Chapter 8. Drought and Famine in the Sahel

Author: Sen, Amartya

Source: Poverty and Famines, January 1983 , pp. 113-131(19)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

Key:

- Free Content

- New Content

- Subscribed Content

- Free Trial Content

Abstract:

A case study of the drought of 1968–73, and the famines of the 1970s in the in the six West African countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Upper Volta, Niger, and Chad. The famines are analysed in terms of food availability decline (FAD) vis à vis entitlements, occupational status of the destitutes, and their entitlements. The most susceptible groups were the nomadic pastoralists and the sedentary agriculturalists. The last part of the chapter addresses some policy issues relating to the freeing of the Sahelian population from vulnerability to drought and famine.

Keywords: Sahel; entitlements; nomads; destitution; pastoralists; drought; agriculturalists; West Africa; famine; case studies; food availability decline