Effect of the Energy Transition on Food Security : The Role of the Female Agricultural Workforce in WAEMU Countries
Keywords:
Energy transition, female agricultural workforce, Food security, WAEMU, ARDL
Abstract
This article looks at the problem of food insecurity and nutrition in Africa. The study analyses the role of women in the relationship between the energy transition and food security in the 8 WAEMU countries over the period 1996-2022. The use of an ARDL model shows that the energy transition significantly and symmetrically improves food security in the short term, but has a negative and asymmetric effect in the long term. The interaction between the energy transition and the female agricultural workforce has a positive effect in the long term, but is neutral in the short term. We recommend that, in order to ensure sustainable food security, the involvement of women in the agricultural sector must be strengthened. Public policies and private initiatives must therefore promote women's access to sustainable energy resources, while supporting their role in innovation and the management of agricultural practices.
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References
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38. Najm, S., & Matsumoto, K. I. (2020). Does renewable energy substitute LNG international trade in the energy transition?. Energy Economics, 92.1-8
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42. Pedroni, P. (2004). Panel cointegration: asymptotic and finite sample properties of pooled time series tests with an application to the PPP hypothesis. Econometric theory, 20(3), 597-625.
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47. Pimbert, M. P. (2018). Global status of agroecology. Economic & Political Weekly, 53(41), 52-57.
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51. Quisumbing, A. R., & Pandolfelli, L. (2010). "Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions." World Development.
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60. Women, U. N. (2021). Empowering women at work: government laws and policies for gender equality. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/1469225/empowering-women-at-work/2120184/
61. Yoo, S. H. (2006). The causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN countries. Energy policy, 34(18), 3573-3582.
62. York, R., & Rosa, E. A. (2003). "Key Challenges to Ecological Modernization Theory: Institutional Efficacy, Case Study Evidence, Units of Analysis, and the Pace of Eco-efficiency." Organization & Environment.
63. Zakari, S., Ibro, G., Moussa, B., & Abdoulaye, T. (2022). Adaptation strategies to climate change and impacts on household income and food security: Evidence from Sahelian region of Niger. Sustainability, 14(5), 1-18.
64. Zhuang, D., Abbas, J., Al-Sulaiti, K., Fahlevi, M., Aljuaid, M., & Saniuk, S. (2022). Land-use and food security in energy transition: Role of food supply. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 1-22
2. Aliaga, M. A., & Chaves-Dos-Santos, S. M. (2014). Food and Nutrition Security Public Initiatives from a Human and Socioeconomic Development Perspective: Mapping Experiences within the 1996 World Food Summit Signatories. Social Science & Medicine, 104, 74-79.
3. Altieri, M. A. (2009). "Agroecology, Small Farms, and Food Sovereignty." Monthly Review.
4. Ansar, A., Flyvbjerg, B., Budzier, A., & Lunn, D. (2014). Should we build more large dams? The actual costs of hydropower megaproject development. Energy policy, 69, 43-56.
5. Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. The review of economic studies, 58(2), 277-297.
6. Arellano, M., & Bover, O. (1995). Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models. Journal of econometrics, 68(1), 29-51.
7. Baker, L., Newell, P., & Phillips, J. (2014). "The Political Economy of Energy Transitions: The Case of South Africa." New Political Economy.
8. Blundell, R., & Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of econometrics, 87(1), 115-143.
9. Breusch, T. S., & Pagan, A. R. (1980). The Lagrange multiplier test and its applications to model specification in econometrics. The review of economic studies, 47(1), 239-253.
10. Clancy, J., Skutsch, M., & Batchelor, S. (2011). "Gender equity in access to and benefits from modern energy and improved energy technologies: World Development Report Background Paper."
11. Clapp, J., & Fuchs, D. (2009). "Agrifood Corporations, Global Governance, and Sustainability: A Framework for Analysis." In Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance.
12. Cornwall, A. (2016). Women's empowerment: What works?. Journal of International Development, 28(3), 342-359.
13. Crenshaw, K. (2019). 'Difference' through intersectionality 1. In Dalit Feminist Theory . Routledge India. 139-149
14. De Moraes Sá, J. C., Lal, R., Cerri, C. C., Lorenz, K., Hungria, M., & de Faccio Carvalho, P. C. (2017). Low-carbon agriculture in South America to mitigate global climate change and advance food security. Environment International, 98, 102-112.
15. Doss, C. R. (2018). Women and agricultural productivity: Reframing the Issues. Development policy review, 36(1), 35-50.
16. Elson, D. (1995). "Male Bias in the Development Process." Manchester University Press.
17. Ericksen, P. J. (2008). "Conceptualizing food systems for global environmental change research." Global Environmental Change.
18. Evans, G., & Phelan, L. (2016). Transition to a post-carbon society: Linking environmental justice and just transition discourses. Energy Policy, 99, 329-339.
19. FAO, IFAD, WHO, WFP and UNICEF. 2023. Summary of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023. Urbanization, agri-food systems transformation, and access to healthy food along the rural-urban continuum. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc6550fr, 1-47
20. FAO. (2017). "The future of food and agriculture – Trends and challenges."
21. FAO. (2021). FAO Policy on Gender Equality 2020-2030. Rome.
22. FAO. 2020. The State of Food and Agriculture 2020. Meeting the challenge of water in agriculture. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1447fr
23. Fetanat, A., Tayebi, M., & Mofid, H. (2021). Water-energy-food security nexus based selection of energy recovery from wastewater treatment technologies: An extended decision making framework under intuitionistic fuzzy environment. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 43.
24. Folbre, N. (2021). The International Labour Review and gender equality: the importance of women's work, both paid and unpaid. International Labour Review, 160(4), 30-39.
25. Galgóczi, B. (2020). Just transition on the ground: Challenges and opportunities for social dialogue. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 26(4), 367-382.
26. Geels, F. W. (2002). "Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study." Research Policy.
27. Grainger, M. (2010). World summit on food security (UN FAO, Rome, 16–18 November 2009). Development in practice, 20(6), 740-742.
28. Grainger, R. (2016). Fisheries and aquaculture. Routledge handbook of food and nutrition security, 153-168.
29. Heffron, R. J. (2021). Achieving a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 9-19.
30. Ingram, J. (2011). "A food systems approach to researching food security and its interactions with global environmental change." Food Security.
31. Kao, C. (1999). Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data. Journal of econometrics, 90(1), 1-44.
32. Kim, J. E. (2019). Sustainable energy transition in developing countries: the role of energy aid donors. Climate Policy, 19(1), 1-16.
33. Kline, K. L., Msangi, S., Dale, V. H., Woods, J., Souza, G. M., Osseweijer, P., ... & Mugera, H. K. (2017). Reconciling food security and bioenergy: priorities for action. Gcb Bioenergy, 9(3), 557-576.
34. Malapit, H. J., Meinzen-Dick, R. S., Quisumbing, A. R., & Zseleczky, L. (2020). Building inclusive and empowering agrifood systems for resilience. Adapted from "Women: Transforming food systems for empowerment and equity." In 2020 Global Food Policy Report. Chapter 4, pp. 36-45. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896293670_04
35. McMichael, C. (2020). Human mobility, climate change, and health: Unpacking the connections. The Lancet Planetary Health, 4(6), 217-218.
36. Menyah, K., Nazlioglu, S., & Wolde-Rufael, Y. (2014). Financial development, trade openness and economic growth in African countries: New insights from a panel causality approach. Economic Modelling, 37, 386-394.
37. Mol, A. P. J., & Spaargaren, G. (2000). "Ecological modernization theory in debate: A review." Environmental Politics.
38. Najm, S., & Matsumoto, K. I. (2020). Does renewable energy substitute LNG international trade in the energy transition?. Energy Economics, 92.1-8
39. O'Neil, C. E., Nicklas, T. A., & Fulgoni III, V. L. (2018). Food sources of energy and nutrients of public health concern and nutrients to limit with a focus on milk and other dairy foods in children 2 to 18 years of age: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011–2014. Nutrients, 10(8), 1-37
40. Ogbolumani, O.A.; Nwulu, N.I. A food-energy-water nexus meta-model for food and energy security. Sustain. Prod. Consum. 2022, 30, 438–453
41. Patel, R. (2009). "Food sovereignty." The Journal of Peasant Studies.
42. Pedroni, P. (2004). Panel cointegration: asymptotic and finite sample properties of pooled time series tests with an application to the PPP hypothesis. Econometric theory, 20(3), 597-625.
43. Pesaran, M. H. (2004). General diagnostic tests for cross section dependence in panels. CESifo Working Papers No.1233, 255–60.
44. Pesaran, M. H. (2007). A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross‐section dependence. Journal of applied econometrics, 22(2), 265-312.
45. Pesaran, M. H., Shin, Y., & Smith, R. J. (2001). Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships. Journal of applied econometrics, 16(3), 289-326.
46. Pesaran, M. H., Shin, Y., & Smith, R. P. (1999). Pooled mean group estimation of dynamic heterogeneous panels. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 94(446), 621-634.
47. Pimbert, M. P. (2018). Global status of agroecology. Economic & Political Weekly, 53(41), 52-57.
48. Pinstrup-Andersen, P. (2009). Food security: definition and measurement. Food security, 1, 5-7.
49. UNDP. 2014. UNDP Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality, 2014-2017. The future we want: rights and empowerment. New York, NY, 10017 USA. 1-36
50. Pons, G., & Tanguy, P. (2021). Three levers to facilitate the energy transition. Outside the Walls, 50(6), 27-30.
51. Quisumbing, A. R., & Pandolfelli, L. (2010). "Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions." World Development.
52. Roodman, D. (2009). How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata. The stata journal, 9(1), 86-136.
53. Scoones, I. (2015). "Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development." Practical Action Publishing.
54. Sen, A. (1999). "Development as Freedom." Oxford University Press.
55. Tilman, D., Socolow, R., Foley, J. A., et al. (2009). "Beneficial Biofuels – The Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma." Science.
56. United Nations, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). (2002). The state of food insecurity in the world 2001.
57. Van der Horst, D., & Vermeylen, S. (2011). "Spatial scale and social impacts of biofuel production." Biomass and Bioenergy.
58. Westerlund, J. (2005). New simple tests for panel cointegration. Econometric Reviews, 24(3), 297-316.
59. Wheeler, T., & Von Braun, J. (2013). Climate change impacts on global food security. Science, 341(6145), 508-513.
60. Women, U. N. (2021). Empowering women at work: government laws and policies for gender equality. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/1469225/empowering-women-at-work/2120184/
61. Yoo, S. H. (2006). The causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN countries. Energy policy, 34(18), 3573-3582.
62. York, R., & Rosa, E. A. (2003). "Key Challenges to Ecological Modernization Theory: Institutional Efficacy, Case Study Evidence, Units of Analysis, and the Pace of Eco-efficiency." Organization & Environment.
63. Zakari, S., Ibro, G., Moussa, B., & Abdoulaye, T. (2022). Adaptation strategies to climate change and impacts on household income and food security: Evidence from Sahelian region of Niger. Sustainability, 14(5), 1-18.
64. Zhuang, D., Abbas, J., Al-Sulaiti, K., Fahlevi, M., Aljuaid, M., & Saniuk, S. (2022). Land-use and food security in energy transition: Role of food supply. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 1-22
Published
2025-11-12
How to Cite
Kamalan, A. E., Kadjo, A. P., & Kouame, K. R. (2025). Effect of the Energy Transition on Food Security : The Role of the Female Agricultural Workforce in WAEMU Countries. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 47, 134. Retrieved from https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/20311
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ESI Preprints
Copyright (c) 2025 Angbonon Eugene Kamalan, Assande Pierre Kadjo, Kouakou Romaric Kouame
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
