Stages 1-4    Seasonality    Armed Conflict    Natural Disasters

Famine can be defined as a set of conditions that occur when large numbers of people (usually already undernourished) in a region cannot obtain sufficient food, and wide-spread, acute malnutrition result (Cuny, 1999).  There are two different types of famines ---those which originate from a lack of food and those that result from a lack of purchasing power. Famines resulting from an entitlement problem (lack of purshasing power) are the most common.  As listed by Federick Cuny causes of famine can be:

• War, civil conflict, or social upheaval

• Harvest failure from climate or environmental conditions (drought, flood, wind, or insect infestation)

• Food distribution (or market system) collapse or disruption often causes by political, environmental, or economic crises.

• Disruption of emergency food-aid (food banks, price supports, and transportion subsidies.)

Many people believe famines occur when there is not enough food in an area to feed people, this is rarley true, even in coflict zones.  Famines occur when the poor do not have enough money to buy food.  Subsistence farmers, pastoralist, and families/individuals whom have migrated to urban centers are the most vulnerable to famine.  Within these families children between 5 -60 months, women, pregnant and lactating mothers, and elderly are the most quickly affected by famine conditions and the nutritional status of these groups are considered reliable indicators of the overall situation.

Adjustment of Food Behavior During Famine
measures and specific actions taken by rural community to cope with famine