Transport, food insecurity and food aid in sub-Saharan Africa Gordon H. Pirie L)eP~rtmentof Geography, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Afrjcu The contribution made by transport projects to long-term regional economic change obscures the role of transport in the daily struggle for survival in places afflicted by food insecurity. In sub- Saharan Africa. limited infrastructure and transport service has occasionally disrupted food production and circulation. During the widespread food crises of the past decade, land, sea and air transport have been used more constructively to distribute food aid. An empirical review of the contradictory relations between transport and food insecurity prccedcs discussion of the logistics and potential impact of emergency food aid transport in north-eastern and southern Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Keywords: Transport; food aid; subSaharan Africa At the national and regional scales, the link between transport and socio-economic conditions is com- monly viewed in grandiose terms. It is the develop- mental capacity and effect of transport that is almost always the focus of attention: improved accessibility and mobility are regarded as the keys to enhanced agricultural, industrial and service-sector perform- ance. Transport is seen ambitiously from the point of view of enhancing production, consumption and trade in the long term. It is rarely considered as an element in daily survival. Outside the urban realm, the predilection to analyse transport in developmental rather than survivalist terms reflects an obsession with glamorous and capital-intensive transport projects as symbols and tools of modernization. In the colonial era, the dredging of harbours. construction of breakwaters and quays, and building of railways were indeed crucial elements of change. Similarly, in the post- colonial period, airports and national airlines and shipping fleets were established as instruments of modernity and independence. These prominent facets of transportation have commanded attention out of all proportion to the dull. but important contribution that transport makes to the daily rhythms of socio-economic units such as the house- hold. The dire circumstances of drought-ravaged sub- Saharan Africa in the 1990s underscore the funda- mental way in which transport impinges on the daily struggle which millions of people have to obtain food, water and fuelwood. In a region of widespread and chronic poverty and food shortages, transport is a basic ingredient of survival for peasant farmers and refugees who have to cope with civil strife and starvation. An estimated IO million Africans have resettled themselves in their own countries, while 7.5 million have walked into exile. The latter account for approximately one-third of the world’s total refugee population (World Bank, 1989). In the last decade of this century, the lifeline of survival for 40 million sub-Saharan African people will be the arrival of emergency food supplies by road, rail and air. Transport and food insecurity The humanitarian role that transport may play in alleviating food insecurity, and the ensuing hunger. malnutrition or mass starvation, has an historical context in which transport has not always been benign. On the contrary, transport has at times been partly responsible for deteriorating food security. Most obviously, inadequate transport has sometimes crippled food circulation. This is particularly serious during times of climatic hardship when regional self- sufficiency declines, and consumers face food short- ages and price increases. Conversely, inadequate transport has delayed and/or curtailed the distribu- tion of materials to farmers, and has inflated the price of these commodities. Inadequate transport has also contributed indirectly to food insecurity through its effect on the production and sale of non- food items: failure to market a surplus means reduced income and reduced food purchases. The two effects may occur simultaneously. In 1988 in different regions of Tanzania, for example, half the cotton harvest, 80% of the rice paddy. and half of all seeds, fertilizer and herbicides were lost due to inadequate rural transport (River-son cl (I/, 1991). 12 0966_6923/93/010012~~X @ 1993 Butterworth-Hcinemann Ltd