IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v9y2009i3p187-207.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The new variant famine hypothesis

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Ansell

    (Centre for Human Geography, Brunel University, E-mail: Nicola.ansell@brunel.ac.uk)

  • Elsbeth Robson

    (Centre for Human Geography, Brunel University)

  • Flora Hajdu

    (Centre for Sustainable Development, Uppsala University, Sweden)

  • Lorraine van Blerk

    (Department of Geography, University of Reading)

  • Lucy Chipeta

    (Department of Geography, Chancellor College, University of Malawi)

Abstract

A number of southern African countries have experienced food crises during recent years. The fact that the scale of these crises has been disproportionate to the apparent triggers of climatic adversity or production decline has led to the suggestion that they are more closely related to the AIDS pandemic, which is at its most extreme in many of the same countries. This hypothesis, developed by de Waal and Whiteside (2003), has been termed ‘New Variant Famine’(NVF). The New Variant Famine hypothesis is helpful in drawing attention to the effects of AIDS in diminishing both food production and capacity to purchase food, but it focuses more intensely on the household level than many other theories that seek to explain food insecurity, which tend to emphasise the integration of peasants into a capitalist market economy, and the functioning of markets and institutions. The household level focus also characterises much research on the impacts of AIDS. In this article we argue that the effects of AIDS on food security are not confined to the household level, and that an NVF analysis should also consider processes operating within and beyond the household including social relationships, relations of age and gender, colonial inheritance and contemporary national and international political economy. Recognition of these processes and how they interact with AIDS may offer greater scope for political mobilisation rather than technocratic responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Ansell & Elsbeth Robson & Flora Hajdu & Lorraine van Blerk & Lucy Chipeta, 2009. "The new variant famine hypothesis," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 9(3), pages 187-207, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:9:y:2009:i:3:p:187-207
    DOI: 10.1177/146499340800900302
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146499340800900302
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/146499340800900302?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Devereux & Kay Sharp, 2006. "Trends in poverty and destitution in Wollo, Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 592-610.
    2. Stephen Devereux, 2001. "Sen's Entitlement Approach: Critiques and Counter-critiques," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 245-263.
    3. Malcolm F. McPherson, 2005. "Asset Preservation in African Agriculture in the Face of HIV/AIDS: The Role of Education," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(5), pages 1298-1303.
    4. Pauline Peters, 2006. "Rural income and poverty in a time of radical change in Malawi," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 322-345.
    5. Mason, Nicole M. & Chapoto, Antony & Jayne, Thomas S. & Myers, Robert J., 2007. "HIV/AIDS and Agrarian Livelihoods in Zambia: A Test of the New Variant Famine Hypothesis," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 54489, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    6. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    7. Kenneth C. Shadlen, 2004. "Challenges to treatment: the price-infrastructure trap and access to HIV|AIDS drugs," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(8), pages 1169-1180.
    8. Alan Terry, 2007. "The Komati Downstream Development Project: Achievements And Challenges," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 98(5), pages 641-651, December.
    9. Mike Mathambo Mtika, 2000. "Social and Cultural Relations in Economic Action: The Embeddedness of Food Security in Rural Malawi Amidst the AIDS Epidemic," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(2), pages 345-360, February.
    10. Sheryl Hendriks, 2005. "The challenges facing empirical estimation of household food (in)security in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 103-123.
    11. Andrew R. Dorward & Idrissa Mwale & Rosalba Tuseo, 2006. "Labor Market and Wage Impacts of HIV/AIDS in Rural Malawi," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 28(3), pages 429-439.
    12. Masanjala, Winford, 2007. "The poverty-HIV/AIDS nexus in Africa: A livelihood approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(5), pages 1032-1041, March.
    13. Jonathan Kydd & Andrew Dorward & Jamie Morrison & Georg Cadisch, 2004. "Agricultural development and pro-poor economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: potential and policy," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 37-57.
    14. Guy Scott, 2000. "Political will, political economy & the AIDS industry in Zambia," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(86), pages 577-582.
    15. Hunter, Mark, 2007. "The changing political economy of sex in South Africa: The significance of unemployment and inequalities to the scale of the AIDS pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 689-700, February.
    16. Frank Ellis, 2000. "The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 289-302, May.
    17. Janet Bujra, 2004. "AIDS as a crisis in social reproduction," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(102), pages 631-638, December.
    18. Carolyn Baylies, 2002. "The Impact of AIDS on Rural Households in Africa: A Shock Like Any Other?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 33(4), pages 611-632, September.
    19. Nicholas Sitko, 2008. "Maize, food insecurity, and the field of performance in southern Zambia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(1), pages 3-11, January.
    20. Zerbe, Noah, 2004. "Feeding the famine? American food aid and the GMO debate in Southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 593-608, December.
    21. Tibaijuka, Anna Kajumulo, 1997. "AIDS and economic welfare in peasant agriculture: Case studies from Kagabiro village, Kagera region, Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 963-975, June.
    22. Loevinsohn, Michael & Gillespie, Stuart, 2003. "HIV/AIDS, food security and rural livelihoods," FCND briefs 157, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    23. Leliveld, Andre, 1997. "The effects of restrictive South African migrant labor policy on the survival of rural households in Southern Africa: A sase study from rural Swaziland," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(11), pages 1839-1849, November.
    24. Mtika, Mike Mathambo, 2007. "Political economy, labor migration, and the AIDS epidemic in rural Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2454-2463, June.
    25. Lawrence Haddad & Stuart Gillespie, 2001. "Effective food and nutrition policy responses to HIV|AIDS: what we know and what we need to know," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(4), pages 487-511.
    26. Scott Drimie, 2003. "HIV/Aids and land: case studies from Kenya, Lesotho and South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 647-658.
    27. Chilowa, Wycliffe, 1998. "The impact of agricultural liberalisation on food security in Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 553-569, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lori Hunter & John Reid-Hresko & Thomas Dickinson, 2011. "Environmental Change, Risky Sexual Behavior, and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Linkages Through Livelihoods in Rural Haiti," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(5), pages 729-750, October.
    2. Niehof, Anke, 2004. "The significance of diversification for rural livelihood systems," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 321-338, August.
    3. Gebreselassie, Kidist & Price, Lisa & Wesseler, Justus & van Ierland, Ekko, 2008. "Impacts of HIV/AIDS on labour allocation and agrobiodiversity depend on the stage of the epidemic: case studies in Ethiopia," MPRA Paper 25608, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. King, Brian & Winchester, Margaret S., 2018. "HIV as social and ecological experience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 64-71.
    5. Gebreselassie, Kidist & Wesseler, Justus & van Ierland, Ekko C., 2007. "The Effect of HIV/AIDS Driven Labor Organization on Agrobiodiversity: an Empirical Study in Ethiopia," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7929, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, 2019. "Gender and generational patterns of African deagrarianization: Evolving labour and land allocation in smallholder peasant household farming, 1980–2015," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 60-72.
    7. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    8. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    9. Food Security and Agricultural Projects Analysis Service (ESAF), 2004. "Food insecurity and vulnerability in Viet Nam: Profiles of four vulnerable groups," ESA Working Papers 23798, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    10. Dolores Koenig, 2024. "Evaluating well‐being after compulsory resettlement: Livelihoods, standards of living, and well‐being in Manantali, Mali," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 210-220, June.
    11. Hendrawan, Dienda C P & Musshoff, Oliver, 2022. "Oil Palm Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Resilience and Decision Making in Replanting," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322441, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Jon D. Unruh, 2008. "Toward sustainable livelihoods after war: Reconstituting rural land tenure systems," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 32(2), pages 103-115, May.
    13. Yen H. T. Nguyen & Tuyen Q. Tran & Dung T. Hoang & Thu M. T. Tran & Trung T. Nguyen, 2023. "Land quality, income, and poverty among rural households in the North Central Region, Vietnam," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 150-172, June.
    14. Walelign,Solomon Zena & Wang Sonne,Soazic Elise & Seshan,Ganesh Kumar, 2022. "Livelihood Impacts of Refugees on Host Communities : Evidence from Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10044, The World Bank.
    15. Porro, Roberto & Lopez-Feldman, Alejandro & Vela-Alvarado, Jorge W., 2015. "Forest use and agriculture in Ucayali, Peru: Livelihood strategies, poverty and wealth in an Amazon frontier," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-56.
    16. Jung, Suhyun & Hajjar, Reem, 2023. "The livelihood impacts of transnational aid for climate change mitigation: Evidence from Ghana," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    17. Anwar Kurniadi & IDK Widana & Christine Sri Marnani, 2023. "Mangrove Forest Development as Sustainable Vegetation Disaster Mitigation against Coastal Abrasion and Rob Floods in Supporting Regional Resilience in Bekasi Regency," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 39(1), pages 440-451, January.
    18. Yohannes Teshome & Kaba Urgessa & Anouska Ann Kinahan & Hailu Belay & Sisay Assefa, 2018. "An Assessment of Local Community Livelihood Benefits as a result of Bale Mountains National Park, Southeast Ethiopia," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 15(5), pages 133-140, December.
    19. H.M. Tuihedur Rahman & Gordon M. Hickey, 2020. "An Analytical Framework for Assessing Context-Specific Rural Livelihood Vulnerability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    20. Sara Randall & Ernestina Coast, 2015. "Poverty in African Households: the Limits of Survey and Census Representations," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 162-177, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:9:y:2009:i:3:p:187-207. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.