Emerging Opportunities in the West African Food Economy

Abstract

OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the authors. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to the Sahel and

Cities and Spatial Interactions in West Africa

“…This work led to the development of a programme on local economies (OECD/SWAC, 2002) that highlighted the crucial role of secondary cities in local economic development and the need to integrate urban and rural areas into one integrated and spatial analysis. Building on these foundations, the work carried out by the Sahel and West Africa Club in 2011-12 on the links between settlement, markets and food security (OECD, 2013), further confirmed the central role of urban agglomerations of all sizes in stimulating agricultural transformations and developing the food economy (Allen and Heinrigs, 2016). All of these analyses, however, have faced the same problem: a lack of urban statistics.…”

How to engage informal midstream agribusiness in enhancing food system outcomes : what we know and what we need to know better

“…The midstream in food systems can support many SDGs by contributing to job creation, improved incomes, and improved connectivity of food production and consumption. The role of the midstream in food systems in developing countries is expanding in parallel to growing urbanisation, rising incomes, changing diets, and growing demand for valueadded products, such as processed foods and foods prepared and consumed outside of the home (Allen and Heinrigs, 2018;Allen et al, 2016;Cockx et al, 2018;Vos and Cattaneo, 2021). Many previous studies investigating food system midstream sectors have made little distinction between formal and informal 1 In this case, informal employment was defined in terms of the employment relationship.…”

Editorial

“…As cidades concentram mais de 67 % da procura alimentar e a urbanização está a alterar os padrões de consumo. Num contexto em que a alimentação representa 55 % do seu rendimento, os agregados familiares preferem produtos transformados (sumos de fruta, massas, conservas), os quais oferecem mais facilidades de logística e de preparação (Allen e Heinrigs, 2016). A transformação local ainda não é suficiente para satisfazer a procura.…”