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42. Conflict and Famine in South Sudan
- Author:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- While much of East Africa suffers from drought, it is conflict, rather than lack of rain, that has been the cause of famine in South Sudan.
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid, Famine, Food Security, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, East Africa, South Sudan, and Central Africa
43. Conflict and Food Insecurity in South Sudan
- Author:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Publication Date:
- 07-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- The humanitarian situation in South Sudan continues to deteriorate as the conflict persists unabated. Four years of widespread violence have left 6 million people—half the population—acutely food insecure.
- Topic:
- Civil War, Humanitarian Aid, United Nations, Food Security, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, East Africa, and South Sudan
44. Africa’s Population Displacement Reaches Record Levels in 2017
- Author:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Publication Date:
- 08-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Africa’s humanitarian crises have continued to worsen in 2017. Displacement of Africans has reached twenty million, and 44 million are acutely food insecure.
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid, United Nations, Food Security, Refugees, and Displacement
- Political Geography:
- Africa, East Africa, and Central Africa
45. Criminality in Africa’s Fishing Industry: A Threat to Human Security
- Author:
- André Standing
- Publication Date:
- 07-2017
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Conflicts of interest within Africa’s fisheries sector enable unsustainable exploitation by foreign fishing firms and undercut the political will needed to build more robust surveillance and prosecutorial capacity.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy, International Security, and Food Security
- Political Geography:
- Africa
46. On the Brink: As Famine Looms, World Leaders Must Say Up and Deliver Political Solutions to Save Lives
- Author:
- Shannon Scribner
- Publication Date:
- 05-2017
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- As famine takes hold in South Sudan and threatens to spread to northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen, world leaders must immediately step up to fully fund the United Nations’ appeal for $6.3 billion. Of this amount, $4.9 billion is urgently needed by July for critical assistance, including health, food, nutrition, and water. If lives are to be saved, humanitarian agencies must be able to rapidly scale up and access people in need. World leaders must not walk away from key meetings, such as the Group of Seven Taormina Summit in Italy and the Group of Twenty Hamburg Summit in Germany, without taking action to increase funding, improve access, resolve conflict and insecurity, and ensure that emergency relief is coupled with long-term approaches to building resilience in affected countries.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, United Nations, Famine, Food Security, and Leadership
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan
47. Turning Water into Wellbeing: How an Irrigation Scheme Changed Lives in a Zimbabwean Dryland
- Author:
- Solomon Mombeshora and Martin Walsh
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Climate change is putting increasing stress on the livelihoods of people living in the world’s drylands. Smallholder irrigation has long been seen as a means of improving food security in areas with unpredictable rainfall, and is now being promoted as part of climate change adaptation strategies. The Ruti Irrigation Scheme in Zimbabwe was begun by Oxfam in 2009 with these objectives in mind. This report examines the findings of two evaluations of the project and shows that the irrigation scheme has had more significant social and economic impacts than those measured by a quantitative study alone. However, the positive impacts for wellbeing have not been as extensive as originally hoped – having been affected by extreme weather events and the decision to reserve scarce water for use by sugar estates further downstream. This suggests that while smallholder irrigation schemes can provide important local benefits, these are threatened not only by the usual difficulties associated with their implementation, but also by the greater challenges posed by climate change and the resource conflicts that are being exacerbated as a result. These are problems which require significant changes in policy and practice at catchment-wide, national, and international levels.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Water, Famine, Infrastructure, and Food Security
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Zimbabwe
48. Assessing the Impact of National Marketing Boards on Consumers and Producers’ Welfare
- Author:
- Thembumenzi Diamini, Mangaliso Mohammed, and Thabo Sacolo
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre (ESEPARC)
- Abstract:
- Food production in Swaziland has historically been insufficient, even after the introduction of National Marketing Boards. This is despite their mandate emphasised in the National Development Strategy (NDS) and Agriculture Sector Policy to develop smallholder agriculture through commercialisation, value addition and market access. The low food production coupled with high food prices and dependency on food imports increases the food-insecure population in the country. Hence, the study uses a Partial Equilibrium Model to assess the welfare impact of National Marketing Boards, in particular the National Maize Corporation (NMC) and Swaziland Dairy Board (SBD), on consumers and producers. The results show that over the five-year period, on average, the loss in maize per consumer was E94.22 per year, resulting in an average consumer loss of E116,975,312.30 per year. However, the average producer gains were E35,651,178.21; indicating that highly commercialised maize producers were benefiting from the NMC while consumers were losing through higher maize prices compared to what they would have received in a competitive environment. In the same period, on average, the milk producer gains were E35,545,181.85 while the consumer losses were E243,676,441.51 per year. This implies that commercial farmers are gaining at the expense of consumers. The average individual maize consumer losses amount to E197.90 per year. The study concludes that National Marketing Boards do contribute to low food production, high consumer prices, and economic losses. Therefore, it is recommended that policy makers need to design policies and strategies that comply with the heterogeneous markets in order to benefit consumers and producers.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Food, Food Security, Welfare, and Service Marketing
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Eswatini
49. Addressing Africa's Youth Employment and Food Security Crisis: The Role of African Agriculture in Job Creation
- Author:
- Olusegun Obasanjo
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Abstract:
- Despite the abundance of agricultural resources, sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s most food insecure region. HE Olusegun Obasanjo’s view is that there are many critical factors responsible for food insecurity in this region. They include undeveloped land tenure systems, high bank loan rates, inadequate availability of agricultural special banks, poor access to market information and prices, an unreliable market for farm produce and inadequate road network, transport and storage infrastructures for farm produce. There is also a lack of capacity for cooperative and value addition to farm produce and poor capacity for and access to agricultural insurance services. In addition, poor capacity for labor and labor costing are also part of the problem. Agriculture is one of the economic sectors that can employ millions of young people and reduce youth unemployment and enhance food security on the continent. The challenges facing adult farmers are huge but not as large as the challenges that young people encounter when trying to engage in agriculture as a profession. Nevertheless, there is hope, and opportunities abound for young people to be successful in agriculture.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Employment, Food Security, Youth, and Job Creation
- Political Geography:
- Africa
50. Regionalism, Food Security and Economic Development
- Author:
- P. Mkandawire, Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong, Frederick Armah, and G. Arku
- Publication Date:
- 02-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Abstract:
- It is remarkable that Africa, with enormous resource endowments and with more than 70 percent of the population engaged in agriculture, cannot feed itself. This background paper offers a critical assessment of the potential of regional trade and integration in addressing the enduring challenge of food insecurity in Africa. Drawing on the literature, the paper argues that regionalism offers enormous opportunities and synergies for enhancing economic growth, food supply, and stability of food prices that cannot be easily addressed by individual countries when they operate in isolation from each other. To demonstrate the potential of regional integration for achieving food security in Africa, this paper starts by providing a conceptual framework that outlines the dimensions that link regional cooperation and food security. An overview of the key policy initiatives that are currently underway at enhancing integration at the continental level and in various regional blocs follows this introduction. The paper then progresses to a review of the extent of economic integration among African countries, with particular focus on the agriculture and food trade. It then presents a discussion on potential areas of integration followed by an examination of capacity issues that need policy attention in order to improve the potential of continental and regional integration in improving national and household food security among African countries.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Food Security, Regional Integration, and Economic Development
- Political Geography:
- Africa