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Social Protection for Enhanced Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Stephen Devereux

    (Centre for Social Protection, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK)

Abstract

This paper identifies several positive synergies between social protection programmes and food security outcomes. One function of social protection is to manage and reduce vulnerability, and several instruments are reviewed ñ weather-indexed insurance, public works programmes, emergency food aid and buffer stock management ñ which all contribute to stabilising income and access to food across good and bad years, or between the harvest and the hungry season. Other social protection instruments aim to contribute to raising household income and crop production, for instance agricultural input subsidies or input trade fairs, as well as public works projects that construct or maintain physical infrastructure such as rural feeder roads and irrigation canals. This paper also argues that food security can be strengthened if social justice is introduced to the design and delivery of social protection programmes. Examples reviewed include rights-based approaches such as employment guarantee schemes, community-based targeting and social audits. The paper concludes by arguing for a comprehensive approach to social protection that will achieve sustainable food security, by combining interventions that stabilise income or food production with those that raise income or food production, and are designed and delivered in ways that enhance social justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Devereux, "undated". "Social Protection for Enhanced Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-010, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
  • Handle: RePEc:rac:wpaper:2012-010
    as

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    File URL: http://web.undp.org/africa/knowledge/WP-2012-010-Devereux-social-protection.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davies, Simon & Davey, James, 2007. "A regional multiplier approach to estimating the impact of cash transfers: The case of cash aid in rural Malawi," MPRA Paper 3724, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. repec:bla:devpol:v:26:y:2008:i:1:p:91-111 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Chetty, Raj & Looney, Adam, 2006. "Consumption smoothing and the welfare consequences of social insurance in developing economies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(12), pages 2351-2356, December.
    4. Frank Ellis & Stephen Devereux & Phillip White, 2009. "Social Protection in Africa," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13393.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gentilini,Ugo, 2016. "The revival of the"cash versus food"debate : new evidence for an old quandary ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7584, The World Bank.
    2. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Sanzidur Rahman & Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo & Xu Tian, 2019. "Agricultural Informatization and Technical Efficiency in Maize Production in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Mona Aghabeygi & Filippo Arfini, 2020. "Assessing the Net Import Welfare Impacts of the Rising Global Price of Food in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-10, February.
    4. Pomeroy, Melissa & Suyama, Bianca & Leite, Iara, 2013. "Africa-Brazil Co-Operation in Social Protection: Drivers, Lessons and Shifts in the Engagement of the Brazilian Ministry of Social Development," WIDER Working Paper Series 022, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Sassi, M., 2013. "Child Nutritional Status in the Malawian District of Salima: A Capability Approach," 2013 Second Congress, June 6-7, 2013, Parma, Italy 149892, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    6. Maria Granvik, 2016. "Policy diffusion, domestic politics and social assistance in Lesotho, 1998–2012," WIDER Working Paper Series 146, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Paul Hebinck & Henk Oostindie, 2018. "Performing food and nutritional security in Europe: claims, promises and limitations," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1311-1324, December.
    8. Tewodros Assefa & Manoj Jha & Manuel Reyes & Abeyou W. Worqlul, 2018. "Modeling the Impacts of Conservation Agriculture with a Drip Irrigation System on the Hydrology and Water Management in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sub-Saharan Africa; food security; social protection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

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