Summaries of Consumption Effects of Agricultural Policies in Selected African Countries

Excerpts from the report: Studies of the consumption effects of agricultural policies are now available for five African countries -- Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Tanzania. These studies were sponsored by AID's Office of Nutrition under their Consumption Effects of Agricultural Policies (CEAP) project and implemented through the Nutrition Economics Group of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Summaries of the results of these studies are included in this document. The studies themselves were designed to explore and systematically analyze the linkages between selected agricultural policies and the food consumption patterns of groups likely to be at risk of malnutrition in these countries. Relationships analyzed in these studies include how such policies affect the amount and type of food available to these groups, their incomes and the prices they pay for food. How these groups alter their consumption patterns when their incomes and prices change were also analyzed. The studies were expected to produce (1) information and policy guidance for policy makers and analysts in the host countries, (2) examples of the types of analytical methods which can be used to evaluate the consumption impacts of agricultural policies and how to use them and (3) guidelines suggesting how to undertake comparable studies in other countries.