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. 2020 Dec:136:105126.
doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105126. Epub 2020 Aug 3.

Policy options for galvanizing Africa's rice sector against impacts of COVID-19

Arumugam Kathiresan  1 , Tomokazu Nagai  1 , Yusuke Haneishi  1
Affiliations

Policy options for galvanizing Africa's rice sector against impacts of COVID-19

Arumugam Kathiresan et al. World Dev. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Demand for rice consumption in Africa has outstripped the current local production capacities. As a result, African markets have become heavily dependent on importation, especially from Asia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, rice production in both Asia and Africa is likely to be reduced. It is also likely that the major Asian rice exporting countries will resort to stockpiling of their local production, and restrict volumes of (or ban) rice exportation. Such measures could affect demand-supply dynamics and trigger a price crisis in African rice markets. Based on the lessons learnt from the Ebola and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemics and the 2007-08 food price crisis, African nations need to moderate the impact of such a crisis through appropriate policy actions.

Keywords: Africa; Food security; Rice; Stockpile; Trade.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Trends in rice importation in different regions of Africa. Share of imports (to the total of Africa) by different regions for the years 1992 and 2017 are indicated in red font. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig 2
Fig 2
Changes in rice area and production in China during SARS epidemic in 2002–2003.
Fig 3
Fig 3
Trends in global market prices of milled rice (Thai, 5% broken) and volatility in rice futures.
Fig 4
Fig 4
Expected vulnerability of CARD member countries during COVID-19 pandemic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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