Effect of Trade Openness on Food Security in Economic Community of West African States Region

This study investigates the impact of trade openness on food security in the ECOWAS trade zone. The study relied on the system GMM approach to analyze the impact of trade openness on overall and disaggregated components of food security in the ECOWAS trade zone during the period 2014 and 2021. Annual time series data were sourced from the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank Metadata base, and World Integrated Trade Solution. Major findings from the study reveal that trade openness has a significant positive impact on overall food security indicators. However, trade openness has not significantly impacted food availability and access in the ECOWAS region during the period investigated. This finding informs the conclusion that trade openness tends to lose its potency as an important policy tool for achieving greater food security in the ECOWAS trade zone when its impact is considered on a disaggregated scale; hence, the desirability of trade openness as a policy tool in improving food security of ECOWAS member countries is only to the extent of being a complement policy and not a substitute to existing national food and agricultural policies and programs.