Food Security in Developing Countries: Issues and Options for the 1990s

21 u, 3. tutt,, teof Deselepntcrtt Stttdju., Sus'rs 2 deal not only with substance but also with planning issues. Between them, these papers, by Hindle (for the World Bank), Kennes (for the European Community), Huddleston (for FAO) and Dearden and Cassidy (for 'Food security' is one of those terms -'rural development ' Chambers 1983:146 and 'farming systems research ' Merill Sands 1986 are otherswhich authors feel obliged to define or redefine at frequent intervals. In the case of 'food security', the different definitions on offer partly reflect no more than a desire for product differentiation in a crowded market. In other respects, however, they do offer genuine differences of emphasis: on the importance of subjective assessments of food insecurity; on the relationship between malnutrition, access to food and livelihood security; and on the need for an efficient national food system. In 1981, at the height of the first wave of interest in food security, Clay argued that 'food security is a problem most often conceptualised as a macro phenomenon -deviations from trend in aggregate consumption' Clay 198 1:5. He went on to argue that macro indicators concealed the proper concern of food security analysis with the sources of vulnerability of particular groups: the urban poor, the rural landless and small or marginal farmers ibid. Clay's strictures at that time were probably more true of some agencies Thanks for comments to Gaie Mendelssohn, Margie Buchanan-Smith and other colleagues Responsibility is mine.