Interrogating the climate variability and food security nexus: does the food security dimension matter?

Abstract

Empirical studies find evidence that climate variability exacerbates food insecurity by disrupting agricultural productivity. Many of these studies use a generic food security measure without paying attention to peculiarities of different dimensions of food security. This paper delineates the relationship between climate variability and the different dimensions of food security. The paper also uses principal components analysis to compute a food security index (FSI) that incorporates the different dimensions of food security to test the relationship. A two-step system Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) is applied to a panel of 32 African countries for the period 2010 to 2022. Results show that CO2 emissions have a positive effect on food stability. Results also show that GDP has a positive effect on food stability. Temperature is also found to have a positive effect on food stability. Similar relationships are estimated for FSI. In addition, results for the FSI reveal that inflation exacerbates food insecurity. The study recommends that Africa adopt food production systems that improve climate information systems, agriculture technology and import management. Causality tests revealed that while achieving food security in Africa is imperative, care should be taken to account for contribution of production activities contributing to climate change.