Armed Conflicts and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Boko Haram's Attacks

More than half of the 815 million undernourished people in the world live in countries struggling with conflict, violence and fragility. Conflict can impact food security conditions by destroying agricultural production, distribution and markets, hindering economic growth and increasing unemployment...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of agricultural economics 2020-01, Vol.102 (1), p.114-131
Main Authors: George, Justin, Adelaja, Adesoji, Weatherspoon, Dave
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Agricultural economics
Agricultural production
Armed conflict
Boko Haram
Conflict
dietary diversity
Economic development
Economic growth
Food
Food consumption
food insecurity
Food security
Fragility
Households
Insecurity
Malnutrition
Meals
Panel data
terrorism
Unemployment
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Summary:More than half of the 815 million undernourished people in the world live in countries struggling with conflict, violence and fragility. Conflict can impact food security conditions by destroying agricultural production, distribution and markets, hindering economic growth and increasing unemployment levels. By spatially joining the general household survey (GHS) panel data for Nigeria with Boko Haram terrorist incident data, we estimate the impact of Boko Haram attacks on food security conditions. We find that an increase in conflict intensity, measured by number of fatalities, increases the number of days where the household had to (1) rely on less preferred foods, (2) limit the variety of foods eaten, and (3) limit the portion size of meals consumed. However, the number of days that households went without eating anything, a more severe measure of food insecurity, was not affected. The food consumption score is also negatively affected by conflict. We also find that the conflict‐driven food insecurity is mainly materialized through agricultural input and income shocks.
ISSN:0002-9092
1467-8276
DOI:10.1093/ajae/aaz039