World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 153

World Food Policy - Volume 2 Issue 2/Volume 3 Issue 1, Fall 2015/Spring 2016

Food Security In an Age of Falling Commodity and
Food Prices: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa
Gérard AzoulayA
Within a context characterized by a simultaneous occurrence of a global
equilibrium of the world food balance and the persistence of a high percentage
of the world’s population that does not adequately meet its nutritional needs,
this article intends to concentrate on the impacts of falling food prices on food
security focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA is not the region that
accounts for the most important number of people suffering from hunger, but is
a region that experiences the highest prevalence of hunger.
The article considers the driving forces of the rising/falling prices of food and
commodities. It analyzes the impact of falling food prices on the food security
situation in SSA, and discusses the main constraints of food policies and
strategies in SSA.
Keywords: Food, prices, food security, policies, Sub-Saharan Africa

Introduction

T

he strong growth of worl d food
production during the past 50 years
did not bring to an end the diverse
manifestations of hunger. We can observe
a simultaneous occurrence of a global
equilibrium of the world food balance
and the persistence of a high percentage
of the world’s population that does not
adequately meet its nutritional needs: 795
million people fail to adequately satisfy
their nutritional needs, 1.3 billion people
live on <1 dollar a day, and suffer from
nutritional deficiencies in micronutrients
and macronutrients.

A

These 795 million people are
unable to produce or to buy what is
needed to live. Those who are hungry are
not predominantly consumers who do
not have enough money to buy their food.
They are mainly producers of agricultural
products: 75% live in rural areas and
among them, 90% are poor peasants and
farm workers; the remaining 25% are
sentenced to the exodus by poverty, poor
peasants who live in the city, in shanty
towns or camps. This rural migration
represents ~50 to 60 million people per
year. Hunger is not only a consequence
of poverty, but also one of its causes,
undermining the productive potential of
individuals (Azoulay, 2006).

Université Paris Sud.
doi: 10.18278/wfp.2.2.3.1.10
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