The effect of food–price movements on African households

• In this paper, we aim to assess households' vulnerability to food–price increases in four countries in sub–Saharan Africa. We use two established indicators of sensitivity to food price changes - one measuring the share of income spent on food, the other measuring net sales of food compared to total expenditures. In contrast to earlier studies, we look at all food items and not just one or a few staple foods and find that the exclusion of non–staple foods has a significant impact on the results. We find that the shares of the populations spending more than half of their income on food lie in the range 62% to 81% in rural areas and 26% to 67% in urban areas. Further, we find that in all countries/regions studied, most households (74% to 99%) in rural areas are net buyers of food and stand to lose in the short term from higher food prices.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Globaliseringsstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Globalisation Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Annan lantbruksvetenskap -- Övrig annan lantbruksvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Other Agricultural Sciences -- Other Agricultural Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

food prices

food price movements

poverty

food production

vulnerability indicators

sub–Saharan Africa

household survey

staple crops

Ghana

South Africa

Malawi

food consumption

Tanzania

food price increases

food price changes

household income

food net sales

rural areas

urban areas

food production

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)