![]() Geographically referenced (geospatial) climate monitoring products offer food security analysts succinct and practical summaries of crop growing conditions. The use of remotely sensed data offers solutions to at least part of the problem. In Africa, in general, sparse data observation networks resulting in inadequate spatial coverage, data quality, and timely accessibility are problems that food security analysts often face. We first discuss traditional use of satellite-derived vegetation index and rainfall estimates, followed by a discussion of more complex crop condition modeling using satellite-derived rainfall and vegetation information. In subsequent sections of this chapter we explore traditional and current methods of monitoring drought and famine used by the FEWS network of scientists in the United States and Africa. Any reduction of ambiguity associated with data or information used by FEWS NET contributes to confidence in food security assessments and an improved linkage between early warning and early response. Therefore, analysts draw their conclusions most confidently when all factors indicate a certain food security status in a region. No single source of information is sufficiently authoritative and comprehensive to identify potential famine areas alone (Mason et al., 1987 Shoham, 1987 Kelly, 1993). It is for this reason that FEWS NET food security analysts rely on a convergence of evidence to make food security assessments. Targeting their responses directly benefits from FEWS NET analyses that identify the location and intensity of needs.Įarly detection and early warning of famine must be persuasive enough to overcome the risk avoidance behaviors of decision-makers in responsible organizations-national governments, donor agencies, international organizations, and NGOs (Cutler, 1993). Having mandates and resources for response to food security emergencies. Consumers of this information include the decision-makers in host country governments, USAID, donor countries, multinational organizations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) Fieldwork, interviews with local experts, consultation with national early warning committees, and professional experience build on spatial analyses to yield a synthesis of the situation presented in monthly bulletins and special reports (FEWS, 1999). ![]() Joint spatial analysis of agrophysical and socioeconomic factors is used to produce an integrated picture of the food security situation, for it is the coincidence of vulnerable livelihoods and hazards that defines the level of risk. Food economy analysis is used by FEWS NET to structure an understanding of livelihoods and their vulnerabilities. These include, for example, population distribution, household income, prices of grain and cattle (McCorkle, 1987 Kinsey et al., 1998), school attendance, employment opportunities, nutritional status (Shoham, 1987 Kelly, 1993), and other variables (Reddy, 1992). ![]() Simultaneously, the human factors of famine vulnerability must be accounted for and mapped. From a physical science standpoint, food security assessment requires monitoring climatic variables and modeling their implications for rain-fed agriculture on an ongoing basis. Food security assessment in sub-Saharan Africa requires monitoring the agrophysical and socioeconomic conditions of large and spatially dispersed populations. ![]()
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