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. 2020 Sep:26:100405.
doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100405. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

Policy options for mitigating impacts of COVID-19 on domestic rice value chains and food security in West Africa

Aminou Arouna  1 , Guillaume Soullier  2   3 , Patricio Mendez Del Villar  4   5 , Matty Demont  6
Affiliations

Policy options for mitigating impacts of COVID-19 on domestic rice value chains and food security in West Africa

Aminou Arouna et al. Glob Food Sec. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Rice plays a strategic role in food security in West Africa. However, the region increasingly relies on rice imports due to a growing and structural deficit, and domestic value chains face constraints in technology, finance and coordination. As a result, West Africa is very vulnerable to international and local trade disruptions, such as the ones currently inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We build on evidence of the current state of domestic rice value chain upgrading in West Africa to anticipate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rice value chains' resilience and their capacity to sustain food security in the region. Several policy options are proposed to help West African governments mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on food security.

Keywords: Food policy; Food security; Foodborne zoonotic pathogens; Impact; Trade disruption; West Africa.

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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
Evolution of international rice prices on the world market, January 2015–June 2020. Notes: FOB = Free On Board (FOB). Thai and Viet refer to rice imports from Thailand and Vietnam, respectively. Source: OSIRIZ/InfoArroz (2020).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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