A strategic framework for improving food security in Arab countries

Lampietti, Julian A.; Michaels, Sean David; Magnan, Nicholas; McCalla, Alex F.; Saade, Maurice; Khouri, Nadim

doi:10.1007/s12571-010-0102-3

Cited by 47 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Khouri et al (2011) reviewed lessons learnt from this price crisis for the MENA and discuss several policy options. Lampietti et al (2011) suggested three strategies that would be feasible and effective in the MENA for reducing the region's vulnerability to price shocks which are the extension of domestic safety nets, the increase of domestic food production and the reduction of consumers' exposure to food price volatility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Import vulnerability in the Middle East: effects of the Arab spring on Egyptian wheat trade

Veninga

Ihle

2018

Food Sec.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 'Arab Spring' spilled over to Egypt from neighbouring Arab countries in the first half of 2011. General chaos during the political instabilities suddenly caused high uncertainty for consumers and traders, and temporarily rendered institutions dysfunctional. This eventually might have led to a negative market shock, impeding economic activity in general and, in particular, trade. Wheat is the main ingredient in the Egyptian diet and is heavily subsidised in the country. The general availability of cheap wheat flour creates a very high domestic demand for wheat. Therefore, Egypt is highly dependent on wheat imports from other countries for ensuring food security. This dependency makes the country vulnerable to increasing food prices and other shocks to the world market which might challenge flows of imports. This paper investigates the effects of domestic political instability on the wheat trade in Egypt. We analysed monthly trade data for wheat from the Comtrade Database of the United Nations, particularly imports and exports of wheat and wheat flour in Egypt from 2010 to 2014. The analysis showed pronounced and stable seasonal patterns whereby the pattern of 2011, the year of most intensive political turmoil in Egypt, was found to differ significantly from other years. We found robust evidence for a strong, negative demand shock in the second half of 2011 caused by the substantial and enduring political instabilities in the country which resulted from the Arab Spring.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Import vulnerability in the Middle East: effects of the Arab spring on Egyptian wheat trade

Veninga

Ihle

2018

Food Sec.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, many of these publications shed light on the Arab/MENA/ Western Asia situation, in general (Breisinger et al, 2011(Breisinger et al, , 2010ESCWA, 2010;Harrigan, 2014;Lampietti et al, 2009), while including some commentary on the situation in the Gulf States, in particular. These publications tend to describe the situation from the economic perspective, reflecting on issues such as global trade, poverty levels, and job creation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interplay of food security, agriculture and tourism within GCC countries

Pirani¹,

Arafat²

2016

Global Food Security

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In MENA, the interventions come in many forms, but consumer subsidies are the most favored instrument (Lampietti et al 2011 At the same time, the capacity of governments to shore up safety net programs against high food prices differs among countries in the region (World Bank 2009, 2011b. All else equal, countries with large fiscal deficits and high cereal import dependency are least able to absorb a wheat price shock.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Security and Storage in the Middle East and North Africa

Larson¹,

Lampietti²,

Gouel³

et al. 2013

The World Bank Economic Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In times of highly volatile commodity markets, governments often try to protect their populations from rapidly-rising food prices, which can be particularly harsh for the poor. A potential solution for fooddeficit countries is to hold strategic reserves that are called on when international prices spike. But how large should strategic stockpiles be and what rules should govern their release? In this paper, we develop a dynamic competitive storage model for wheat in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where imported wheat dominates the average diet. We analyze a strategy that sets aside wheat stockpiles, which can be used to keep domestic prices below a targeted price. Our analysis shows that if the target price is set high and reserves are adequate, the strategy can be effective and robust. Contrary to most interventions, strategic storage policies are counter-cyclical and, when the importing region is sufficiently large, a regional policy can smooth global prices. Simulations indicate this is the case for the MENA region. Nevertheless, the policy is more costly than a pro-cyclical policy similar to food stamps that uses targeted transfers to directly offset high prices with a subsidy.

show abstract

A strategic framework for improving food security in Arab countries

Cited by 47 publications

References 10 publications

Import vulnerability in the Middle East: effects of the Arab spring on Egyptian wheat trade

Import vulnerability in the Middle East: effects of the Arab spring on Egyptian wheat trade

Interplay of food security, agriculture and tourism within GCC countries

Food Security and Storage in the Middle East and North Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About