Alexander Legwegoh

Food riots: Media perspectives on the causes of food protest in Africa

When food prices spiked in 2007–8, urban Africa experienced more instances of food riots than any other part of the world. Problems were then encountered again during the 2010–11 food price spikes. This paper explores the cases of 14 African countries where food riots occurred during these two periods by presenting a qualitative content analysis of news reports on the riots drawn from both global and local African news sources. This analysis highlights the ways in which the media portrayed the links between food price rises and food riots in Africa. Briefly, our results show that the international media generally portrayed poverty and hunger as the factors that linked the incidence of food price rises with the occurrence of riots. By contrast, the African media tended to portray food riots as being caused by a more complex set of factors, including citizen dissatisfaction and people’s ability to mobilize. Exploring both the international and local interpretations of the drivers behind the food riots is important for the understanding of the multi-scalar and multifaceted factors that shape increasing food insecurity in urban Africa.

Comparative urban food geographies in Blantyre and Gaborone

The geographical diversity of African cities creates context-specific strengths and weaknesses in household food security that come to light in the comparative case study presented in this paper. A recent survey of low-income households in 11 southern African cities found a much higher rate of food security in Blantyre (48%) relative to Gaborone (18%), which was a surprising finding considering Blantyre’s lower ‘development’ status in terms of urban infrastructure, economic opportunities and urban planning. A comparison of the relative scales at which the food production and distribution networks operate to feed each of the cities offers some insight into why Gaborone’s ‘development’ is paradoxically linked to the higher level in food insecurity among its low-income households. The majority of households in the Blantyre survey produced some of their own food and usually purchased food from informal markets; by contrast, most of the food in Gaborone is produced outside of the country and accessed through international supermarket chains. The comparison of these cities, typical of the urban extremes in southern Africa, throws into bold relief the importance of scale for theorizing urban food security in the Global South.

Food, Place, and Culture in Urban Africa: Comparative Consumption in Gaborone and Blantyre

Urban food insecurity is an increasingly important research and policy challenge in urbanizing sub-Saharan Africa. There is growing concern within food security literature about the paradoxical expansion of both hunger and obesity within African cities, and yet there is insufficient research from a social science perspective to explain the coexistence of dietary deficiency, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity in Africa’s diverse urban contexts. Locally appropriate strategies to address the multiple health effects of under- and overnutrition are developed within unique environmental conditions and constraints, different economic systems, and different cultural milieux. These factors shape what foods are available, which ones are affordable, and how urban residents subjectively experience food security. This article analyzes the Household Dietary Diversity Scores (HDDS) from a regional survey, focusing on a qualitative comparison of Gaborone, Botswana, and Blantyre, Malawi, to draw out the embedded differences in food consumption patterns in the 2 cities, raising several implications of these differences for understanding urban food security in sub-Saharan Africa. The comparison generates insights into the limitations of quantitative metrics of food security abstracted from the local context and highlights the importance of geographical observations of environment, political economy, and culture for understanding urban food security.

Urban food dynamics in Botswana: insights from Gaborone's Central Business District

Urbanization is changing the circumstances, livelihoods and lifestyles of people in Southern Africa. In this context, little is known about food available to cities, food sources accessible to urban dwellers, or factors influencing food consumption. Applying a food systems conceptual frame, the article provides empirical findings from Gaborone, Botswana characterizing urban food supply, documenting food sources, and examining consumer food choice. Engaging a qualitative, exploratory approach, the research reveals adequate supply and multifaceted sources from which to acquire food in Gaborones Central Business District (CBD), and consumer choices grounded in economic factors together with issues of social status and aesthetics. A number of fundamental issues and questions arise from this preliminary research relating to food policies and research agendas in the region. In particular greater attention to urbanization trends, foreign import strategies and food consumption practices is warranted.

Food Crisis or Chronic Poverty: Metanarratives of Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article examines different depictions of the challenges presented by food insecurity and how these depictions influence programming and policy. Using a content analysis methodology, we contrast 3 distinct bodies of food security literature: (1) recently published scientific papers; (2) international development agencies project documents; and (3) reports and policy documents produced by Sub-Saharan African governments. Analysis reveals 2 main narratives: a “crisis narrative” that views food insecurity as a “production” crisis, common in the scientific and aid agency documents, and a “chronic poverty narrative” that views food insecurity as fundamentally linked to poverty and low economic development, predominantly in the African policy documents. By identifying and describing these 2 distinct narratives, our goal is to initiate a debate around the hegemony of narratives, especially the production crisis narrative. In particular, we are concerned that the notion that we are facing a “food production crisis” overwhelms the description of food insecurity as an issue linked to chronic poverty and in doing so fails to lead to meaningful change in Africa.

Food politics: perspectives on food security in Central Africa

Food security is political. The identification of food insecurity and the development and implementation of responses to it are enveloped in layers of politics and power. This politics might not be as readily apparent in emergency situations where broad agreement on the need for a response is evident. But in the everyday governance of food it must not be forgotten that food security is a contested concept. This article offers a preliminary elucidation of this politics in the Central African context. To do so it presents findings from an analysis of publicly available information and media reports. This analysis hones in on the perspectives of differently situated stakeholders on food security imperatives in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community. To identify similarities and differences in the levels of emphasis different stakeholders place on different aspects of food security, the authors employ Olivier De Schutters understanding of the relevant dimensions. Specific terms used in the presentation of food security information are associated with one of the three dimensions of food security advanced by De Schutter: availability, accessibility and adequacy. In light of this analytic approach, the article finds that stakeholders – including businesses, civil society groups, governments and multilateral and bilateral partners – do not necessarily articulate similar viewpoints on food security. There is simply no unified view on what should be done to advance food security in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea or Gabon. That being said, the article does identify intriguing areas of convergence.

High food prices in urban Cameroon: coping strategies and suggested policy actions

ABSTRACT Governments tend to focus on short-term policies to address the immediate effects of high food prices when spikes occur, while in the long term, urban residents are left to their own devices struggling to ensure adequate household food consumption. Using data collected in three cities in Cameroon among 300 households, this article documents participants’ opinions on appropriate policies to address high food prices as well as how households cope with chronic high food prices. It emphasises the importance of long-term government strategies such as improved farm-to-market roads and agricultural sector supports as means to improve food security.

Rapid Economic Growth and Urban Food Insecurity

Research on food security in Botswana has mainly focused on the country’s rural areas. Much less is known about the extent and nature of food insecurity in the country’s cities and towns. This makes it difficult for development practitioners and policy makers to quantify the challenge and make plans to reduce the food gap that exists in urban areas. In an effort to understand the extent and determinants of food insecurity in Gaborone, AFSUN undertook a baseline study of 400 households drawn from Old Naledi, White City/Bontleng and Broadhurst. Levels of food insecurity in these areas of Gaborone were high and, despite the economic health of Botswana compared to other SADC countries, no better than in many other cities. Only 12 % of households were completely food secure while 62 % were severely food insecure. Food insecurity is endemic in the poorer parts of Gaborone and Botswana’s ‘economic miracle’ is clearly not reaching many of these households.