Is Africa Doomed to Permanent Food Crises?

Abstract

Many articles and research projects have analyzed the global food crisis of 2007–08 that was unprecedented in its dimensions and its impact (Figure 2.4). This chapter will, therefore, summarize very briefly some of the main characteristics of the food crisis and concentrate on two main issues highlighted by the unusual combination of events that turned a predicament that for several years did not seem so highly unusual into a calamity that, within a few months, crossed all borders and affected all countries: First, the interconnectedness between markets and not only between commodity markets as an effect of globalization; second, the lessons that can be drawn from that experience about the possibility that another food crisis will happen in the coming years.