Food security and armed conflict: a cross-country analysis

Significant progress has been made in improving global food security, yet some countries still face severe challenges. In some cases, violent armed conflict has potentially contributed t local food insecurity due to disruption of food production and agricultural markets. Despite the relevance of this topic in context of tracking global food security, there is a paucity of empirical work examining this cross-country variation. Therefore, this study uses country level data, covering 106 countries in Africa, Asia, Central and South America between 1961-2011, to estimate the relation between conflict and food security. To proxy food security the dietary energy supply (DES) is used. Results show that conflict is associated with lower food security levels. Specifically conflicts about government power or with large fatality numbers are correlated with a large estimated reduction in the national DES. The results highlight the negative correlation between conflict and food security, illustrating how certain types of conflict could potentially undo years of progress.