Determinants of the right of access to food in sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

Food is one of the most important basic needs of human beings since it provides the energy for the physiological functioning of the body. The right to food is thus the right of all individuals alone or in community with others to enjoy physical and economic access to adequate food or the means for its procurement. Adequate food also implies the availability of food in sufficient quantity and quality to satisfy the dietary needs of all individuals and the accessibility of food in ways that are sustainable. Generally, a number of factors are considered important in the determination of the right of access to food. Key among these factors are availability of agricultural resources such as land, water, energy and fertilizer; increase in the demand for food as a result of the increase in population, increase in personal income, development of transportation and storage facilities, macroeconomic stability, sociopolitical stability; seasonal fluctuation in availability of food due to natural disaster, access to safe water, access to health care services, access to sanitation facilities and many others. This paper examines the extent to which these factors have impacted on the ability of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa to have access to food, using a set of cross-country data and a multiple regression analysis. The results obtained indicate that factors like the increase in population, access to sanitation facilities, access to safe water, access to health care services, access to information and increase in the price of food have to some extent impacted on the right of the people to have access to food in
the sub-region. Food supply, income of the people, the presence of democratic values, access to education and access to transport play little or no significant role in determining the right of the people to access food. Given these results, measures, such as, the provision of stable macroeconomics policies, reduction in income poverty, provision of basic social services and good governance were suggested as possible solutions to the right of access to food in Sub-Saharan Africa.