robedamo/food_market_access

Continental-scale spatial accessibility to food markets in Africa from open geospatial data (Scientific Reports, 2026) # Continental-scale assessment of spatial food market accessibility in Africa using open geospatial data ## Table of Contents 1. Citing 2. Abstract 3. Description 4. Usage 5. Authors and acknowledgment 6. Requirements 7. License ## 1. Citing If you use our approach or code in this repository, please cite our paper: Benassai-Dalmau, Robert, Vasiliki Voukelatou, Rossano Schifanella, Stefania Fiandrino, Daniela Paolotti, and Kyriaki Kalimeri. "Unequal Journeys to Food Markets: Continental-Scale Evidence from Open Data in Africa." arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.07913 (2025). publication `@article{benassai2025unequal,` `title={Unequal Journeys to Food Markets: Continental-Scale Evidence from Open Data in Africa},` `author={Benassai-Dalmau, Robert and Voukelatou, Vasiliki and Schifanella, Rossano and Fiandrino, Stefania and Paolotti, Daniela and Kalimeri, Kyriaki},` `journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.07913},` `year={2025} }` ## 2. Abstract Access to food is a fundamental human right and is comprised in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, market access remains limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where research on market accessibility is scarce and often relies on small-scale surveys with limited quantitative scope. In this study, we present a large-scale analysis of spatial market accessibility across Africa, leveraging open data from OpenStreetMap and the United Nations World Food Programme. We evaluate accessibility through three key dimensions: travel time (walking or motorized), market availability, and spatial distribution. Our findings reveal consistent patterns across all three metrics, highlighting stark disparities between urban and rural areas, with the latter, often less wealthy regions, experiencing severe access limitations. Furthermore, we examine the link between market access and food security, identifying a significant yet moderate correlation. These results underscore the critical role of spatial market acces …