Food Policy Research in a Global Context: The West African Sahel
Author(s)
McMillan, Delia; Reardon, Thomas
Abstract
Food policy research takes place in a rapidly evolving political, economic, and physical context. This context determines both the type of research that is undertaken as well as the extent to which the results of research influence government policy. This chapter provides a brief overview of the complex interrelationship between research and the three major shifts in food policy that have occurred since World War II in the West African Sahel. This historical analysis describes the critical role of research in reevaluating many of the core assumptions that have undergirded these major policy shifts. The same analysis shows that the wider impact of research was seldom direct. Rather, it tended to redirect or strengthen trends that were already under way due to: (1) the long-term structural economic, social, and political characteristics and problems of the region (highly seasonal and variable rainfall, trade deficits, poverty, and expanding urban clients) acting in concert; (2) the evolving “conventional image” of the food system and the behavior of its actors (consumers, producers, and traders); (3) the shifts in the development ideologies of the major regional and international actors, such as the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF); (4) the short-term shocks (such as physical shocks from droughts and shocks from external policies such as regional currency devaluation) that force governments to respond to high profile urgent problems; and (5) the government’s perception both of its political best interest and of its people’s best interest. The final section of this essay includes a list of practical suggestions for how the link between research and food policy might be clarified and strengthened within this global context.
