CEREAL PRODUCTION AND THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE IT: EVIDENCE FROM THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)
CEREAL PRODUCTION AND THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE IT: EVIDENCE FROM THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)

Summary/Abstract: The relevance of cereals to Sub-Saharan African countries as they are consumed in large quantity in addition to serving as inputs in the production of other products has made studies that influence their production paramount. This study examined the factors that influence cereal production in some selected ECOWAS countries. The paper used annual secondary data obtained from the data bank of the World Bank Development Indicators over the period from 1993 to 2020. The framework of analysis is the panel random effect which was adopted based on the result of the Hauseman test. The study revealed that agricultural raw materials import and land under cereal production impacted positively on cereal production. However, while fertilizer consumption and arable land had a positive but non-significant impact on cereal production, the impact of rural population growth was negative and significant. The study equally found food import to impact negatively on cereal production, but the result was not significant. Consequently, the study recommends that governments in these countries should subsidize fertilizer and improve land under cereal production while modernizing agricultural practices.

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