Alleviating Transitory Food Crisis in Africa

Alleviating Transitory Food Crisis in Africa

Author: Victor Lavy

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13:

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Food aid compensates for up to half the drop in food production during food crises in Sub-Saharan Africa; imports make up another 30 percent. Both stabilize food consumption and neutralize the effects of random shocks to domestic food production.


African Food Systems in Crisis

African Food Systems in Crisis

Author: Rebecca Huss-Ashmore

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9782881243325

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First Published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.


Food Insecurity and Food Aid in Africa

Food Insecurity and Food Aid in Africa

Author: Christopher B. Barrett

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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The prevailing definition of food security, agreed upon at the 1996 World Food Summit, is "a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." Food insecurity exists when that condition does not hold. Food security is commonly conceptualized as resting on three pillars: availability, access, and utilization. These concepts are inherently hierarchical, with availability necessary but not sufficient to ensure access, which is in turn necessary but not sufficient for effective utilization. Availability reflects the supply side. Access reflects food demand, as mediated by cash availability, prices, and intrahousehold resource allocation. Utilization reflects whether individuals and households make good use of the food to which they have access, commonly focused on the intake of essential micronutrients such as iodine, iron or zinc, and vitamins A and D. Some consider stability to be a fourth dimension of food insecurity capturing individuals' susceptibility to food insecurity due to interruptions in access, availability or utilization. The temporal aspect of stability links to the oft-made distinction between chronic and transitory food insecurity. Chronic food insecurity reflects a long-term lack of access to adequate food, and is typically associated with structural problems of availability, access or utilization, especially poor access due to chronic poverty. Most food insecurity is chronic (Barrett 2002). Transitory food insecurity, by contrast, is associated with sudden and temporary disruptions. The most serious episodes of transitory food insecurity are commonly labeled "famine", typically caused by simultaneous or sequential availability, access, and humanitarian response failures.


From Feast to Famine

From Feast to Famine

Author: Bill Rau

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: The book provides a new account of African history and its development prospects. The author focuses on Africa's current food crisis, tracing its origins back to the colonial exploitation of the 19th century. Post-independence strategies are analyzed. The author argues that a profound revolution is under way in Africa's backwaters and urban slums where the poor are withdrawing from the formal market and developing highly innovative and informal networks of trade and production. Increased involveme nt in political struggles at community and national levels is described.


Mitigating the Food Crisis in Southern Africa

Mitigating the Food Crisis in Southern Africa

Author: Suresh Babu

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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More than 10 million people in southern Africa-Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swazilan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe-are currently threatened with famine, with the crisis being particularly severe in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The immediate causes of the food shortage, namely of maize, the region's staple crop, are drought, flooding, and low levels of planting. However, what has made these countries so vulnerable to famine is chronic poverty, inadequate development policies and, in some cases, poor governance. Shocks such as drought bring collapse only to systems that are already weakened by these factors. The key to preventing food shortages and possibly famine, therefore, is effective and appropriate food security policies and responsible governance. Policies for mitigating the effects of a critical food shortage or famine lie on a spectrum ranging from immediate relief to recovery to initiating development. Preventing future famines requires long-term development policies. In addressing the crisis, policymakers should design measures that not only provide relief, but which also lay the foundations for development. Interventions must be combined and sequenced with each other, depending on a country's context, to generate the greatest possible short- and long-term benefits. Described here are policy approaches, that IFPRI research in Africa has shown to be effective in mitigating severe food shortage and enabling development.


Africa's Food Crisis

Africa's Food Crisis

Author: Mutombo Mpanya

Publisher:

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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From the Introduction: When U.S. citizens become aware of the continent of Africa through our media, it is frequently in the context of food shortage or famine. Usually, the response is immediate and generous as we join the world community in helping to alleviate hunger. However, when the emergency passes, the tendency is for our attention to wander to the next major news story. Not many linger to ask why such critical hunger still exists in a world capable of feeding all its citizens. Not many continue to ask whether these precious lives could have been spared. As the second largest and second most populated continent in the world, Africa accounts for a quarter of the land surface of the earth and ten per cent of its population. By the turn of the 21st century, it is estimated that the population will have doubled. How will Africa feed and sustain these millions? At the present time (1990) it is estimated that nearly four million Africans in Ethiopia, Sudan and Angola are at critical risk of starvation due to a tragic combination of civil unrest, drought and crop failure. Millions more face chronic malnutrition daily. How will these deaths be prevented? In order for us to assist in the movement toward African food security, we need to find the answers to these critical questions. In this paper, the authors, Mutombo Mpanya and David Holdridge, explain what, in their view, are some of the causes of hunger in Africa. In the first four sessions, Mpanya describes he ecological, historical, political and economic causes of food scarcity on the continent. We discover that hunger is not simply the result of drought and natural disasters, but the tragic result of human decisions and actions. Only through human will, can we ever hope to end it. In the final session, Holdridge outlines the current situation and the challenges that Africans and all of us must still confront in order to eliminate hunger from the continent.


Poverty and Hunger

Poverty and Hunger

Author: World Bank

Publisher:

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13:

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Food security means access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life. Available data suggest that more than 700 million people in the developing world lack the food necessary for such a life. No problem of underdevelopment may be more serious or have such important implications for the long-term growth of low-income countries. This report outlines the nature and extent of food security problems in developing countries, explores the policy options available to these countries in addressing these problems, and indicates what international institutions such as the World Bank can and should do to help countries solve their food security problems. It suggests ways to achieve the desired goal in cost-effective ways. It also identifies policies that waste economic resources and fail to reach the target groups. (BZ)