Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa

The spike in global food prices in 2008 led to significantly higher food prices across the developing world. Global commodity prices have since fallen but remain volatile, and local food prices remain high in many countries. The authors review the evidence on the potential impact of higher food prices on poverty, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, and examine the extent to which policy responses are able to protect the poor. They show that rising food prices are likely to lead to higher poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa as the negative impact on net consumers outweighs the benefits to producers. A recent survey shows that the most common policy response in Sub-Saharan African countries in 2008 was reducing taxes on food, while outside the region subsidies were the most popular measure. Sub-Saharan African countries also have a higher prevalence of food-based safety net programs, some of which were scaled up to respond to rising prices. The review suggests that the benefits from reducing import tariffs on staples are likely to accrue largely to the nonpoor. Safety net programs can be more effective, but geographic targeting and other investments to strengthen safety nets are necessary to ensure that fewer people are affected by future crises.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wodon, Quentin, Zaman, Hassan
Format: Journal Article biblioteca
Published: World Bank 2010-02-01
Subjects:cassava, cereals, food aid, food consumption, food price inflation, food prices, food production, food security, food staples, food stocks, foodgrains, foods, grain reserves, maize, potato, rice, staple foods, WFP, wheat, world food program,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4437
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spelling dig-okr-1098644372021-04-23T14:02:17Z Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa Wodon, Quentin Zaman, Hassan cassava cereals food aid food consumption food price inflation food prices food production food security food staples food stocks foodgrains foods grain reserves maize potato rice staple foods WFP wheat world food program The spike in global food prices in 2008 led to significantly higher food prices across the developing world. Global commodity prices have since fallen but remain volatile, and local food prices remain high in many countries. The authors review the evidence on the potential impact of higher food prices on poverty, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, and examine the extent to which policy responses are able to protect the poor. They show that rising food prices are likely to lead to higher poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa as the negative impact on net consumers outweighs the benefits to producers. A recent survey shows that the most common policy response in Sub-Saharan African countries in 2008 was reducing taxes on food, while outside the region subsidies were the most popular measure. Sub-Saharan African countries also have a higher prevalence of food-based safety net programs, some of which were scaled up to respond to rising prices. The review suggests that the benefits from reducing import tariffs on staples are likely to accrue largely to the nonpoor. Safety net programs can be more effective, but geographic targeting and other investments to strengthen safety nets are necessary to ensure that fewer people are affected by future crises. 2012-03-30T07:12:35Z 2012-03-30T07:12:35Z 2010-02-01 Journal Article World Bank Research Observer 1564-6971 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4437 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank Journal Article Africa Ghana Liberia
institution Banco Mundial
collection DSpace
country Estados Unidos
countrycode US
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-okr
tag biblioteca
region America del Norte
libraryname Biblioteca del Banco Mundial
topic cassava
cereals
food aid
food consumption
food price inflation
food prices
food production
food security
food staples
food stocks
foodgrains
foods
grain reserves
maize
potato
rice
staple foods
WFP
wheat
world food program
cassava
cereals
food aid
food consumption
food price inflation
food prices
food production
food security
food staples
food stocks
foodgrains
foods
grain reserves
maize
potato
rice
staple foods
WFP
wheat
world food program
spellingShingle cassava
cereals
food aid
food consumption
food price inflation
food prices
food production
food security
food staples
food stocks
foodgrains
foods
grain reserves
maize
potato
rice
staple foods
WFP
wheat
world food program
cassava
cereals
food aid
food consumption
food price inflation
food prices
food production
food security
food staples
food stocks
foodgrains
foods
grain reserves
maize
potato
rice
staple foods
WFP
wheat
world food program
Wodon, Quentin
Zaman, Hassan
Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa
description The spike in global food prices in 2008 led to significantly higher food prices across the developing world. Global commodity prices have since fallen but remain volatile, and local food prices remain high in many countries. The authors review the evidence on the potential impact of higher food prices on poverty, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, and examine the extent to which policy responses are able to protect the poor. They show that rising food prices are likely to lead to higher poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa as the negative impact on net consumers outweighs the benefits to producers. A recent survey shows that the most common policy response in Sub-Saharan African countries in 2008 was reducing taxes on food, while outside the region subsidies were the most popular measure. Sub-Saharan African countries also have a higher prevalence of food-based safety net programs, some of which were scaled up to respond to rising prices. The review suggests that the benefits from reducing import tariffs on staples are likely to accrue largely to the nonpoor. Safety net programs can be more effective, but geographic targeting and other investments to strengthen safety nets are necessary to ensure that fewer people are affected by future crises.
format Journal Article
topic_facet cassava
cereals
food aid
food consumption
food price inflation
food prices
food production
food security
food staples
food stocks
foodgrains
foods
grain reserves
maize
potato
rice
staple foods
WFP
wheat
world food program
author Wodon, Quentin
Zaman, Hassan
author_facet Wodon, Quentin
Zaman, Hassan
author_sort Wodon, Quentin
title Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Higher Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort higher food prices in sub-saharan africa
publisher World Bank
publishDate 2010-02-01
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4437
work_keys_str_mv AT wodonquentin higherfoodpricesinsubsaharanafrica
AT zamanhassan higherfoodpricesinsubsaharanafrica
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