Mellor, John W., Christopher L. Delgado, and Malcolm J. Blackie, eds. Accelerating Food Production in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, xix + 375 pp., $@@‐@@39.50

Abstract

In 1982 26 countries in Africa faced acute food shortages and nutrition problems. During the 1960s the continents food production per person fell 7% and during the 1970s it fell an additional 15%. In only 8 countries which account for less than 15% of the regions population did per capita agricultural production actually increase in the 1970s. In view of the expectation that the urban population will quadruple during the last quarter of this century present trends are intolerable and must be reversed. Another disturbing problem that needs urgent attention is the rapid depletion of vital topsoil estimated by the director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to be a frightening 6 million hectares per annum. This volume provides up-to-date definitions of the food and nutrition problems that face Africa now and in the medium-term future. The book also deals with the policy needs for promoting growth of food production. The concept of solving our food shortages by increasing production is the policy of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC). The book also examines food policy in the context of national development strategies. Though potentially rich sub-Saharan Africa is at present extremely poor. In 1979 per capita gross national product (GNP) in the whole area was only $411. Compare this with a GNP per capita of $9440 in the countries of the industrialized world. The demand for improved living standards presses from virtually every quarter while available resources are extremely limited. Without exception each country of the region faces the problem of determining food policy in the context of its overall national development strategy. Several chapters in this volume by representatives from both sub-Saharan Africa and donor countries and agencies analyze past experiences and suggest aid strategies for accelerating agricultural growth in the region. Several stress the point that the aid most urgently required is that which would assist our region in greater utilization of its agricultural base in order to increase overall production and lessen dependence on food aid.