Food Security In West Africa

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CHAPTER ONE RESEARCH DESIGN 1.1 Introduction Food Security is one of the topical issues of the 21st century with discussions revolving around the quality and quantity of food as well as sustainability of food across the globe. At the center of these discussions are the poorest of countries in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world. In response to challenges for food security on the continent, the African Union, operating on the platform of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiated the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) in July 2003 at the Maputo Summit to serve as a framework to assist in accelerating agricultural development and for that matter food security in the continent. The summit…show more content…
They identify two main variables that largely contribute to food vulnerability in the sub-region namely geographical and economic factors. According to them, a major part of West Africa is in the Sahelian ecological zone where agro-climatic conditions are very bad and the capacity for food production is low. Huge areas of land cannot support food crop production in some countries while in some others, rainfall is so low and erratic that crop yields are not only low but also highly unstable. On the demand side, food security is affected by household incomes and economic assets (including stocks of animals), prices, demographic factors such as number, gender and age composition of households, and socio-cultural factors like health and sanitation status, educational level, cultural norms, and food consumption habits. They disclose that much attempt has been made to address the situation at hand at the regional, national and household level taken into consideration the apparent environmental issues and economic issues both particularly on the international sphere. At the regional level they disclose that the eminent regional bloc such as the ECOWAS makes efforts in addressing issues such free movement for trade, resolution of conflicts and the likes which all go a long way to affecting food security in the region. At the national level many…show more content…
The only difference lies in the magnitude of the problem in terms of its severity and proportion of the population affected. She discloses that in developed nations the problem is alleviated by providing targeted food security interventions, including food aid in the form of direct food relief, food stamps, or indirectly through subsidized food production. These efforts have significantly reduced food insecurity in these regions. However, although similar approaches are employed in developing countries, the discrepancy in the results may be due to insufficient resource base, shorter duration of intervention, or different systems most of which are inherently heterogeneous among other factors. She ascertains that Africa has been bedeviled with several factor such as the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS; civil war, strive and poor governance; frequent drought and famine; and agricultural dependency on the climate and environment all of contributes to Africa’s food insecurity which has ever been on the increase since 1970. She further identifies several other challenges to food security issues including, an underdeveloped agricultural sector, barriers to market access, effects of globalization, disease and infection and handicapping policies despite the attempts made

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