Food Security in Africa: Challenges of Climate Change and Energy Opportunities

Abstract

Climate change is regarded as one of the most significant challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. Rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall are expected to put pressure on resources, especially for agriculture and food production. This study addresses this issue by adopting a panel data approach in an attempt to examine the impact of climatic factors on food security in Africa from 2000 to 2020 for a sample of 12 countries. In order to empirically investigate the link between the three components, climate change, food security, and renewable energy, a combination of estimation models must be implemented, including the fixed-effect model, the random-effect model, and the feasible general linear least squares (FGLS) regression model. Furthermore, a series of diagnostic tests are incorporated to assess the validity and robustness of the estimated model. Specifically, it examines the presence of the autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity, and the normality of residuals, ensuring that the model satisfies the fundamental statistical assumptions required for reliable inference. The empirical results conducted in this study confirm that the use of renewable energy has a significant negative impact on food security, while the climatic factors, temperature and precipitation, a positive influence on the food security significantly.