Food Security Policy and the Competitiveness of Agriculture in the Sahel: A Summary of the 'Beyond Mindelo' Seminar

摘要

Evidence is emerging throughout the Sahel and Africa in general that the image of 'urban consumers' and 'rural producers' of food is an oversimplification. It is becoming increasingly clear that a significant portion of rural households in the Sahel are unable to produce a grain surplus because of interrelated production and marketing constraints. The ability of the farmers to respond to price incentives is contingent on the development of complementary production incentives: reliable input and product markets, production and processing technology, and physical and institutional infrastructure. Policies designed to stimulate production through price incentives alone can be expected to have highly concentrated benefits. Moreover, such policies will exact a high cost in terms of urban and rural food insecurity among net food purchasers, at least in the short run. This does not suggest that price incentives should not be included as part of a long-run food policy, but it does indicate the severity of the food price dilemma in these countries. (Copyright (c) 1989 Michigan State University.)