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Market information and food insecurity response analysis

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Abstract

Food aid is no longer the only, or even the dominant, response to widespread food insecurity. Donors, governments, NGOs and recipient communities exhibit rapidly growing interest in and experimentation with cash-based alternatives, both in the form of direct cash distribution to food insecure persons, and of local or regional purchase of food using cash provided to operational agencies by donors. But humanitarian assistance and development communities lack a systematic, field-tested framework for choosing among food- and/or cash-based responses to food insecurity. This paper outlines the rationale for “response analysis” and introduces a new, field-tested, systematic approach to this emergent activity. The Market Information and Food Insecurity Response Analysis (MIFIRA) framework provides a logically sequenced set of questions, and corresponding analytical tools to help operational agencies anticipate the likely impact of alternative (food- and/or cash-based) responses and thereby identify the response that best fits a given food insecurity context.

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Notes

  1. We do not distinguish between food aid (transoceanic or locally or regionally procured) distributed directly as free rations, as food-for-work wages, in school feeding programs, or via other mechanisms. Agencies may prefer particular distribution mechanisms, depending on the program objectives.

  2. We use cash responses as shorthand to denote conditional or unconditional cash transfers, vouchers, cash for work or related transfer programs. Agencies may prefer particular distribution mechanisms, depending on program objectives and agency capacities. For an overview of the differences in the efficacy and implementation of cash and voucher programs, see WFP (2008c).

  3. Much of this experience is summarized in Harvey (2007).

  4. Organizations such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and other United Nations bodies, government relief agencies, and national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are referred to collectively as “agencies” hereafter.

  5. Ethiopia is a good example. By mid-2008 the prices of all basic grains were about three times their five year average, but the budget for the national Productive Safety Net Program could only accommodate about a 30% rise in cash transfers. Thus, the demand for food aid suddenly increased dramatically (Wahenga 2008, FEWS NET 2008).

  6. See, for example, Creti and Jaspars (2006) and Gentilini (2007).

  7. For an example from Ethiopia, see Lautze and Maxwell (2006).

  8. For detailed evidence on LRP performance, see Tschirley (2006) and Tschirley and del Castillo (2006).

  9. Non-market considerations, such as agencies’ objectives and capacities and local contexts, can influence both the appropriateness of various responses and program implementation. For example, if the desired outcome is to improve the nutritional status of children, particularly girls, it may be more effective to target cash and/or food transfers to women (Haddad et al. 1997). Harvey (2007), among others, reviews innovative programming designs that can minimize implementation issues associated with distributing (cash) transfers during emergencies.

  10. See Section 2.1.2.2 of Action Contre la Faim (2007 ) for further discussion.

  11. Other agencies are also developing market data collection and assessment tools, notably the United Nations World Food Programme, FEWS-Net, FAO-GIEWS, Save the Children UK (Household Economy Analysis), and Practical Action (Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis). These approaches vary by data requirements, agency objectives, and intended users. Each has a distinct orientation and limitations, leading to limited uptake to date.

  12. This point was helpfully brought to our attention by an anonymous reviewer.

  13. Scott (1995) and Fackler and Goodwin (2001) provide an extensive discussion of various methods of spatial price analysis for market integration testing.

  14. Boucher et al. (2008) explain this phenomenon of “risk rationing” in developing country credit markets.

  15. As Barrett (1997) shows, it is extremely important to disaggregate the crop value chain into distinct functions – farm-level collection and assembly, wholesaling, transport, milling, interseasonal storage, retailing – in order to identify both mobility barriers that inhibit growth in a marketing intermediary’s throughput volume and specific bottlenecks due to noncompetitive behavior.

  16. See Lentz et al. (2005) on the topic of food aid dependency.

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Acknowledgments

We thank participants at seminars and conferences hosted by CARE-Bangladesh, CARE-Ethiopia, CARE Malawi, CARE SWARMU, the Malawi Forum for Food Security, Northwestern University, SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2007 Annual Meeting, USAID Office of Food for Peace, and the World Food Programme Workshop on Partnerships in Market Analysis for Food Security, for thoughtful comments. Asif Ahmed, Patricia Bonnard, Henk-Jan Brinkman, Cecily Bryant, Anne Marie del Castillo, Paul Dorosh, Shaun Ferris, David Kauck, Faheem Khan, Saif Islam, Abby Maxman, Miles Murray, Dan Mullins, Sharon Osterloh, Frank Orzechowski, John Rook, Gary Sawdon, Dale Skoric, Henry Swira, Karen Tibbo, the editor and three anonymous reviewers provided valuable insights. Any errors are the authors’ alone.

Conflict of interest

This work was supported by an Institutional Capacity Building Grant (Cooperative Agreement No. AFP-A-00-03-00017-00) from the Office of Food for Peace, Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, U. S. Agency for International Development to CARE-USA. The opinions expressed herein are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. S.B. and J.G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, 315 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853-7801, USA

    Christopher B. Barrett

  2. Former Director of the Food Resources Coordination Team, CARE USA, Private Consultant, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Robert Bell

  3. Research Support Specialist, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, 314 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853-7801, USA

    Erin C. Lentz

  4. Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Food and Nutrition Policy, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, 200 Boston Avenue, Suite 4800, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Daniel G. Maxwell

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  1. Christopher B. Barrett
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Correspondence to Erin C. Lentz.

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Barrett, C.B., Bell, R., Lentz, E.C. et al. Market information and food insecurity response analysis. Food Sec. 1, 151–168 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-009-0021-3

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