Spatial Patterns of Food Staple Production and Marketing in South East Africa: Implications for Trade Policy and Emergency Response

This paper aims to develop and test methods for spatial mapping of population, food production, consumption, and marketed quantities in Africa. As an initial, exploratory exercise, the paper examines the spatial pattern of population, food production, consumption, and trade in the three countries of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. This largely descriptive initial work will lay the empirical foundations for future analytical work modeling regional trade flows of food staples. By mapping population, food production, and trade flows, the paper aims to help policy makers better understand and anticipate spatial interactions in staple food markets. Through visual presentation of market information, these spatial mapping tools offer prospects for animating an ongoing dialogue among public and private stakeholders on key market flows, key bottlenecks, and key opportunities for improving food security in good and bad harvest years.