The food and financial crises in Sub-Saharan Africa [recurso electrónico] origins, impacts and policy implications

Abstract This book focuses on the 2007-2008 food price crisis and the ensuing financial and economic crisis (both globally and in sub-Saharan Africa), illustrating the problems using country case studies that cover their origins, effects on agriculture and rural poverty, and their underlying factors. The 13 chapters in this volume address several themes, all related to the food and financial crises and their impacts in sub-Saharan Africa. Broadly speaking, the principal themes discussed in this book are the causes and consequences of the dual crises, their impacts in sub-Saharan Africa at both the macro- and micro-levels, and finally, how Africa can address some of the key challenges - primarily related to improving productivity and policy - that may help the continent escape the devastation of such crises in the future. Africa's dual crises: the food and financial crises and their effects in Sub-Saharan Africa: introduction and overview / David R. Lee, Julia Berazneva, and Muna Ndulo The global food and financial crises and the poor in Africa / Ernest Aryeetey and Nelipher Moyo Food prices and economic crises: causes and consequences for food security in developing countries / Keith Wiebe, David Dawe and Kostas Stamoulis Future challenges for the world food economy and Sub-Saharan Africa: major environmental and socioeconomic drivers of change / Siwa Msangi and Mark Rosegrant Here we go again: the abiding structure of financial crisis and what to do about it / Robert Hockett The food and financial crises and complex derivatives: a tale of high stakes innovation and diversification / Vera Songwe Agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa / Keith O. Fuglie Are staple foods becoming more expensive for urban consumers in Eastern and Southern Africa? Trends in food prices, marketing margins and wage rates in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia / Nicole M. Mason ... [et al.] The short-term impact of the 2008 food price shock on poverty in Uganda / Kenneth R. Simler The likely impact of food price increases on nutritionally vulnerable households in South Africa / Hettie C. Schönfeldt, Nicolette Gibson and Hester Vermeulen Africa's turnaround: from crisis to opportunity in African agriculture / William A. Masters The role of public policies and policy makers in Africa: responding to global economic crises / Vusi Gumede Lessons of the food and financial crises: renewing Sub-Saharan Africa's commitment to food security and economic growth / David R. Lee ... [et al.]. Thirteen revised, expanded, and updated papers from a 2009 conference held at Cornell U. address the issues announced in the title. To give an indication of the volume's scope and level of detail, here's a sampling of topics addressed in just the tables and figures: public expenditures in agriculture-related research 1981-2000; simulated impacts on yields in 2050 from various climate change simulations; exports and imports of food and agriculture products by SSA countries; development indicators; staple food prices and marketing margins analyzed for each urban center; estimated impact of food price increases on poverty gap; simulated increases in net irrigated area over time; share of population with access to clean water over time; commodity prices 2002-2009; and characteristics of various drivers of change in food systems. Editors Lee and Ndulo are affiliated with Cornell U.; contributors are affiliated with various NGOs, government agencies, and academic institutions. The volume is distributed in the US by Stylus Publishing. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Dramatic increases in food prices, as witnessed on a global scale in recent years, threaten the food security of hundreds of millions of the rural poor in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. This book focuses on recent food and financial crises as they have affected Africa, illustrating the problems using country case studies, that cover their origins, effects on agriculture and rural poverty, their underlying factors and making recommendations as to how such crises could best be addressed in the future