Remittances, food security and climate variability: The case of Burkina Faso

Alexandra T Tapsoba (1) , Pascale Combes Motel (2) , Jean-Louis Combes (2)

1 Institut supérieur des sciences de la population
2 CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International

This paper assesses the impact of remittances and climate variability on the food security of households in Burkina Faso. It draws from the World Bank 2010 survey on migration and remittances in Burkina Faso and uses a database from Burkina Faso’s Department of Meteorology regarding rainfall recorded in the ten weather stations throughout the country between 2001 and 2010. We build a food security index using principal component analysis that encompasses the accessibility and utilization dimensions of the concept. We also compute an inter-annual rainfall index and the latter is found to have a negative impact on food security. After controlling for potential endogeneity issues using distance variables and migrant characteristics as instruments, remittances are found to enhance food security. Results are robust to alternative measures of food security and alternative calculations of rainfall variability. The paper also highlights that remittances dampen the negative effect of rainfall variability on food security.

Mots clés: Food security; Climate variability; Remittances; Burkina Faso.

Domaines: Economies et finances; Méthodes et statistiques; Etudes de l'environnement

Alexandra T Tapsoba, Pascale Combes Motel, Jean-Louis Combes. Remittances, food security and climate variability: The case of Burkina Faso. 2019. ⟨halshs-02364775⟩