Impact of climate change on rice production in African countries: A panel data analysis

Abstract

Agriculture plays a key role in the overall economic and social wellbeing in Africa. Now, Africa appears to emerge as a key player in food  production because there exists enormous unused land for cultivation. On the basis of availability of data, this study aims at investigating  the impact of the climate change on rice production in the twenty-five African countries from 2002 to 2014 following a static  panel data approach using World Bank and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) data. Considering CO₂ (Carbon Di Oxide)  emissions as average precipitation in depth and temperature change as climate change indicators along with other control variables such  as fertilizer consumption and use of pesticides, this study observes that these climate indicators have significant adverse impact in  explaining variations in spatial and temporal change in rice production in African countries. It may be demonstrated from the empirical  analysis that those climate variables like CO2 emissions, pesticide use and temperature change are statistically significant at a 5 %, 10 %  and 5 % levels, respectively. All the indicators have negative effects on rice production in African countries. The coefficients associated  with these indicators are negative and statistically significant indicating that higher CO₂ emissions adversely affect rice production in  Africa. Moreover, pesticides used per kg in production have an inverse relation with rice production in this continent. Further,  temperature harms rice production in African countries. Temperature changes negatively affect rice production as indicated by its  coefficient value being -199958.10. The results also demonstrate that adaptation of new rice seed varieties that are more tolerant to  higher temperature will be more effective in response to climate change. The study suggests that there is need for enormous development in the agriculture sector, to reach the ultimate goal. In particular, development of irrigation system and large-scale funding  by the government in African countries is required.