Michael T. Weber

Informing Food Security Decisions in Africa: Empirical Analysis and Policy Dialogue

Discussions of economic and agricultural development in Africa have focused heavily in recent years on structural adjustment, i.e., basic policy changes aimed at allowing international and domestic markets to play a greater role in coordinating national economic activities. Often these structural adjustments and accompanying policies aimed at improving economic performance have been based on several implicit assumptions about how African food systems operate. Yet, for many countries little empirical information has been available to test these assumptions. Hence, designing policies too often becomes an exercise in planning without facts. This paper argues that not only is there a need to base food security and structural adjustment policies more firmly on empirical information, but that the process by which the information is obtained is as important as the information itself. Agricultural economists and other social scientists can, and increasingly should, design policy research in Africa in ways that simultaneously increase effective demand for empirical information as an input into the ongoing policy process and augment African capacity continually to inform policy deliberations. We illustrate the payoffs to such an approach by drawing on selected experience in several African countries (Weber).

Food security strategies under extremely adverse conditions: The determinants of household income and consumption in rural Mozambique

Abstract This paper uses household survey data from war-torn northern Mozambique to examine the factors associated with higher incomes and improved rural household food security. Incomes and calorie consumption were found to be low and variable in each district, and both are highly correlated with land holdings. The central role of land holdings is largely a result of serious market failure. Food market participation rates and the proportion of net buyers are lower than in other sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) research. Purchased food as a percentage of total caloric intake and off-farm income as a percentage of total income are both very low by SSA standards. In short, surveyed smallholders have adopted a strategy of marked reliance on farm-based own production to ensure their survival. It is suggested that land holdings will continue to be key determinants of household income and consumption for the foreseeable future. Broad-based rural development efforts, possibly organized around existing cotton-growing enterprises, may offer one way out of the poverty trap for smallholders.

Food aid and food markets: lessons from Mozambique

Abstract A consensus has emerged on food aid policy, acknowledging the importance of short-run relief considerations, while emphasizing that such policy must be driven by a long-run, developmental perspective. This requires explicit attention to the effects of food aid on food markets. Yet it has long been clear that short- and long-run objectives of food aid may conflict. This tension stands in high relief in Mozambique, one of the most food aid-dependent countries in the world. This paper examines the factors determining the effects of yellow maize food aid on markets for yellow maize and white maize (the staple crop) in Mozambique. The paper finds that: (a) food aid has helped fuel the growth of a competitive small scale milling industry and informal marketing system; (b) yellow and white maize are substitutes in consumption; and (c) continued availability of yellow maize food aid at prices well below import parity will depress incentives for producers and traders to invest in the white maize production and marketing system. This paper presents recommendations for reforming the monetized food aid program and coordinating it more effectively with emergency aid.

Cassava commercialization in Southeastern Africa.

Purpose - Cassava production surged noticeably in Southeastern Africa beginning in the 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to examine the commercial responses and food security consequences of cassava production growth in the region. Design/methodology/approach - The paper incorporates a mix of quantitative analysis, based primarily on original analysis of national farm household survey data, together with key informant interviews with value chain participants in the three neighboring countries of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. Findings - In the cassava production zones, cassavas high productivity translates into per kilogram carbohydrate costs 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the cost of cereals such as maize and wheat, thereby opening up a range of profitable opportunities for commercialization of cassava-based foods, feeds and industrial products. Despite this potential, cassava commercialization in Southeastern Africa remains in its formative stages, with only 10 per cent to 30 per cent of production currently marketed. Unlike West Africa, where cassava commercialization has centered on marketing prepared cassava-based convenience foods, the emerging cassava markets in Southeastern Africa have centered on fresh cassava, low value-added cassava flour, and experiments in industrial processing of cassava-based starches, biofuels and feeds. Strategic investment in a set of key public goods (breeding, training in food sciences and food safety, and research on in-ground cassava storage) can help to shape this transition in ways that benefit both commercial interests and the food security of vulnerable households. Originality/value - The paper compares cassava commercialization across differing agro-climatic zones, policy environments and food staple zones.

Confronting the silent challenge of hunger: a conference synthesis

This report is a synthesis of views presented at the Confronting the Silent Challenge of Hunger USAID Conference, June 28-29, 1994. The purposes of the conference were to provide information to assist AID in defining and articulating its development strategy related to agriculture and food security, to identify issues of consensus for incorporation into future AID strategy, and to identify critical issues of ongoing debate which need to be resolved.