TITLE:
An Analysis of the Determinants of Maize Import Volumes in Kenya
AUTHORS:
Maurine Adhiambo Abodi, Isaac Maina Kariuki, Gideon Aiko Obare
KEYWORDS:
Import, Maize, Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model, Kenya
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.11 No.2,
April
16,
2021
ABSTRACT: The
objective of our study is to investigate the key factors that determine maize import volumes in Kenya. To achieve this
objective, we used time series secondary data from FAOSTAT, World Bank and
World Trade Organization (WTO) for the
period 1963 to 2016. We consider this period to be long enough to allow
us to accurately capture the domestic maize price patterns before and after the
onset of maize market reforms in Kenya. Our econometric analysis of the time
series data using an error correction version of Autoregressive distributed lag
model shows that maize import volume is determined by trade openness, domestic
price of maize and gross domestic product in the long run. In the short run,
the results show that maize import volume is determined by exchange rate, lag
of exchange rate, lag of maize import volume and production. The findings
suggest that to reduce overreliance on maize imports, effective management of macroeconomic environment should be stimulated to create a favourable environment
for improving domestic maize production
so as to discourage a surge in maize imports and at the same time improve the country’s food security.