Does Trade Facilitation Contribute to Food Security? A Panel Data Analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Date
2026
Authors
Moukaila Mouzamilou Takpara
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AERC
Abstract
Food insecurity remains a serious and global concern that continues to escalate
due to various factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis,
which have exposed structural vulnerabilities of developing economies,
particularly in African countries. This paper analyses the contribution of trade
facilitation through physical infrastructure, Information and Communication
Technology (ICT), business environment as well as border, and transport efficiency
to food security in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The analysis uses a sample of 36 SSA
countries from 2005 to 2019 and adopts the fixed effects and the two stage least
square methods. Results show that improvement in trade facilitation enhances
food security in SSA. This effect is evident in the composite food security and in
two dimensions (access and utilization) of food security. Similarly, trade
facilitation indicators, namely business environment and ICT are the most
promising in SSA's fight against food insecurity. Moreover, the results show also
that countries with low rural population experienced positive effects of facilitating
trade than countries with high rural population. The results highlight the need for
improving regulatory environment as well as simplifying and harmonizing trade
procedures to enhance food security in SSA.