An Investigation of the Impact of Food Aid on Food Crop Production in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The impact of food aid on food crop production has been subject to debate for a long time in literature. A couple of studies suggest that food aid has a disincentive effect on food crops production. This study uses an autoregressive distributed model to investigate whether there are effects of food aid on maize crop production in Zimbabwe from 1980-2007. The study focuses on two agricultural sectors, namely; commercial and communal agricultural sectors. Food aid shipments significantly affect maize crop production in the commercial agricultural sector. We find no evidence of the impact of food aid on food production in the communal agricultural sector. The study recommends that trade of food crops should remain liberalized to ensure that producers realize a return that is in line with world market price.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p77