Famine Analysis: A Study of Entitlements in Sudan, 1984-1985

Abstract

ing documentaries about the plight of Ethiopian refugees in Sudan and, later, in the following year, with the establishment of Live Aid projects. In 1985 the journalistic spotlight shifted its attention to the domestic situation and the plight of the more than 10 million affected Sudanese.' Many national and international aid agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, shipped millions of tons of food to Sudan, targeted on the basis of the level of aggregate food supply. However, even though food supply levels did decline, it is unclear whether the food availability decline experienced in Sudan was sufficient to have caused starvation. It may be fair to say that this situation was exacerbated by a drought, but to claim that people starved because of the drought would be missing the real cause of the famine. Tony Barnett identifies famines as a of distribution which reflects the purchasing power of different social groups in the struggle over available resources.'2 Amartya Sen's theories of food entitlement may provide a useful approach to the distributional problem of famines.3 The main purpose of this article is to test the food availability decline (FAD) and entitlement hypotheses with respect to famines. Sudanese data will be used to illustrate that a low or declining aggregate food supply does not necessarily imply famine and, conversely, that high or rising food supplies do not indicate the absence of a famine. It will be argued that famine affects different groups in the same region differently and that it is essential to focus on the changes in