Beyond Statistical and Conceptual Rigour-Mortis in Research on Rural Development and Food Self-Sufficiency in Africa

Paper to be read at UNESCO/BREDA meeting to "Assess The Research Network, Documentation and Rural Development And Food Self-Sufficiency in Africa", Bangui, Central African Republic 22 - 27 July, 1985.The food 'crisis' affecting Africa, as yet shows no sign of abetting. The United Nations Secretary General has recently stated that it may in fact get worse this year. In a report to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, he cited figures which showed that famine and malnutrition is afflicting 150 million Africans, despite increased international food aid. 1985 could even be worse than 1983-84, with 21 countries continuing to experience serious food deficits. Another sort of crisis - for which a term still yet has to be coined, has also been affecting the African continent, and it is as yet too early to determine whether it is symptomatic of the African food crisis or whether it is indeed one of the major causative factors: "The United Nations' own efforts apear increasingly bediviled by infighting among agencies concerned with food aid".UNESCO/BREDA