Market-oriented strategies to improve household access to food : experience from sub-Saharan Africa

This report identifies market-oriented strategies for alleviating both chronic and transitory food insecurity, and examines the interactions between short-run targeting mechanisms and longer-run strategies. The report"s main premise is that sustained improvements in household access to food in sub-Saharan Africa require the development of more reliable food and input markets that (1) create incentives to adopt cost-reducing investments in the food system; and (2) offer incentives for rural households to shift from a subsistence-oriented pattern of production and consumption to more productive systems based on specialization and gains from exchange. Section 2 describes and diagnoses the major causes of poverty and food insecurity within Africa"s rural economies, while Section 3 presents empirical evidence as to how the design of agricultural policies and transfer programs have affected household access to food in both rural and urban areas. Based on the foregoing, Section 4 argues that the design of strategies to promote access to food in Africa should focus on: (1) achieving productivity gains in the food system; (2) using food and income transfer programs to promote long-term development of the food system in addition to providing people with food in the short run; (3) reducing consumer food costs by expanding the range of products available; (4) keeping the costs of food supplies to rural areas down and their reliability up; and (5) developing local analytical expertise to help guide food system development. Includes references. (Author abstract, modified)