Africa

The African rural hinterland is under the assault of a garbled idea of “development”. A market oriented entrepreneurial model of agriculture, however, has failed to tackle the deep roots of poverty in these areas. Terry Leahy, an Australian sociologist, has been studying the steady evolution of an alternative framework for rural agriculture in southern and eastern Africa, which focuses on increasing food security through subsistence production. His recent book, “Food Security for Rural Africa: Feeding the Farmers First” challenges the models promoted by academics in the field of development studies and argues against the strategies adopted by most donor organizations and government bodies. In this article Leahy introduces us to the simple but effective idea of ensuring household food security through household production.