This paper on the African food crisis is presented in four parts. The first section focuses on the current nexus of problems that has created an endemic economic crisis in many African countries, the background against which both the drought and certain domestic policies have operated. The second part introduces the concept of entitlement, a concept that is used to understand better the human response to a diminished ability to produce or purchase food. This section looks at the food crisis as an income and productivity crisis, rather than food shortagesper se. In the third section, a formulation is introduced that describes three stages of disinvestment among affected people, stages that have been observed historically as a result of drought and famine. The last section examines possible solutions and the most appropriate national and international response to the various stages described.
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