Date of Graduation

12-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Agricultural Economics (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Eric J. Wailes

Committee Member

Jeroen Buysse

Second Committee Member

Mandiaye Diagne

Third Committee Member

Aliou Diagne

Keywords

Social sciences, Biological sciences, Food security, Regional food reserve, Rice

Abstract

Food security is always a concern for consumers, but especially for those in West Africa, where the population of food insecure people has continued to grow over the past decade despite attempts by initiatives such as the World Food Program and the establishment of Millennium Development Goals. The people of West Africa are subject to repetitive natural disasters and are often in political upheaval. Many economic policies have been established to mitigate the impact that production disasters have on the consumers; one of these policies is the utilization of regional food reserves.

In 2010, the Economic Community of West African States began to develop a Regional Food Reserve. To analyze the effect a Regional Food Reserve could have on West African consumers due to a production shock, a spatial partial equilibrium model was utilized to analyze reserve stock management and its impact on price behavior and food security at a regional level.

The model allowed for projected increases in population and gross domestic product (GDP). After creating a deterministic base year for 2013, 2018, and 2023, the impact of a production shock (based on historical and projected data) was simulated. Analysis of these shocks suggests the maximum reserve size needed to address the greatest decrease in consumption is approximately 187 (1000MT).

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