Date of Graduation
5-2017
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
Marilyne Huchet-Bourdon
Second Committee Member
Alvaro Durand-Morat
Keywords
Social sciences, Biological sciences, Food security, Rice value chain, Self-suffieciency, Southern Africa, Southern African Development Community
Abstract
In the wake of the 2008 food crisis, net food importing countries questioned the reliance on the volatile world market to meet their food demand. Consequently, the necessity to be selfsufficient returned to the forefront of national priorities. In Africa, the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) initiative was initiated and aimed to double rice production in the continent by 2018, with the eventual goal of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production. To attain this goal, each of the 23 CARD member countries drafted a comprehensive value chain upgrading strategy called the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS). This study intends to evaluate through simulations the feasibility of the NRDS goals for four southern African countries, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia by looking at past trends and projecting future rice supply and use within each country. The Arkansas Global Rice Model, a non-spatial, partial equilibrium and multi-country econometric framework, is used to estimate baseline projections and simulate self-sufficiency scenarios. The business as usual baseline results indicate that none of the four countries will be able to attain self-sufficiency by 2018. Thus, alternative scenarios estimating the production level requirement for self-sufficiency were simulated — relative to area harvested, yield increase— and compared to the NRDS goals. Additionally, a qualitative analysis of the feasibility of achieving self-sufficiency for each country is provided considering the current national policy framework.
Citation
Razafinjoelina, S. M. (2017). Rice Value Chain Development and Policy Sequencing in Southern Africa. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1855