In print

Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Edited by Stephen Devereux and Simon Maxwell
Published by ITDG Publishing, 103-105 Southampton Row, London, WC1B 4HL, UK
Email: itpubs@itpubs.org.uk Website: www.itdgpublishing.org.uk
2001, 368pp., ISBN 1 85339 523 4 (Pb), £15.95

While in the rest of the world chronic malnutrition and famine are no longer as prevalent as they once were, in sub-Saharan Africa the situation is not improving. Moreover food security in the area is facing major challenges; new technology, conflict, HIV/AIDS, climate change and the effects of globalization all demand creative responses, at all levels from nation to household. The last ten years have seen huge shifts in how food security is understood. Where once famine was regarded as a national agricultural failure, it is now emphasized that failure in household livelihood strategies can be just as significant. Food insecurity results from shortcomings both in policies and institutions, and to tackle it effectively requires collaboration across a multitude of sectors and disciplines; it cannot be left to agricultural ministries alone.

Written with confidence and clarity, the eleven perspectives in this book each cover a major topic, from the importance of agriculture and the environment, to livelihood strategies in urban and rural settings, food aid and trade, and the roles of public and private sectors in food marketing.

The chapter on agriculture describes the multiple roles that agriculture plays in food security, not just as the source of food, but as a major employer and engine of economic activity. Structural adjustment policies have weakened the role of governments in controlling agricultural production, but they can still have an impact through both the frameworks of regulation and incentive they create (e.g. land tenure reform, co-operative legislation), and how they choose to use public expenditure (e.g. in support of agricultural research, infrastructure and marketing, seed production).

There still remain some important debates: whether to target high-potential areas with high-input style production, or more marginal areas with low-input farming; whether to encourage cash or subsistence crops. The lesson seems to be that improving food security can be an elusive goal; increasing production does not in itself increase access to food. Hence the observation that food security involves much more than just agriculture.

This discussion of agriculture is followed by a critical assessment of the current emphasis on sustainable livelihoods, with particular reference to areas prone to droughts and conflicts and other causes of frequent food insecurity, and the ways that pastoralists and urban dwellers in such areas secure their income. Policy implications include support for the flexibility and diversity of activity that underpin a family or community's chance of surviving the shocks of natural or man-made disaster.

Further chapters discuss, among other things, the complex relationship between food security and the environment (advocating the need for a 'Doubly Green Revolution'), the causes and coping strategies of famine in Africa, the implications of the Uruguay Round on trade, and organisational issues in food security planning. It is refreshing to find a book covering such a 'meaty' subject that is accessible to the non-specialist, and it will be essential reading for all who wish to understand and/or reduce poverty and hunger in the region.

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Agricultural Technologies and Tropical Deforestation

Edited by A. Angelsen and D. Kaimowitz
Published by CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, OX10 8DE, UK in association with Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Email: orders@cabi.org Website www.cabi.org/Bookshop/
2001, 440pp., ISBN 0 85199 451 2 (Pb), £35/US$65

Have recent technological developments in agriculture increased or reduced the problem of deforestation? This was the issue addressed by a CIFOR workshop in Costa Rica in 1999, and this book is based on the papers given. Contributing participants presented both conceptual frameworks for understanding the central questions, as well as case studies from their work in Latin America, Africa and Asia. These span differing environments, production systems and market conditions, and seek to identify the technologies and policies that are likely to support both farmers and forests.

The contributions are detailed and technical, and therefore best serve the needs and interests of researchers and policy-makers engaged in agricultural development and forest protection. Papers include the ambiguous effects of policy reforms on sustainable agricultural intensification in Africa; tree crops as deforestation and reforestation agents; technological change versus economic policy as tools to control deforestation in Costa Rica; and the role of intensive pasture management in protecting forests in Latin America.

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African Indigenous Vegetables: An overview of the cultivated species

By R. R. Shippers
Published by The University of Greenwich and CTA
Copies available from NRI Catalogue Services, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, OX10 8DE, UK, (quote ref. CRG7)
2000, 222pp., ISBN 0 85954 515 6 (Pb), £35

Indigenous vegetables have long been regarded as 'minor crops' and excluded from research attention, in favour of major food and cash crops. This overview of the most common indigenous vegetables in Africa argues that channeling some 'R and D' in their direction could have a significant impact on both food security and health among the continent's poorest. Indigenous vegetables tend to have short production cycles, require intensive labour but few purchased inputs, and produce high yields with strong nutritional value. They can therefore support rural, peri-urban and urban populations both in terms of subsistence and income-generation, without requiring large capital investments. In some areas they are also becoming popular with commercial growers.

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Rethinking Globalisation: Critical issues and policy choices

By Martin Khor
Published by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK
Website: zedbooks.co.uk
2001, 144pp., ISBN 1 84277 055 1 (Pb), £9.99/$17.50

Rethinking Globalisation begins by explaining what economic globalisation is, and goes on to describe in more detail how in the three main areas of trade, finance - e.g. debt, regulation of financial markets - and foreign investment, developing countries have failed to benefit. Khor's essential thesis is to criticize Western governments for their undemocratic domination of the policy process, and to reject the 'one size fits all' policies advocated by the WTO et al. Developing countries need to co-ordinate their own contributions to the policy making process, and be allowed to decide when and how to open their economies to the global system.

Unfortunately, Khor's language is not easily accessible to the general reader. Policy makers and students who are already familiar with the ground and the vocabulary of international trade and finance may not be perturbed, but others may struggle to decipher the economics-speak. This is a pity, given the importance of the subject.

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Beating Hunger: The Chivi experience
A community based approach to food security in Zimbabwe

By Kuda Murwira et al.
Published by ITDG Publishing, 103-105 Southampton Row, London,WC1B 4HL, UK
Email: itpubs@itpubs.org.uk Website: www.itdgpublishing.org.uk
2000, 160pp., ISBN 1 85339 524 2 (Pb), £12.95

Readers of New Agriculturist edition 01-3 may remember the review of The Water Harvester, the story of Zephaniah Phiri, a farmer in Zimbabwe who developed highly effective soil and water conservation techniques. Mr. Phiri crops up again in Beating Hunger, the story of a ten year food security project in Chivi district; as part of the project, farmers from Chivi visited his Zvishvane farm and were inspired to copy his methods.

Technical improvements were just one of the positive outcomes from the project. Even more important has been the co-operation which has grown among the farmers, and the greater co-ordination between farmers' clubs, and women's garden groups. Building confidence was also key; through 'Training for Transformation' methodology, farmers developed the confidence to negotiate effectively with service providers, for example with the agricultural extension services. Local leaders became more self-critical, and village committees more representative and effective. Beating Hunger makes an enjoyable and inspiring read; it gives an in depth picture of one community's struggle to improve their situation, not by external capital investments, but by pooling and developing the resources they already possessed.

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The Great Food Gamble

By John Humphrys
Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3 BH, UK
Website: www.madaboutbooks.com
2001, 320pp., ISBN 0 340 770 45 7 (Pb), £12.99

Humphrys, a former dairy farmer, is one of Britain's most respected broadcasters, perhaps best known for hosting the BBC Radio 4 'Today' programme. Published in the wake of BSE and during the foot and mouth outbreak, The Great Food Gamble reflects what Humphrys believes is a growing unease in Britain over the real costs of the national obsession with cheap food. He argues that the mass production style of farming that developed in the 1950s has cost Britain both financially - in the form of subsidies to farmers - as well as environmentally, and is now inflicting further costs in terms of damage to health and increased spending on health services. Humphrys' style is informal and colourful, his case is challenging and well-made, and readers from both in and outside Britain will find it an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

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Contract Farming: Partnerships for growth
FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 145

By Charles Eaton and Andrew W Shepherd
Published by FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy
Email: publications-sales@fao.org Online catalogue: www.fao.org/catalog/giphome.htm
2001, 176pp., ISBN 92 5 104593 3 (Pb), $16

Contract farming, involving farmers working under a production contract to a processing or marketing company, has often been criticized for having a tendency to exploitation. The central thesis of this FAO bulletin however, is that if the economic, physical and cultural conditions are favourable, contract farming can bring substantial benefits to both growers and buyers. The viability of small-scale farming is being constantly eroded by farmers' poor, and in many cases declining access to vital inputs and services. Supply of both technical and physical inputs, in order to attain appropriate quality levels, is however, a standard feature of many contracts, allowing markets to be developed, and technical skills passed on.

This short guide is clear and practical. It sets out the advantages and problems for both farmers and buyers, and explains the essential pre-conditions if a contract system is to stand a chance of success. Five different types of contract are presented, some suiting particular products better than others. There are also chapters on the kind of specifications that need to be included when forming contracts, and the crucial constituents of effective management. The authors are keen that contract farming should not be regarded as another approach to development that can be adopted as a recipe by governments or NGOs. Contract farming only works when it is the correct commercial system for the given situation.

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Learning and Livelihoods: The experience of the FSIPM project in southern Malawi

By A. Orr et al.
Published by the University of Greenwich
Copies available from NRI Catalogue Services, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, OX10 8DE, UK, (quote ref. ECN14)
2000, 64pp., ISBN 0 85954 524 5 (Pb), £10

Learning and Livelihoods documents an Integrated Pest Management project that worked with poor communities in Malawi's Shire Highlands. The rationale behind it had been that farmers' food security and income could be improved by introducing simple low cost pest management techniques. It soon became apparent that pests were not a priority; lack of cash for fertilizer was the problem that needed addressing. Sadly the project was unable to adapt to meet this need, but during its three years of work many 'lessons were learned', not least about project design and implementation. Listening to farmers, and having enough flexibility in project structure to be able to respond to what you learn, are regarded as key points.

Of course the authors deserve credit in trying to achieve something positive from their experience. Those engaged in participatory or farming systems research will find their account refreshingly open, and capable both of ringing warning bells and indicating some better routes for progress. However, given that consulting farmers before starting a project is quoted, even now, as a lesson learned is exasperating. If project managers and designers still need to learn such basics, where have they been for the last twenty years?

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Diversity not Adversity: Sustaining livelihoods with biodiversity

By Izabella Koziell
Published by International Institute for Environment & Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London, WC1H 0DD, UK
Email: bookshop@iied.org Website: www.iied.org/bookshop/index.html
2001, 64pp., ISBN 1 899 825 68 1 (Pb), US$30

A survey of biological diversity from pole to equator reveals that the closer one gets to the middle, the more diverse the world gets. This IIED paper focuses on how important that bio-diversity is to the whole world - not just the particular areas in which it is found - and consequently how conservation and sustainable use of these eco-systems have to be affordable, and indeed profitable for the people who live in them. In other words, just as farmers in some developed countries can receive subsidy for farming in environmentally friendly ways, so Koziell argues that innovative mechanisms that reward bio-diversity conservation must be found.

Such mechanisms are only one possible win-win strategy. While much of the paper examines the importance of bio-diversity from different standpoints in order to persuade policy makers and development agencies of the need to consider it in their planning, the paper also indicates some areas where positive steps could be taken. For example, giving subsistence farmers greater access to what have been protected areas, combined with training in sustainable harvesting of natural products; changes in trade and marketing regimes, so that those harvesting such products receive a greater share of the total price. Diversity not Adversity does not attempt to offer a detailed blueprint for policy. Rather it provides a useful guide to the key issues that bio-diversity conservation raises and the consideration that these deserve from all working in development.

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Living off Biodiversity

By Izabella Koziell and Jacqueline Saunders
Published by International Institute for Environment & Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London, WC1H 0DD, UK
Email: bookshop@iied.org Website: www.iied.org/bookshop/index.html
2001, 269pp., ISBN 1 899 825 673, US$45

This second volume offers a more detailed look at how biodiversity issues can be integrated into natural resources management. The contributors tackle in greater depth a wide spectrum of issues, including: conservation of forest, crop, livestock, aquatic and insect biodiversity, and the relationship of each with poverty and livelihoods.

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Ethnoveterinary Medicine: An annotated bibliography of community animal healthcare

By Marina Martin, Evelyn Mathias and Constance M. McCorckle
Published by ITDG Publishing, 103-105 Southampton Row, London, WC1B 4HL, UK
Email: itpubs@itpubs.org.uk Website: www.itdgpublishing.org.uk
2001, 623pp., ISBN 1 85339 522 6 (Pb), £25

Mathias and McCorkle were responsible for a 1989 bibliography of ethnoveterinary medicine, and this volume for the most part covers literature published in the following ten years. Books and articles are listed by author, the authors are ordered alphabetically, and a thorough index allows the reader to locate items by subject. Each item is annotated with such details as: the countries and ethnicities of the people described in the document; the type of livestock production system involved; the animal species for which treatments are presented; preparation, administration, and outcome of treatments, and the rationale behind them. The volume will be a great asset to researchers, as well as enhancing the credibility of practitioners.

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Learning to Cut the Chemicals in Cotton: Case studies and exercises from farmer focused cotton IPM from around the world

Compiled and edited by CABI Bioscience
Published by Pesticide Action Network UK, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4JX
Email: admin@pan-uk.org Website: www.pan-uk.org/internat/intindex.htm
2000, 91pp., ISBN 0 9521656 3 5 (Pb), Free to those promoting IPM in developing countries

Despite considerable investment in Integrated Pest Management for cotton, it remains the greatest recipient of chemical pesticides, and in most areas pesticide use is increasing. However in many cases, increased expenditure on chemical pest treatments is not leading to improved harvests, and profits from cotton are falling. One reason for IPM's lack of impact is that solutions developed in the laboratories have simply not been transferred to the fields. The separation between researcher and farmer has also allowed much research activity to focus on large-scale, mono-cropped and irrigated cotton growing, rather than the mixed-crop, rainfed cotton grown by small farmers, often in dry areas with poor soil fertility.

Cutting down on the use of chemicals is perceived as a risky activity by cotton farmers, and giving them the confidence to do so requires more than just delivering isolated bits of agronomic advice. Working on the basis that experience is the only sort of knowledge, CABI Bioscience developed a programme of Farmer Field Schools, through which cotton farmers were trained to understand the ecology of their fields, the pests and pest enemies, in order to develop the experience and skills to monitor their crop and respond to the pests effectively, and without a heavy reliance on chemicals. This book charts the experiences of the programme in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and includes fourteen exercises for 'learning by discovery' that are used in the schools.

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