change, Agricultural Production and Trade in Africa

Yodit Balcha and Jamie Macleod

No 332921, Conference papers from Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project

Abstract: According to IPCC (2013) predictions climate change is forecast to hit Africa heavily, with temperatures rising on the continent more than the global median, extreme weather events becoming more prevalent, and drier areas becoming even drier. Additionally Africa’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture most vulnerable sector to the impacts of climate change and supports nearly 90 percent of its population. A critical challenge facing the continent is how to feed an expected population of around 2.4 billion by 2050 double the current population size while simultaneously reducing and responding to climate change. Unless action is taken now to make agriculture more sustainable, productive and resilient, climate change impacts will seriously compromise food production in countries and regions that are already highly food-insecure. Embedded in these, climate change possess substantial challenges in agricultural production, but also creates opportunities for trade. Trade is often built into the economic model which assess climate change and agriculture, but are rarely the focus of such analysis. Despite the considerable opportunities trade creates in moving goods from surplus to deficit area, only a limited number of studies have explicitly investigated the interaction between trade, climate change and agriculture in Africa. Although there is a growing number of studies analyzing how agricultural productions and commodity markets need to be adjusted for promoting interregional balance in agricultural production and food security in response to climate change, few of them have had interests for potential adjustments in intra Africa agricultural trade in changing climate. By reviewing different literatures, this paper provides an overview of the climate change, agriculture and trade nexus in Africa and highlights how the trade aspect of the nexus is missing in present literature reviews. It also identifies and puts forth entry points for regional nexus dialogue.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; International Relations/Trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:pugtwp:332921

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