Publication: Potential Impact of Higher Food Prices on Poverty : Summary Estimates for a Dozen West and Central African Countries
Date
2008-10
ISSN
Published
2008-10
Author(s)
Tsimpo, Clarence
Backiny-Yetna, Prospere
Adoho, Franck
Coulombe, Harold
Abstract
Concerns have been raised about the
impact of rising food prices worldwide on the poor. To
assess the impact of rising food prices in any particular
country it is necessary to look at both the impact on food
producers who are poor or near-poor and could benefit from
an increase in prices and food consumers who are poor or
near-poor and would loose out when the price increases. In
most West and Central African countries, the sign (positive
or negative) of the impact is not ambiguous because a
substantial share of food consumption is imported, so that
the negative impact for consumers is larger than the
positive impact for net sellers of locally produced foods.
Yet even if the sign of the impact is clear, its magnitude
is not. Using a set of recent and comprehensive household
surveys, this paper summarizes findings from an assessment
of the potential impact of higher food prices on the poor in
a dozen countries. Rising food prices for rice, wheat,
maize, and other cereals as well as for milk, sugar and
vegetable oils could lead to a substantial increase in
poverty in many of the countries. At the same time, the data
suggest that the magnitude of the increase in poverty
between different countries is likely to be different.
Finally, the data suggest that a large share of the increase
in poverty will consist of deeper levels of poverty among
households who are already poor, even if there will also be
a larger number of poor households in the various countries.
Citation
“Wodon, Quentin; Tsimpo, Clarence; Backiny-Yetna, Prospere; Joseph, George; Adoho, Franck; Coulombe, Harold. 2008. Potential Impact of Higher Food Prices on Poverty : Summary Estimates for a Dozen West and Central African Countries. Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4745. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/50d8b776-ba91-539e-a3ea-4f92d13eafcd License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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