Impact of Climate Variability on Crop Diversification in West African countries
Date
2020-11-15
Authors
Kevin, Aboua Angui Christian Dorgelès
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research consortium
Abstract
This paper analyses the impact of climate variability on cereal, root, and tuber
crops diversification for selected West Africa countries during the period 1965-
2014. Crop diversification index, lumping together cereal, root and tuber crops,
was calculated through the Composite Entropy Index. Climate variability is
measured by the coefficient of variation of temperature and precipitation. A Seemingly Unrelated Regression was used to estimate the relationship between
climate variability and crop diversification by controlling for supply and demand side
factors of crop diversification. Overall, the results reveal that variability in temperature
and precipitation over decades did not have an adverse effect on cereal root and
tuber crops diversification. A detail analysis showed that Niger and Togo have been
the most adapted to climate variability while Ghana was the most affected, mainly
by precipitation variability. The results also indicated that, on the supply side, the
availability of agricultural land contributed to crop diversification. Productivity,
which is expected to increase crop diversification, was positive and significant in
very few countries. In the others, it was not enough to improve crop diversification.
On the demand side, population growth and consumption led to crop diversification,
particularly in consumption of roots and tuber crops. This study suggests that greater
diversification would mitigate the negative impact of climate variability. Therefore,
regional, and national agricultural policies aimed at increasing productivity are
necessary to encourage farmers to diversify food crops under climate variability.