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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Taking Stock: Food Marketing Reform in Rwanda, 1982-1989
Author:Pottier, JohanISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:92
Issue:366
Period:January
Pages:5-30
Language:English
Geographic term:Rwanda
Subjects:food policy
food marketing
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Economics and Trade
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/723094
Abstract:This paper examines the question of why State intervention in regulating food markets in Rwanda remained at such a low level during the 1980s. The National Food Strategies concept promoted by the EC had developed from an awareness that the problem of food insecurity had more to do with distribution and exchange than with declining food availability. As part of Rwanda's strategy for improving the food entitlement of poor people, the 'Office pour la promotion, la vente et l'importation des produits agricoles' (OPROVIA) came to adopt a leading role. Several possible reasons for Rwanda's poor response to the EC recommendation are put forward. One major explanation revolves around Rwanda's tradition of a strictly local, politicized approach to food security. Rwanda's political regime, with its Northern ethos, has difficulty implementing the idea of a centralized responsibility, because the National Food Strategies concept does not fit the dominant politicocultural view on food entitlement. Another major explanation is ecological. Endowed with numerous micro environments, Rwanda's physical setting creates demands that are difficult to meet via centralized, State-controlled marketing. This is illustrated with reference to bean production in Butare, southern Rwanda, where the author did fieldwork in 1985-1986. Attention is drawn to Butare's urban poor, who are themselves food producers. Notes, ref.
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