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Political Science > Agriculture & Food Policy

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Cover IMF Working Papers
Understanding Agricultural Output in Mozambique: Using remote sensing to initiate a discussion on development
Kelsee Bratley
and
Alexis Meyer-Cirkel
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the agricultural land coverage in Mozambique by harnessing advanced remote sensing technologies and draws on successful agricultural development examples to propose strategic pathways for Mozambique. The study leverages Sentinel-2 satellite imagery coupled with a machine learning algorithm to accurately map and assess the country's agricultural land, revealing that agriculture accounts for only 12 percent of Mozambique's land area. By examining the agricultural transformation or “green revolution” that some countries have experienced, it is possible to distill regularities and necessary conditions, which can then be compared to the state-of-affairs in Mozambique. This study not only offers a model of how emerging technologies like remote sensing can inform agricultural state of affairs, it also provides important insights into which concrete bottlenecks are likely to be holding back Mozambique’s agricultural development.
Keywords:
Mozambique; agricultural development; remote sensing; greenrevolution; poverty alleviation; remote sensing technology; satellite imagery; accuracy assessment; agricultural land usage; area estimation; Agricultural sector; Agricultural commodities; Agricultural production; Food security; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Sierra Leone: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This Selected Issues paper highlights mobilizing mining revenue in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is a resource-rich economy, and its mining sector can generate revenue to finance its development goals and ensure debt sustainability. It previously incorporated its mining fiscal regime for industrial miners into mineral license agreements that are difficult to modify. Negotiated tax concessions, combined with acute capacity challenges in revenue administration, are hindering revenue performances and have led to an elevated reliance on fees and trade taxes which increase investor costs, hindering competitiveness. Sierra Leone legislated a new fiscal regime—the Extractive Industries Revenue Act (EIRA)—in 2018 for new investments. Applying the EIRA could significantly boost revenue performance, whilst also ensuring taxes are responsive to changes in economic conditions. Stronger revenue performance will require a stronger revenue administration. Efforts to improve mineral royalty compliance are starting to pay dividends but NRA will need to bolster its resources and widen its skill sets.
Keywords:
trade cost; programs in Sierra Leone; spending program; policy option; Policy recommendation; inflation surge; Climate change; Women; Inflation; Food security; Trade facilitation; Sub-Saharan Africa; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Burkina Faso: 2024 Article IV Consultation and First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility and Financing Assurances Review-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Burkina Faso
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper focuses on Burkina Faso’s 2024 Article IV Consultation and First Review under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and Financing Assurances Review. Burkina Faso’s performance under the program has been positive. All quantitative performance criteria, all indicative targets but one, and most structural benchmarks for the first review were met; some structural benchmarks were implemented with delay. Burkina Faso faces multiple development challenges, including heightened security conditions, climate change, and food insecurity. The authorities are progressing in their fiscal consolidation efforts, structural reforms and fiscal governance measures, and the creation of fiscal space for priority spending. Growth accelerated in 2023 to 3.6 percent of gross domestic product, supported by a rebound in construction and expansion of the tertiary sector. Inflation significantly decreased, and the fiscal and debt positions improved. Growth is projected at 5.5 percent in 2024 but remains below potential in the medium term, and a lasting recovery is contingent on bringing security under control.
Keywords:
consultation cycle; HIPC resource; investment expenditure budgeting; SDR equivalent; appreciation to IMF management; Debt sustainability; Food security; Global; Africa
Cover Selected Issues Papers
Climate Change in the WAEMU: Trends, Macro-criticality and Options Going Forward
Can Sever
This paper focuses on the trends in climate change in the WAEMU, assesses the criticality of climate change for the region, and reviews the related policy and financing options going forward. Climate change has been increasingly affecting the lives and livelihoods in the WAEMU. Temperatures have risen significantly, and climate-related disasters have hit the region more frequently in recent decades. Climate change can exacerbate the current challenges and hinder long-term economic prospects by threatening economic growth, food security, fiscal and external sustainability, and social outcomes in the region. Macroeconomic policies, structural reforms and cooperation among different parties remain critical alongside regional efforts, in particular to have access to necessary financing and bolster adaptation efforts.
Keywords:
WAEMU; climate change; climate-related disasters; climate adaptation; climate finance; financing option; climate change in the WAEMU; A. climate trend; C. climate adaption; WAEMU population; Agricultural commodities; Food security; Sub-Saharan Africa; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Belize: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This Selected Issue paper documents the recent episode of food inflation and food insecurity in Belize. The paper also overviews what policies were announced in Belize and the Caribbean during the recent cost-of-living crisis; and discusses the policies Belize could implement to protect its most vulnerable households from the threat of food insecurity going forward. It discusses the appropriate policies to protect vulnerable households from food price inflation going forward based on economic theory and best practices and estimates how much it would cost the government of Belize to protect the vulnerable population against a rise in food prices like the one in 2022. The authorities should evaluate the impact of the recent policy that regulates mark-ups on essential goods by wholesale and retail operators when they have sufficient data. The limits on the mark-up for 32 essential goods were introduced to limit the increase in food prices and avoid monopolistic practices.
Keywords:
food inflation; staff ream; debt target; cost of living crisis; B. food inflation; food inflation in Belize; price signals work; Food prices; Food security; Inflation; Fiscal stance; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Burkina Faso: demande d’un nouvel accord économique et financier au titre du mécanisme élargi de crédit et de la facilité élargie de crédit-communiqué de presse; rapport des services du FMI; déclaration de l’administrateur FMI pour le Burkina Faso
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
Le Burkina Faso est confronté à d’importants besoins en matière de balance des paiements et de sécurité aggravés par une insécurité alimentaire aiguë et une instabilité politique. Les autorités ont obtenu en mars 2023 un financement d’urgence de la part du FMI au titre du guichet « chocs alimentaires » de la facilité de crédit rapide pour répondre à la crise provoquée par l’insécurité alimentaire, qui demeure très vive dans certaines régions. L’aide internationale au développement a diminué après les deux coups d’État militaires survenus en 2022. Le Burkina Faso est parvenu à un accord avec la Communauté économique des États d’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) sur un retour à l’ordre constitutionnel et des élections doivent se dérouler d’ici juillet 2024.
Keywords:
crise de l’insécurité alimentaire; la mise en œuvre de l’intervention d’urgence alimentaire; la mise en œuvre par les autorités; les dépenses alimentaires d’urgence; déficit de financement; Viabilité de la dette; Planification et préparation du budget; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Fraying Threads: Exclusion and Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa
Hany Abdel-Latif
and
Mahmoud El-Gamal
This study investigates the factors leading to exclusion and their detrimental impacts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It employs two-levels of analysis: a macro-level estimation of the influence of exclusion and marginalization on violent conflict, and a micro-level investigation identifying the triggers of exclusion sentiments. We construct statistical summaries from multiple measures of exclusion, producing an overall exclusion index as well as social, economic, and political exclusion sub-indices. Our results show the importance of mitigating exclusion and marginalization within SSA nations, and pinpoint the most effective policy levers that governments may use to minimize destabilizing feelings of exclusion.
Keywords:
Sub-Saharan Africa; Conflict; Social exclusion; Political exclusion; Economic exclusion; exclusion sentiment; IMF working paper No. 24/4; policy lever; conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa; growth effort; Financial soundness indicators; Food security; Climate change
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Burkina Faso: Request for a Four-Year Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Burkina Faso
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper discusses Burkina Faso’s Request for a Four-Year Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). Burkina Faso faces protracted balance of payments problems, reflecting large development needs and the impact of shocks such as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, adverse weather conditions, deteriorating domestic security, the food insecurity crisis, and spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine. These shocks have disrupted economic activity, affected livelihoods, and exacerbated macroeconomic imbalances. The ECF will help create fiscal space for priority spending, strengthen resilience to shocks while reducing poverty, and bolster fiscal discipline, transparency and governance. It will also help close financing gaps reflecting tight financial conditions, large fiscal deficits, debt vulnerabilities, food insecurity, and fragile security conditions. For the country’s long-term development process, it remains essential to sustain structural reforms to foster economic growth and diversification as well as to reduce poverty. In this context, further efforts to improve the business environment, reinforce governance and anticorruption efforts, and address the security crisis are critical.
Keywords:
food insecurity crisis; implementation of the food emergency response; authorities' implementation; emergency food expenditure; financing gap; Debt sustainability; Budget planning and preparation; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Review of Experience with The Food Shock Window Under The Rapid Financing Instrument and The Rapid Credit Facility
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
,
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
, and
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
The Food Shock Window (FSW) under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) was approved in September 2022 for 12 months, as a complement to the tools used by the Fund to support the broader international effort to address the global food shock. The Fund has been working closely with partners to provide a coordinated international response to the global food shock, and has contributed through policy advice, technical assistance and lending. Where needed and possible, financial support to countries affected by the global food shock has been delivered by the IMF through multi-year Fund-supported programs The FSW complemented this support in situations where these programs were not feasible or not necessary. As the global food shock and associated balance of payment pressures are expected to continue throughout 2023, the IMF extended the FSW until end-March 2024 to allow the FSW to continue serving as a contingency tool. This extension will also provide sufficient time to observe if the FSW can lapse without limiting the capacity of the Fund to support its members. To ensure adequate borrowing space under the emergency financing limits for those countries that have received support through the FSW, the IMF also extended the additional 25 percent of quota added to the Cumulative Access Limit until end-2026 for countries that have accessed the Food Shock Window through the RFI and until the completion of the 2024/25 PRGT review for those that accessed the Food Shock Window through the RCF.
Keywords:
Cumulative Access Limits; Rapid Financing Instrument; Rapid Credit Facility; Food Insecurity; FSW request; FSW financing; UCT-quality program; FSW relative; FSW experience; FSW resource; Food security; Food prices; Emergency assistance; Balance of payments need; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Mali: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; Staff Supplement; and Statement by the Executive Director for Mali
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This 2023 Article IV Consultation highlights that Mali’s economy has been hit by multiple shocks since 2020 but remained resilient in 2022 amid high inflation. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth increased from 3.1 percent in 2021 to 3.7 percent in 2022, despite elevated security and socio-political challenges, regional sanctions in the first half of 2022 and a high incidence of food insecurity. Growth is projected to rebound to over 5 percent in 2023 and 2024, assuming strong agricultural and gold output. However, the economic outlook is subject to significant downside risks. They include a worsening security situation, potential election delays, volatile international commodity prices, tighter global financial conditions, and climate risks. The government’s fiscal deficit reflects a rapid increase in security spending, public wages, and the interest bill, which are crowding out growth-friendly spending including those on the social safety net and capital investment. Mali’s current account deficit improved slightly in 2022, down to 6.9 percent of GDP from 7.5 percent in 2021, on account of higher gold exports and lower capital goods imports.
Keywords:
Malian authorities' effort; authorities' roadmap; B. financing condition; concerted effort; medium-term projection; Government debt management; Debt sustainability; Global; West Africa