Determinants of West African international agricultural trade

Abstract

Agricultural production is clearly an important component of West African international trade. Purpose here is to identify determinants of West African international trade flows. For this, the expanded Structural Gravity model was used. The overall pattern of international agricultural transactions in this region is dominated by extra-regional transactions and there are differences between intra- and extra-regional determinants. In global transactions, flows are higher among the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) does not significantly affect those flows. On the other hand, ECOWAS does not have significant impact on intra-regional agricultural trade and flows are greater among WAEMU member countries.