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International audience ; The food crisis in Southern Africa that stems from the crop failures of the 2001-2002 crop season has, not surprisingly, prompted much reflection on the causes of the problem and policy responses. Several official donors and NGOs have set in motion reviews, including, for example the EU and CARE International. Academics have started formal research, including a review of relief efforts by Georgetown University. In the region, overall reviews have been initiated by networks such as Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN).

AbstractConventional wisdom holds that Africa has been undergoing an agrarian crisis, marked by falling food production per capita and rising imports of cereals, as seen in national statistics. This paper tries to test whether African farmers have indeed experienced the setbacks suggested, by looking at village‐level studies of change in fanning systems between the mid‐1970s and the mid‐1980s. Fourteen studies from six countries were examined. Contrary to the above thesis, there was little evidence of decline, and much of increased production per head, albeit by modest margins. If the studies are representative, then talk of crisis is exaggerated, the national statistics probably seriously underestimate farm output and unspectacular policy may suffice to support African farmers to produce and market more.