The Determinants of Cereal Grain Imports: Sub-Saharan Africa, 1970-1997

Authors: Saverimuttu, Vivienne¹; Rempel, Henry²

Source: African Development Review, Volume 16, Number 3, December 2004 , pp. 525-548(24)

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Abstract:

During the 1970s cereal imports in sub-Saharan Africa increased at an annual rate in excess of 20 percent. As a result, it was assumed Africa had two choices: reduce the rate of population growth or become increasingly dependent on food imports and aid. In this paper we investigate the relative importance of food shortfalls versus policy choices that resulted in a taste change away from roots and tubers and coarse grains to imported wheat and rice. Of the 41 countries studied, 17 are still net exporters of food commodities, cereal imports serve to supplement inadequate production of food, but these imports, generally, are not driven by severe nutritional needs within any one country. Rather, the observed cereal imports are primarily wheat and rice flowing into the countries with adequate levels of nutrition available.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1017-6772.2004.00103.x

Affiliations: 1: Vivienne Saverimuttu, Lecturer, Department of Business Studies, Papua New Guinea University of Technology 2: Henry Rempel, Senior Scholar, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba, Email: hrempel@cc.umanitoba.ca.

Publication date: 2004-12-01