Climate Change and Chronic Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Departmental Papers, September 15, 2022
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Diogo Miguel Salgado Baptista, Mai Farid, Dominique Fayad, Laurent Kemoe, Loic S Lanci, Tara S Muehlschlegel, Pritha Mitra, Cedric I Okou, John A Spray, Kevin Tuitoek, Filiz D Unsal
- Published: September 15, 2022
- Series: Departmental Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400218507.087
Summary and macroeconomic impact
- Climate change is intensifying food insecurity across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with lasting adverse macroeconomic effects, especially on economic growth and poverty.
- Successive shocks from the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 pandemic have increased food prices and depressed incomes, raising the number of people suffering from high malnutrition and unable to meet basic food consumption needs by at least 30 percent to 123 million in 2022 or 12 percent of SSA’s population.
- Addressing the lack of resilience to climate change—that critically underlies food insecurity in SSA—will require careful policy prioritization against a backdrop of financing and capacity constraints.
Key findings (policy-relevant evidence and mechanisms)
- Fiscal policies focused on social assistance and efficient public infrastructure investment can:
- improve poorer households’ access to affordable food;
- facilitate expansion of climate-resilient and green agricultural production;
- support quicker recovery from adverse climate events.
- Improving access to finance is key to:
- stepping up private investment in agricultural resilience and productivity;
- improving the earning capacity and food purchasing power of poorer rural and urban households.
- Greater regional trade integration, complemented with resilient transport infrastructure, enables sales of one country’s bumper harvests to its neighbors facing shortages.
- The international community can help with:
- financial assistance—especially for social assistance and key infrastructure areas;
- capacity development;
- facilitating transfers of technology and know‑how.
Policy considerations, tradeoffs, and complementarities
- Prioritization is required given financing and capacity constraints; policies exhibit tradeoffs and complementarities that must be weighed in national and regional strategies.
- Combining targeted social assistance with investments in resilient public infrastructure can both protect vulnerable households in the short run and raise agricultural productivity and resilience in the medium term.
- Expanding access to finance should be coordinated with measures that promote green and climate-resilient agricultural practices to ensure private investment translates into sustainable productivity gains.
- Regional trade integration policies need to be paired with investment in resilient transport infrastructure to realize food security benefits across borders.
Quantitative and document metadata (exact figures from the source)
- Increase in number of people suffering high malnutrition and unable to meet basic food consumption needs: at least 30 percent to 123 million in 2022.
- Proportion of SSA population affected in 2022: 12 percent.
- Pages: 48.
- Publication date: September 15, 2022.
- Series: Departmental Paper No 2022/016.
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400218507.087
- ISBN: 9798400218507
- ISSN: 2616-5333
- Stock No: CCCFISSAEA
Climate Change and Chronic Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa, Departmental Paper No 2022/016.
Content in this bundle
- Climate Change and Chronic Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa. DP/2022/016. September 2022