Book
Food Security

Indicators, Measurement, and the Impact of Trade Openness

What are the implications of the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture for food security in poor countries? Are economic reforms and high growth rates in some countries protecting the well-being of the poor by improving the status of nutrition? Are we measuring hunger adequately? Do we need new tools and indicators? Does women's socio-economic status matter for child-health? Are targeted programmes successful in identifying and helping the truly needy? Despite the scale of human suffering inflicted by malnutrition, the fight against world hunger has recently been overshadowed by the campaign to end poverty. The emergence of the WTO and the freeing of agricultural trade, for example, have serious implications for hunger and food security in many countries, yet this is an area that is relatively understudied. This book aims to fill this gap by providing a significant collection of essays from mainstream academia and prominent international organizations working for food security. Examining food security across regions, the book tackles food security at three distinct levels-national, household, and individual. Other topics included are: attempts to improve measurement tools; the applications of existing tools for empirical analysis using household data, and; the impact of trade openness on national food security.

Table of contents
  1. 1. Introduction
    Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, Shabd S. Acharya, Benjamin Davis
  2. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    2. Measuring Food Security Using Respondents' Perception of Food Consumption Adequacy
    Mauro Migotto, Benjamin Davis, Calogero Carletto, Kathleen Beegle
    More Working Paper | Measuring Food Security Using Respondents' Perception of Food Consumption Adequacy
  3. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    3. Measures of Food Insecurity at the Household Level
    Indranil Dutta, Craig Gundersen
    More Working Paper | Measures of Food Insecurity at the Household Level
  4. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    4. Tomorrow's Hunger: A Framework for Analysing Vulnerability to Food Insecurity
    Christian Romer Lovendal, Marco Knowles
    More Working Paper | Tomorrow's Hunger
  5. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    5. Women's Status and Children's Food Security in Pakistan
    Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, Gautam Hazarika
    More Working Paper | Women's Status and Children's Food Security in Pakistan
  6. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    6. Changing Pattern of Undernutrition in India: A Comparative Analysis across Regions
    Brinda Viswanathan, J. V. Meenakshi
    More Working Paper | The Changing Pattern of Undernutrition in India
  7. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    7. Food Security in Vietnam during the 1990s: The Empirical Evidence
    Vasco Molini
    More Working Paper | Food Security in Vietnam during the 1990s
  8. Part I: Issues in Measurement and the Quantitative Analysis of Food Security
    8. Measuring the Efficacy of Targeted Schemes: Public Works Programmes in India
    Nilabja Ghosh, Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis
    More Working Paper | Looking for Answers to the Food Security Problem
  9. Part II: Trade Openness, the WTO, and Food Security
    9. The Impact of Domestic and International Commodity Price Volatility on Agricultural Income Instability in Ghana, Vietnam and Peru
    George Rapsomanikis, Alexander Sarris
    More Working Paper | The Impact of Domestic and International Commodity Price Volatility on Agricultural Income Instability
  10. Part II: Trade Openness, the WTO, and Food Security
    10. Agricultural Support Measures of Advanced Countries and Food Insecurity in Developing Countries: Economic Linkages and Policy Responses
    Michael Herrmann
    More Working Paper | Agricultural Support Measures of Advanced Countries and Food Insecurity in Developing Countries
  11. Part II: Trade Openness, the WTO, and Food Security
    11. An Analysis of the Potential Impact of the Current WTO Agricultural Negotiations on Government Strategies in the SADC Region
    James Hodge, A.J.E. Charman
    More Working Paper | Analysis of the Potential Impact of the Current WTO Agricultural Negotiations on Government Strategies in the SADC Region
  12. Part II: Trade Openness, the WTO, and Food Security
    12. International Trade, Food Security and Response to WTO in South Asian Countries
    Ramesh Chand
    More Working Paper | International Trade, Food Security and the Response to the WTO in South Asian Countries
  13. Part II: Trade Openness, the WTO, and Food Security
    13. Does the WTO Agreement on Agriculture Endanger Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa?
    Samuel K. Gayi
    More Working Paper | Does the WTO Agreement on Agriculture Endanger Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa?
  14. Part II: Trade Openness, the WTO, and Food Security
    14. Food Retailing, Supermarkets, and Food Security: Highlights from Latin America
    Mehmet Arda
    More Working Paper | Food Retailing, Supermarkets and Food Security
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Endorsements

'An apt and timely book as global food security today engages the attention of the world as never before.' - Raghu Dayal, book review, The Hindu

'This wide ranging and forward looking set of studies is a must read for policy makers, analysts and students of food security. Containing contributions from leading thinkers and doers in multilateral and developing country organizations, the volume critically examines the relevance and accuracy of available and proposed tools to measure food security, and explores their application in several dynamic contexts. Important new insights are contributed towards a better understanding of the complex pathways through which trade liberalization and farm support programs impact on the nutritional status of the poor in developing countries. Highly recommended.' - Dr Peter Matlon, Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya