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Rain, temperature and agricultural production: The impact of climate change in Sub-Sahara Africa, 1961-2009

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  • Andreas Exenberger
  • Andreas Pondorfer

Abstract

This paper is about the effect of climate change on Sub-Sahara African (SSA) agricultural production in a post-colonial setting. While agricultural production certainly is the result of a multi-dimensional process (influenced by diverse branches of politics, by technology, and also by trade patters and violent conflicts, among others), already the partial analysis of the most obvious factors of influence is certainly valuable in the African case. Since agriculture is not only the single most important sector for the greatest majority of people there, but also a low-tech endeavor in Africa, the impact of temperature and particularly rainfall is crucial – to the point of life-threatening crop failure. In sum, we are able to shown that climate change influenced agricultural production in Sub-Sahara Africa in an unfavourable way. When considering traditional and modern inputs (labour, land and livestock, as well as capital and fertilizer, respectively) in a fixed-effects-model, particularly the effect of rainfall is significantly positive and important. Further, by separating countries into a low- and a med-tech group (with respect to modern inputs), different relationships between the standard factors can be revealed, and by refining the specification with respect to regional climatic differences some complexities in these general patterns can be shown.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Exenberger & Andreas Pondorfer, 2011. "Rain, temperature and agricultural production: The impact of climate change in Sub-Sahara Africa, 1961-2009," Working Papers 2011-26, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    • Handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2011-26
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Fulginiti, Lilyan E. & Perrin, Richard K. & Yu, Bingxin, 2004. "Institutions and agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 31(2-3), pages 169-180, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fenske, James & Kala, Namrata, 2015. "Climate and the slave trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 19-32.
    2. Bannor, Frank & Dikgang, Johane & Gelo, Dambala, 2021. "Is climate variability subversive for agricultural total factor productivity growth? Long-run evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 107590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kabanda Richard & Peter W. Muriu & Benjamin Maturu, 2018. "Relative Effectiveness of Monetary and Fiscal Policies on Output Stabilization in Developing Countries: Evidence from Rwanda," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(1), pages 220-232, January.
    4. Exenberger Andreas & Pondorfer Andreas, 2013. "Climate Change and the Risk of Mass Violence: Africa in the 21st Century," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(3), pages 381-392, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sub-Sahara Africa; agriculture; climate change; panel regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N57 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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