From Abundance to Scarcity: The Role of Resource Depletion in Africa’s Food Security Challenges

Despite its abundant natural resources, Africa faces some of the highest food insecurity rates globally. Rather than ensuring food stability, the depletion of these resources has undermined productivity, disrupted livelihoods, and increased economic vulnerability. Understanding these dynamics is urgent for developing sustainable policies to address food insecurity. Despite the increasing urgency of this issue, empirical studies assessing the effect of resource depletion on food security in Africa remain limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the effect of resource depletion on food security across 37 African countries from 2012 to 2021, contributing to the broader discourse on sustainable resource management and food security. Using the Fixed Effects Driscoll and Kraay estimator and the Instrumental Variable Generalized Method of Moments approach, the findings reveal that energy, mineral, forest, and total natural resource depletion significantly increase food insecurity. Additionally, the results indicate that foreign direct investment and industrialization mitigate food insecurity, while urbanization and inflation exacerbate it. The consistency of these findings is confirmed with Robustness checks, and based on the insights, the study provides evidence-based policy recommendations aimed at promoting sustainable resource management and economic strategies to enhance food security and resilience across African nations.