Sub-Saharan Africa's persistent food insecurity and vulnerability to famine reflects failures of understanding as much as failures of interventions. "Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa" aims to contribute towards an improved understanding for more effective food security policy. This book brings together eleven substantial chapters on critical food security issues, and draws on a variety of disciplinary perspectives, from agricultural economics to nutrition. Most contributions reflect an evolution of thinking during the 1990s. Food insecurity is no longer seen simply as a problem of agriculture and a failure of food production at the national level, but instead as a failure of livelihoods to guarantee access to sufficient food at household
level. This conceptual shift and related arguments are presented in a clear and accessible way for the non-specialist reader, and are illustrated with empirical data and case studies from across the sub-continent. The authors are all food security experts with long experience of research and advisory work in Africa.

Table of Contents:

The evolution of food security thinking (Simon Maxwell)
Agricultural issues (Simon Maxwell)
Livelihood systems (Jeremy Swift)
Food security and the environment (Susanna Moorehead)
Famine in Africa (Stephen Devereux)
Food marketing (Bob Baulch)
Food trade and aid (Chris Stevens and Jane Kennan)
Food security information systems (Stephen Devereux)
Nutrition (Helen Young)
Transfers and safety nets (Stephen Devereux)
Organisational issues in food security planning (Simon Maxwell).