Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between climate variables such as rainfall amount, temperature, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and the triple dimension of food security (availability, accessibility, and utilization) in a panel of 25 sub-Saharan African countries from 1985 to 2018. After testing for cross-sectional dependence, unit root and cointegration, the study estimated the pool mean group (PMG) panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL). The empirical outcome revealed that rainfall had a significantly positive effect on food availability, accessibility, and utilization in the long run. In contrast, temperature was harmful to food availability and accessibility and had no impact on food utilization. Lastly, CO2 emission positively impacted food availability and accessibility but did not affect food utilization. The study took a step further by integrating some additional variables and performed the panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) regression to ensure the robustness of the preceding PMG results. The control variables yielded meaningful results in most cases, so did the FMOLS and DOLS regression. The Granger causality test was conducted to determine the causal link, if any, among the variables. There was evidence of a short-run causal relationship between food availability and CO2 emission. Food accessibility exhibited a causal association with temperature, whereas food utilization was strongly connected with temperature. CO2 emission was linked to rainfall. Lastly, a bidirectional causal link was found between rainfall and temperature. Recommendations to the national, sub-regional, and regional policymakers are addressed and discussed.
Highlights
IntroductionFood security is one of the most trending topics and a growing concern of the century
Food security is one of the most trending topics and a growing concern of the century.In 2020, approximately 690 million people (8.9% of the global population) were projected to be in a state of hunger [1]
The results show that rainfall amount and CO2 emission have a positive and significant effect on food availability in the long run
Summary
Food security is one of the most trending topics and a growing concern of the century. In 2020, approximately 690 million people (8.9% of the global population) were projected to be in a state of hunger [1]. The number of undernourished people worldwide is likely to have risen between 83 and 132 million and could reach 840 million (9.8%) by 2030 [2]. Of the SSA population lives in food insecurity on average [3]. While food systems are being transformed to make healthier diets more available globally, hunger, on the other hand, remains a challenge. The global undernourished population is still increasing [5], making the UN’s 2030 goal more perplexing to attain [6]
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