article · Scientific African
A study analysed the relationship between climate change, institutional quality, and food security across sub-Saharan Africa. Using data covering 16 variables from 26 countries across Central, East, Southern, and West Africa between 1996 and 2020, researchers estimated models for both food availability and food accessibility. The evaluation used Ordinary Least Squares regression alongside Cross Sectional - Autoregressive Distributed Lag models to manage cross-sectional correlation. The findings reaffirm that climate change plays a crucial role in determining sustainable food security across the continent. In contrast, institutional quality currently shows a negligible effect on achieving food security. To address these challenges, the findings suggest that African nations must adopt and domesticate climate change prevention programmes, while simultaneously reforming and redirecting institutional frameworks so that governance systems actively support food security and wider poverty alleviation efforts.
Food security remains an urgent challenge across Africa, yet policy responses often overlook how climate impacts interact with governance. Demonstrating that climate change drives food outcomes while existing institutions have little measurable effect highlights an important gap. It signals to policymakers and development organisations that institutional structures must be specifically realigned to address environmental threats rather than relying on generalised governance improvements.
The abstract does not indicate a commercialisation pathway or direct technology transfer application. Instead, the research provides macro-level econometric evidence intended for policy design, regional planning, and development programmes. Any eventual application would lie in informing public policy, climate adaptation strategies, or development agency investments, remaining far from commercial market deployment.
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Studies in the past have interrogated the link between climate change and food security in general without giving attention to institutional quality as part of the strategic drivers. Thus, this study investigates the nexus of climate change, institutional quality and food Security in sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve the objective of this study, data were gathered from 26 selected African countries across Central Africa, East Africa, Southern African and West Africa regions. The data which comprised 16 variables spanned the period 1996–2020. After careful preliminary econometric procedures, the empirical models were estimated using Ordinary Least Square regression (OLS) and Cross Sectional - Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) models designed to overcome the potential problems of cross-section correlation in the errors. Two models were estimated across the dimension of food availability and accessibility. The results from the estimation reaffirm the crucial role of climate change in sustainable food in the region. However, evidence revealed the negligible role of institutional quality in the attainment of food security. Thus, the study recommends that it is pertinent for Africa to adopt and domesticate initiatives to prevent climate change as part of the wider effort to guarantee food security in the region. Similarly, institutional quality should be re-positioned and refocused to be alive to the issue of sustainable food security as part of the effort to eliminate poverty in the region.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2023.e01727
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