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Andy Bullock's puzzling issue refers. As anyone who has worked/visited in francophone West Africa, at least part of the reason rests in the change in food tastes which accompanied the colonial period and saw bread and other examples of French cuisine replace locally produced foodstuffs at least in urban areas. For much of the rest of SSA, there is much to recommend the World Bank's analysis of discrimination against rural producers in favour of urban consumers, an impact often supplemented by ill-thought through donor supplies of food aid. Seamus Cleary One issue that puzzles me is just why do African Governments spend 18 billion US$ each year on imported food from outside of the continent? Do they have to or do they choose to? This is money that boosts the GDP of non-African countries rather than their own. It is also a heavy call on invalubale forex reserves. What is it about the supply chain in African food produce that means there is a greater incentive to purchase food from abroad? What makes Asian rice cheaper on the shelf than West African rice, or is it insufficient volumes of local production, and economic barriers that are preventing local producers from capturing a larger share of the national market? Andy Bullock
Please visit dfid-agriculture-consultation.nri.org.