In MENA, household food insecurity, which is closely related to poverty and undernourishment, is most severe in rural areas and concentrated within Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen. Twenty-five percent of the MENA population may be poor and 7% undernourished. The key to increased national and household-level food security is pro-poor growth, driven by export-oriented, labor-intensive sectors. Agricultural sector policies should be subordinate to the pro-poor growth goal and not to the goal of food self-sufficiency. Such a strategy requires conflict resolution; macroeconomic stability; physical and human capital accumulation; reliance on markets and the private sector, and diffusion of ecologically friendly farming practices. © 2003.
CITATION STYLE
Lofgren, H., & Richards, A. (2003). Food security, poverty, and economic policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Research in Middle East Economics, 5, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1094-5334(03)05005-2
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