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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Is There an Alternative to Famine Relief? An Example from the Sahel
Authors:Soule, Meredith J.
Nelson, Gerald C.ISNI
Due, JeanISNI
Year:1991
Periodical:Food Policy
Volume:16
Issue:3
Period:June
Pages:235-244
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:agricultural projects
development cooperation
agriculture
irrigation
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
External link:https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-9192(91)90089-3
Abstract:Aid agencies spend large sums on short-term famine relief and are typically unwilling to provide project support for long periods. Yet in at least one case in the Sahel it would be cheaper to provide a long-term subsidy for expert management at an existing irrigation project than to provide periodic famine relief. The project under consideration in this article is the 'Activités paysannes' project in the Dire 'cercle', in the Sahelian zone of Mali. USAID began financing this agricultural development project in 1979 with the goal of helping farmers in the Dire 'cercle' to increase their irrigated acreage and food production through the use of small diesel-fuelled irrigation pumps. The project does not fare well using standard cost-benefit techniques, but if the opportunity cost of domestic production is measured by the cost of periodic famine relief, continued support is justified. App., notes, ref.
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