Book
Food Insecurity, Vulnerability and Human Rights Failure

Do we have a right to food? The significance of a human rights approach, and the way in which it translates to gender considerations, with links to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, agricultural productivity and the environment, adds a new dimension to the problem of world hunger. By exploring these approaches to hunger this volume is novel in its shift away from rather obvious research on macro food availability to more composite dimensions cutting across economics, sociology, law and politics. With regional experiences and country case studies this constitutes an invaluable collection for researchers and activists trying to make a difference.

Table of contents
  1. Part I: Vulnerability to Hunger: Causes and Remedies
    1. National Food Policies impacting on Food Security: The Experience of a Large Populated Country - India
    Shabd S. Acharya
    More Working Paper | National Food Policies Impacting on Food Security
  2. Part I: Vulnerability to Hunger: Causes and Remedies
    2. Food Security in the South Pacific Island Countries with Special Reference to the Fiji Islands
    Kanhaiya Lal Sharma
    More Working Paper | Food Security in the South Pacific Island Countries with Special Reference to the Fiji Islands
  3. Part I: Vulnerability to Hunger: Causes and Remedies
    3. Food Security in the SADC Region: An Assessment of National Trade Strategy in the Context of the 2001-03 Food Crisis
    A.J.E. Charman, James Hodge
  4. Part I: Vulnerability to Hunger: Causes and Remedies
    4. On the Edge: The Role of Food-Based Safety Nets in Helping Vulnerable Households Manage Food Insecurity
    Lynn R. Brown, Ugo Gentilini
    More Working Paper | On the Edge
  5. Part I: Vulnerability to Hunger: Causes and Remedies
    5. The Public Distribution Systems of Foodgrains and Implications for Food Security: A Comparison of the Experiences of India and China
    Zhangyue Zhou, Guanghua Wan
    More Working Paper | The Public Distribution Systems of Foodgrains and Implications for Food Security
  6. Part II: Gender and Hunger: The Links
    6. Gender, HIV/AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Micro-Level Investigations in Three African Countries
    John Curry, Esther Wiegers, Alessandra Garbero, Shannon Stokes, John Hourihan
    More Working Paper | Gender, HIV/AIDS and Rural Livelihoods
  7. Part II: Gender and Hunger: The Links
    7. Gender, Local Knowledge and Lessons Learnt in Documenting and Conserving Agrobiodiversity
    Yianna Lambrou, Regina Laub
    More Working Paper | Gender, Local Knowledge, and Lessons Learnt in Documenting and Conserving Agrobiodiversity
  8. Part II: Gender and Hunger: The Links
    8. Gender Differentiation in the Analysis of Alternative Farm Mechanization Choices on Small Farms in Kenya
    Julliet Wanjiku, John Uhuru Manyengo, Willis Oluoch-Kosura, Joseph T. Karugia
    More Working Paper | Gender Differentiation in the Analysis of Alternative Farm Mechanization Choices on Small Farms in Kenya
  9. Part II: Gender and Hunger: The Links
    9. Women and Food Security in South Asia: Current Issues and Emerging Concerns
    Nira Ramachandran
    More Working Paper | Women and Food Security in South Asia
  10. Part III: Hunger as Entitlement Failure: The Right to Food
    10. Entitlement Failure from a Food Quality Perspective: The Life and Death Role of Vitamins and Minerals in Humanitarian Crises
    Patrick Webb, Andrew Thorne-Lyman
    More Working Paper | Entitlement Failure from a Food Quality Perspective
  11. Part III: Hunger as Entitlement Failure: The Right to Food
    11. The Right to Food as a Fundamental Human Right: FAO's Experience
    Isabella Rae, Julian Thomas, Margret Vidar
  12. Part III: Hunger as Entitlement Failure: The Right to Food
    12. Realizing the Right to Food in South Asia
    Pradeep Bhargava, Manju Balana
    More Working Paper | Realizing the Right to Food in South Asia
  13. Part III: Hunger as Entitlement Failure: The Right to Food
    13. Rights-Based Approach to Development: Lessons from the Right to Food Movement in India
    Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, Vivek Srinivasan
    More Working Paper | Rights-based Approach to Development
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Endorsements

'This book is a very important and timely analysis of interactions between food insecurity, vulnerability and the right to food. Given the continued failure to meet global hunger reduction targets set by the international community it is vitally important to have rigorous analysis of what does and doesn't work. This book, through its wide-ranging coverage of different country and regional experiences, and through its focus on the multi-faceted elements of the hunger problem, provides that analysis. It will be of great importance and utility to policy makers as well as to academics working in the area. I strongly recommend it.' - Nick Chisholm, Senior Lecturer in International Development and Food Policy, University College Cork, Ireland

'There is much to commend in these papers. In particular researchers in food security will find the papers very useful for identifying priority issues, understanding the methodological complexities and achieving a workable balance between analytical rigour and the limitations of data. While these are tempting areas to comment on, we choose to focus this review on alarming signals which the book provides about the weak prospects for eliminating food insecurity in the near future.' - V.M. Rao, Economic & Political Weekly, 17 May 2008

'This volume provides a valuable addition to WIDER’s rich body of work on the issues of poverty and distributive justice. The essays in this volume should be essential reading for policymakers who remain committed to ending hunger within a more just society.' - Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Dhaka