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Food Security

Indicators, Measurement, and the Impact of Trade Openness

Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis editor Shabd S Acharya editor Benjamin Davis editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:20th Dec '07

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Food Security cover

What are the implications of the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture for food security in poor countries? Are economic reforms and high growth rates in some countries protecting the well-being of the poor by improving the status of nutrition? Are we measuring hunger adequately? Do we need new tools and indicators? Does women's socio-economic status matter for child-health? Are targeted programmes successful in identifying and helping the truly needy? Despite the scale of human suffering inflicted by malnutrition, the fight against world hunger has recently been overshadowed by the campaign to end poverty. The emergence of the WTO and the freeing of agricultural trade, for example, have serious implications for hunger and food security in many countries, yet this is an area that is relatively understudied. This book aims to fill this gap by providing a significant collection of essays from mainstream academia and prominent international organizations working for food security. Examining food security across regions, the book tackles food security at three distinct levels-national, household, and individual. Other topics included are: attempts to improve measurement tools; the applications of existing tools for empirical analysis using household data, and; the impact of trade openness on national food security.

An apt and timely book as global food security today engages the attention of the world as never before. * The Hindu *
This wide ranging and forward looking set of studies is a must read for policy makers, analysts and students of food security. Containing contributions from leading thinkers and doers in multilateral and developing country organizations, the volume critically examines the relevance and accuracy of available and proposed tools to measure food security, and explores their application in several dynamic contexts. Important new insights are contributed towards a better understanding of the complex pathways through which trade liberalization and farm support programs impact on the nutritional status of the poor in developing countries. Highly recommended. * Dr. Peter Matlon, Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya *
This is a valuable contribution to the literature on food security for many reasons, including: it analyzes food security trends over time, which is relatively under-studied; food security is examined separately from poverty, which is unlike most previous studies; its focus on ex ante analysis of vulnerability to hunger and malnutrition, and the policy implications at the local, national and international levels is new and highly valuable for policy makers and practitioners; the analysis of the multiple and intertwined links between poverty, growth and hunger are clearly examined; the editors of the volume should be commended for including case studies undertaken by researchers from developing countries directly affected by food (in)security. The much too important local perspective is captured in this volume. * Dr. Gobind Nankani, President, Global Development Network, New Delhi, India *

ISBN: 9780199236558

Dimensions: 242mm x 164mm x 28mm

Weight: 757g

396 pages