Food Security for Rural Africa: Feeding the Farmers First, by TerryLeahy, New York: Routledge, 2019. 246 pp. $42.36 (paper). ISBN:9780367665753.

For more than 50 years, governments and NGOs have tried to combat food insecurity in rural Africa, where up to 50 percent of children suffer from malnutrition and stunting (Leahy 2019:3). It is, therefore, vital to understand why current efforts have been, for the most part, unsuccessful and to ask what can be done to improve food security in the region. Terry Leahy, an experienced field researcher who has worked in African countries with colonial histories, challenges the conventional practices of government and NGO organizations. In Food Security for Rural Africa: Feeding the Farmers First, he presents new methods and ideas that are proving effective in addressing the problem. Leahy begins by examining why initiatives aimed at tackling rural poverty and malnutrition in Africa have often had little impact. He takes a culturally sensitive approach to assist the “poorest of the poor,” particularly those in remote rural areas who lack access to employment opportunities or markets—factors that are frequently overlooked by present-day food sovereignty programs. The conventional wisdom is that Africa should embrace modernization and discourage subsistence farming or home-based agricultural production in favor of market participation. However, where access to markets is poor, this strategy has proved ineffective, and Leah shows that subsistence farming does not have to be commoditized to be viable. He argues that because “the correlation between cash income and food security is weak” (40), food security programs should prioritize fighting hunger over short-term funding goals, which can be achieved through individual-level interventions rather than political action. “It is high time,” he writes, “that [governments and NGOs try] projects which aim to improve household food provision without cash income” (42). The call is to move beyond the conventional approach and prioritize alternative strategies that focus on local food production and consumption (99). Leahy offers both a critical analysis of failed programs and practical solutions in the form of “how-to” vignettes and case studies of successful projects. In the initial chapters, he critiques the policy recommendations of mainstream and neo-liberal economists and highlights the social contexts and economic reasoning that lead to program failures. He maintains that the constraints of subsistence farming are not as limiting as many believe. It is the “faith in commercialization” by the African middle class and the academic community that sees “the system of low wages, subsistence agriculture, and circular migration” as the best option when it is instead “a holdover from the most oppressive days of colonialism” (46). Leahy's analysis shows how community group entrepreneurial projects, which rely on infrastructure and cash accumulation to buy food, often fail due to group social dynamics and that projects that promote an entrepreneurial ideology without a functioning market are bound to fail because they cannot generate enough income to be self-sustaining. Leahy's proposed solutions involve subsistence farming and permaculture techniques. He cites the Chikukwa Permaculture Project in eastern Zimbabwe as a highly successful example and provides additional case studies that have successfully implemented bottom-up participation, long-term permaculture practices, internal human capital, and cultural technologies. Leahy concludes by stressing that subsistence farming remains the most effective approach to achieving food security in rural Africa and repeats a range of approaches that are better suited to the region, such as low-input agricultural technologies, techniques for filling nutrient gaps throughout seasonal changes in crop availability, the needs of “emerging farmers” versus the rural poor, a working permaculture design for farms, and composting toilet options for rural Africa. Drawing on a wealth of literature and personal experience, including those of his students and his own, Leahy provides insights into the successes and failures of development projects in rural Africa. While the presentation of data and methods varies across chapters due to the broad range of information sources, Leahy's observations, anecdotes, and interviews with key individuals make his book an engaging read. Even so, some readers might benefit from a more detailed description of data collection methods to better connect Leahy's findings to specific project designs and locations. Still, the book's practical focus on solutions and expert opinions gathered by the author more than makes up for any inconsistencies. Although Leahy's conclusions are framed as generalizable to rural Africa as a whole and the book tends to homogenize groups, countries, and cultures, his main arguments—the need for context-specific adaptations and the absence of a universal solution—are plausible and persuasive. The solutions proposed by Leahy and others offer convincing ways to tackle food insecurity, with the potential for future adjustments to engage in market participation once food security is attained. A minor criticism of Leahy's book is that it prioritizes realism over compassion. For instance, Vignette E compares “emerging farmers” to the “rural poor,” which suggests that uneducated villagers might need to know bookkeeping before entering the market. This ignores the limited access to education as a cause for differences between the two groups, rather than an inherent “capability” of the rural poor. More explicit recognition of the systemic issues contributing to these differences would be beneficial in creating truly compassionate solutions. While Leahy says that his primary audience is “postgraduate students and fellow academics” in fields such as “developmental studies, agricultural extension, social work, and education in African universities” (xi), he also says that “international NGOs and students in richer countries studying international development might benefit from reading his book.” In this reviewer's opinion, decision-makers at all levels involved in shaping NGO and government funding and evaluation efforts in areas with food insecurity should read this book. Leahy's writing is both accessible and informative, and his optimistic outlook for successful future actions makes it a valuable resource for anyone involved in improving food security. For their part, students might find it beneficial to concentrate on previously published articles, such as those by Alinyo and Leahy 2012 (“Designing food security projects: Kapchorwa and Bukwo, Uganda”), Leahy 2011 (“Teaching them to fish: Entrepreneurial ideology and rural projects in South Africa”), Leahy and Brown 2016 (“’People are trying to be modern’: Food insecurity and the strategies of the poor”), and Leahy and Goforth 2013 (“Best practice for rural food security projects in Southern Africa?”)—some parts of which are reprinted in this book. I highly recommend Food Security for Rural Africa: Feeding the Farmers First to anyone involved in food security efforts in rural Africa or elsewhere. As Leahy says, “We have yet to see any major impetus behind strategies that could make a difference” (Leahy 2019:213), so perhaps it is time to try new ideas. Leahy's book might just be the seed we need to turn scarcity into plenty in rural Africa.