Climate change, institutional quality and food security: Sub-Saharan African experiences.

Abstract

Studies in the past have interrogated the link between climate change and food security in general without giving attention to institutional quality as part of the strategic drivers. Thus, this study investigates the nexus of climate change, institutional quality and food Security in sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve the objective of this study, data were gathered from 26 selected African countries across Central Africa, East Africa, Southern African and West Africa regions. The data which comprised 16 variables spanned the period 1996–2020. After careful preliminary econometric procedures, the empirical models were estimated using Ordinary Least Square regression (OLS) and Cross Sectional - Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) models designed to overcome the potential problems of cross-section correlation in the errors. Two models were estimated across the dimension of food availability and accessibility. The results from the estimation reaffirm the crucial role of climate change in sustainable food in the region. However, evidence revealed the negligible role of institutional quality in the attainment of food security. Thus, the study recommends that it is pertinent for Africa to adopt and domesticate initiatives to prevent climate change as part of the wider effort to guarantee food security in the region. Similarly, institutional quality should be re-positioned and refocused to be alive to the issue of sustainable food security as part of the effort to eliminate poverty in the region.