The Implications of Food Security on Sustainability: Do Trade Facilitation, Population Growth, and Institutional Quality Make or Mar the Target for SSA?

Ridwan Lanre Ibrahim, Usama Al-Mulali (), Kazeem Bello Ajide, Abubakar Mohammed and Mamdouh Abdulaziz Sa Al-Faryan
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Ridwan Lanre Ibrahim: Department of Economics, University of Lagos, Lagos 100213, Nigeria
Usama Al-Mulali: Faculty of business, Sohar University, Sohar 311, Oman
Kazeem Bello Ajide: Department of Economics, University of Lagos, Lagos 100213, Nigeria
Abubakar Mohammed: Faculty of Busines and Law, University of Roehampton, London E16 2RD, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-23

Abstract: This study examines the impactful role played by trade facilitation (TF) in promoting or hindering food security in a panel of 34 sub-Saharan countries for the period 2005–2019. The empirical evidence is based on the Two-Step Dynamic System Generalized Method of Moments estimator, employed to account for econometric concerns bothering on unobserved heterogeneity and potential endogeneity inherent in the variables used. The empirical findings show that the nature of TF procedures, which are inefficient, negatively impact food security in SSA. These effects are evident on the availability and accessibility dimensions of food security as well as their composite index. While it is noted that this result runs counter to the established a priori of positive signs on the one hand, it however portrays the reality of the economic phenomenon in SSA on the other/hand. In balance, the present TF regime can best be described as anti-food security as suggested by the prevailing burdensome procedures involved in exporting and importing staple food items. The functional roles of population growth and institutional quality are empirically enhanced divergently. Going forward, we recommend that for food sufficiency and Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved quickly, governments within the region would need to finetune the underlying modalities of the present TF regime

Keywords: trade facilitation; food security; generalized method of moments; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:2089-:d:1043900

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