An Analysis of Government Policies in Ensuring Food Security in Small Island Economies: A Case Study of Mauritius.

Food security is a major concern for different countries across the world including Africa. Factors such as climate change, droughts and frequent floods, diversion of food products for production of bio fuels, piracy, and increasing demand for food products from emerging countries have led to sharp increases in the prices of food products. Many countries have been adversely affected by the increase in their food bills and they also have to face scarcity of food products due to their inability to pay. It has made people in different countries become more conscious about the importance of increasing food security within their own countries since they will not be able to influence all the factors responsible for this growing problem. Mauritius is a net food importing country due to its small size and its inability to benefit from economies of scale. It faces sharp increases in food prices and the risk of periodic scarcity of some essential commodities. In order to deal with this threat, the government has taken a lot of measures since several years. This paper has analyzed the different factors responsible for growing concern for food security in the country, the different policies adapted by the government, and the strengths and weaknesses of these strategies. Both secondary and primary data have been collected. A survey was carried out among 307 respondents in Mauritius through electronic mail to investigate different aspects of government policies and personal initiatives regarding food security. Recommendations have been proposed in order to improve the current practices. This will enable government officials of other countries to benchmark and learn from the success and failures of Mauritius in terms of food security policies.