Description
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Women represent an indispensable human resource within the matrix of
household food security. In Africa, as in most developing countries, this
indispensability is peculiar when viewed within the context of feminization of food
crop production (Muntemba 1982, Ghana-Cida Grains Development
Project, 1993, Ezumah and Domenico 1995, United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa 1996).
The matrix of food security raises complex questions about how global food
sufficiency can adequately and sustainably respond to household food insufficiency
in the developing world. Perhaps, it can be argued that when Mahatma Ghandi
affirmed early in the twentieth century that “the world has enough for everyone’s
need, but not enough for everyone’s greed,” he had neither the benefit of facts and
figure nor was he only concerned with food. Nevertheless, later and successive facts
and figures have verified his claim, at least with regards to food: