Responding to Sahel food shortages in 1996/7: What went wrong?

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dc.contributor.authorUnited States Agency for International Development.en
dc.contributor.departmentSustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebaseen
dc.coverage.spatialSahelen
dc.coverage.spatialAfricaen
dc.coverage.temporal1996 - 1997en
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-19T19:11:45Zen
dc.date.available2016-04-19T19:11:45Zen
dc.date.issued1997en
dc.descriptionMetadata only recorden
dc.description.abstractA particularly difficult hungry season in Chad, Mauritania and Niger has meant considerable food shortages and depleted cereal reserves despite the fact that early warning systems were in place and indicated the gravity of the situation in advance of the November 1996 harvest. The purpose of early warning is to allow households to implement their own strategies for dealing with shortage, and to give aid agencies the information they need in order to pre-empt and mitigate a disaster. The lesson from the Sahel is that co-ordinated and effective response does not necessarily follow early warning. One of the chief problems faced is that of communication of information. The size of the region covered meant that there were inconsistent reports on the scale or impact of the drought, and the slow onset of drought means that it is of little interest to the media. Once relevant information has been gathered there are political obstacles such as the orientation of donor and recipient countries development plans which may be interrupted by inefficient emergency food provision. Food security is an internal political issue, and a normal harvest at national level does not guarantee the security of all households; similarly, national level assessments may not be adequate monitoring mechanisms. The report concludes with an upbeat message of hope that there is no reason for loss of life due to food shortages resulting from drought, and that consensus amongst donors is an important part of ensuring food security.en
dc.description.notesAvailable in SANREM office, FSen
dc.format.mimetypetext/plainen
dc.identifier1594en
dc.identifier.citationFEWS Special report 97-5en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/66703en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherUSAIDen
dc.relation.urihttp://www.fews.net/special/index.aspx?f=al&pageID=specialDoc&g=1000072en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectFood securityen
dc.subjectNongovernmental organizations (NGOs)en
dc.subjectGovernmenten
dc.subjectHungry seasonen
dc.subjectChaden
dc.subjectMauritaniaen
dc.subjectNigeren
dc.subjectRole of governmenten
dc.subjectRole of NGOsen
dc.subjectEcosystem Governanceen
dc.titleResponding to Sahel food shortages in 1996/7: What went wrong?en
dc.typeAbstracten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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