Recently, considerable attention has rightly been paid to the nutritional impact of the sharp hikes in international food prices which took place in 2007-8 and, again, in 2010-11. While sacrosanct, this growing focus has somewhat obscured the effect of other factors which do affect malnutrition...

This paper has a twofold objective: (a) to make a comprehensive review of different approaches to food security; (b) to develop a human development and capability approach to food security following the pioneering works of Amartya Sen and Jean Dréze. To our best knowledge, no paper has yet...

Civil wars often force people to leave their homes. Displaced populations run higher risk in terms of disease, hunger and death, something that is well-documented. They leave their land, cattle and other assets behind for an uncertain existence in a refugee camp or depend on relatives or...

This paper looks at the condition and progress of SSA's agriculture as central to growth, poverty reduction, access to employment income, and food security. Agriculture also greatly affects other major components of SSA's human development.

Given above-average population growth, feeding sub-Saharan Africa’s future population is an important challenge. This paper considers what we know about the relationship between population and food security and what population projections suggest will be the case over the next half century. It...

This paper explores the varied impacts during the two spikes in food prices in 2007/08 and 2010/11 and the differences in the policy responses among African countries. It first links changes in international food prices, the impact on domestic prices, and the range of responses available to...

This paper presents some of the evidence that underlies the recent change in perceptions on African development and we discuss some of the key challenges facing the continent going forward. It intends to generate a debate among UNDP senior managers in Sub-Saharan Africa and make the paper a...

There is little disagreement about investing in agricultural technology – and the need to reverse the decline experienced over the 1980’s and 1990s – as a priority for improving food security in Africa. Food security is not just about production or supply of food but access. In sub-Saharan...

This paper identifies several positive synergies between social protection programmes and food security outcomes. One function of social protection is to manage and reduce vulnerability, and several instruments are reviewed – weather-indexed insurance, public works programmes, emergency food...

Over the past two decades Sub-Saharan African countries have experienced accelerated economic growth. This positive trend represents a huge opportunity to improve the living standards of millions of Africans and foster inclusive and sustainable development. At the regional level however, such...