A COMPARATTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL EXPORT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH OF ECOWAS COUNTRIES

Towards the acceleration of the attainment of sustainable growth, most countries have focused

on agricultural exports as a means of driving their economy. Developing countries of Africa are

highly dependent on the agricultural sector and agricultural exports are a major determinant of

economic growth of these countries. However, the impact of agricultural exports on economic

growth of ECOWAS countries remains unclear. This study therefore evaluates the impact of

agricultural exports on the economic growth of fifteen ECOWAS countries using panel data for the

period 1980–2013. Variables employed are labour force participation rate, capital stock, agricultural

exports, non-agricultural exports, inflation and economic growth. The results of the fixed-effect

model show that agricultural exports have not impacted significantly on the economic growth of

ECOWAS countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria with respect to the Republic of Benin, which

is the selected baseline. The study also analysed the country combined effect of the agricultural

exports and found that it was significant but the rate of impact was weak. The study recommends,

among others, that even though agricultural exports had a significant impact on economic growth,

there is still a need for ECOWAS governments to improve their agricultural sector as its significance

is more noticeable in some countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.