Abstract
Rice plays a strategic role in food security in West Africa. However, the region increasingly relies on rice imports due to a growing and structural deficit, and domestic value chains face constraints in technology, finance and coordination. As a result, West Africa is very vulnerable to international and local trade disruptions, such as the ones currently inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We build on evidence of the current state of domestic rice value chain upgrading in West Africa to anticipate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rice value chains’ resilience and their capacity to sustain food security in the region. Several policy options are proposed to help West African governments mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on food security.
Highlights
Rice plays a strategic role in food security in West Africa
Rice increasingly plays a strategic role in food security in West Africa, where annual per capita consumption levels rose five-fold in the last six decades and are currently the highest on the continent
Production increased during the same period (USDA, 2019), but as a result of rapid demographic growth (2.7% annually) and diet changes, the region increasingly relies on rice imports (Mendez del Villar and Lançon, 2015)
Summary
Food insecurity remains prevalent in West Africa. During 2009–2018, the number of undernourished people in the region almost doubled from 32 to 56 million or 15% of the West African population, while globally, it decreased from 842 to 822 million (FAO et al, 2019). Production increased during the same period (USDA, 2019), but as a result of rapid demographic growth (2.7% annually) and diet changes, the region increasingly relies on rice imports (Mendez del Villar and Lançon, 2015) This renders West Africa very vulnerable to international trade disruptions such as the ones currently inflicted by the corona virus disease (COVID-19) crisis. The pandemic could offer an opportunity to domestic rice value chains if African states are forced to limit imports due to a fall in foreign exchange linked to the Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100405 reduction in exports of agricultural and mining products The purpose of this Perspectives Article is to discuss the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic rice value chains’ resilience and their capacity to sustain food security in the region, in order to devise policy measures that can successfully mitigate this impact. Apart from pro ducers, we will focus on the mid-stream section (millers and traders), in particular, as this so-called “hidden middle” fulfills a crucial intermediary role between production and consumption, which is essential in sustaining rice value chains’ capacity of providing food se curity in the region (Soullier and Moustier, 2020)
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