How do markets respond to extreme rainfall in West Africa? This paper examines the effect of weather on grain market performance in Niger, a country increasingly affected by drought and severe food crises over the past two decades. Using a dataset that combines information on rainfall,...

The food price crisis of 2007–2008 and recent resurgence of food prices have focused increasing attention on the causes and consequences of food price volatility in international food markets and the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we examine the patterns...

In this paper we use a CGE macro-micro modelling approach to analyse the distributional impact of the food crisis and to examine a couple of policy responses in two neighbouring West African countries. Both countries are strongly dependent on agriculture; both have similar climates and share many...

How do grain markets respond to extreme rainfall in West Africa? This paper examines the effect of weather on grain market performance in Niger, a country affected by droughts, crop failures and famines since the 1930s. Using a dataset that combines information on rainfall, agricultural...

Food prices have gone up to prohibitive levels for many of the world’s poor. The vast majority of those who are hungry in the world today are working in agriculture, either as small landholders or as waged agricultural workers. The majority of the food producers have not benefited from rising...