West Africa / Sahel

West Africa has been defined as including 17 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, the island nation of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo
Area: 1,974,103 sq mi (approx. 20x the size of the State of Michigan)
Population approx. 362 million in 2016
Climate: In West Africa there are four different climate regions which consists of humid, tropical, savanna, desert, and steppe.

Fun fact: The West African nation of Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world. West Africa is also home to Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake.

Main Research Themes

Publications and Presentations

Food Systems Transformation in West Africa: Implications for Jobs and Policy

Published on June 18, 2018
Tom Reardon and Saweda Liverpool-Tasie, OECD Seminar: Urbanization, Food Economy, Employment, and Women, Paris, France, June 18, 2018
Industry Efforts to Combat Counterfeit and Other Illegal Pesticides

Published on June 14, 2018
Bama O. Yao, World Bank-International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research Conference on "Disruptive Innovations and Rural Development", Washington DC, June 14, 2018
Farm Family Effects of Adopting Improved and Hybrid Sorghum Seed in the Sudan Savanna of West Africa

Published on January 10, 2018
Smale, M., Assima, A., Kergna, A., Theriault, V., and Weltzien, E. 2018. Farm family effects of adopting improved and hybrid sorghum seed in the Sudan Savanna of West Africa. Food Policy, 74 (January): 162-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.01.001
Using Participatory Modeling Processes to Identify Sources of Climate Risk in West Africa

Published on October 4, 2017
Schmitt Olabisi, L. K., Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O., Rivers, L., Ligmann-Zielinska, A., Du, J. Denny, R., Li, J. Marquart-Pyatt, S. & Sidibe, A. Environment Systems and Decisions, October 2017
Trends in Per Capita Food Availability in West Africa, 1980-2009

Published on February 1, 2013
IDWP 130. Nathalie M. Me-Nsope and John M. Staatz. February 2013