From feast to famine: official cures and grassroots remedies to Africa's food crisis

Abstract

Among the more academic literature on the real or supposed 'crisis in Africa', there is room for reasoned polemic. This book is undeniably polemical, but not consistently reasoned. Thus those who agree with Rau's views may find this a valuable book, but there is little compensation for those of a different persuasion. Rau argues that Africa was a diverse but self-sufficient society before the advent of the slave trade in the eighteenth century and the start of the colonial period in the nineteenth. 'Agricultural production under colonial rule altered from generally serving internal needs to serving European commercial and extractive interests. As a result in the twentieth century hunger became a structural factor in Africa' (p.28). A major problem with this book is Rau's determination to apply a single (and in my view partially outdated) model to the whole continent of Africa. Thus although his historical insights are not without value, it is essential in describing the colonial period to review the different strategies and impacts of the various European powers, and to distinguish between the different types of colonial intervention: the experience of countries that had to receive white settlers, such as Kenya and Southern Africa, has been different from those in which land remained largely in African hands. Nor does he make out a totally convincing link between colonialism, the production of cash crops, and food insecurity: for instance, there was minimal colonial penetration into Ethiopia, which is now one of the most food-insecure countries in Africa. After the historical analysis in Part 1, the second part covers the 'Official cures for Africa', while the third and final section is entitled 'The popular alternative for development'. In Part 2 Rau expresses considerable doubts about the effectiveness of official aid in Africa, and he has little time for current African governments, which he accuses of adopting an 'imperialistic' and 'elitist' style. His analysis makes too little distinction between those countries where the government is a 'predator' (as in Zaire) and the more numerous countries where the overriding concern of the government is the survival of the State, rather than rural development. A more serious omission from Rau's critique is his failure to explain how he would like African economies to be managed. Few would quarrel with his view that African countries need to be more democratic, and in economic terms more decentralised. But one reason why governments appear so 'elitist' is the difficulty of running a modern economy without offering some incentives to the managers and technocrats without whom the economy will soon cease to function. No one denies the strength of the various popular movements Rau describes in his final section, but it is far more difficult than he acknowledges to transform these popular movements into successful governments. For all its many weaknesses, this remains a stimulating and informative book, which deserves to be read in a critical spirit.