The effectiveness of international agricultural aid in conflict-affected contexts

Food security and conflict are fundamentally linked. Peace and conflict literature recognises food security as a known contributing factor to conflict, while conflict is also established to have significant and long-lasting impacts on access to food. Both of these phenomena are affected by the provision of international aid, which in the agriculture sector, broadly aims to improve food security. While it is generally supported that agricultural aid has a positive effect on growth, conditional effects are minimally understood, particularly when it comes to socioeconomic outcomes. This thesis explores the effect of international agricultural aid on food security and how this relationship is moderated by conflict and post-conflict contexts. Using a panel dataset comprising countries that received agricultural aid in any year within the timeframe of 2002-2016, I find that the overall relationship between agricultural aid and food security yields mixed and inconclusive results. However, results suggest a conditional effect whereby increases in agricultural aid during conflict phases has a positive impact on food security, while increases during other phases has a negative impact on food security. Aid during post-conflict phases specifically appears to negatively affect food security, contrary to previous research. The analysis suggests more research is necessary on sector-specific, conditional aid effectiveness in relation to food security and conflict