Public and Private Responses to Food Insecurity: Complementarity in B urkina F aso

This article explores the contemporary context of food insecurity in M ossi communities of the northern C entral P lateau region of B urkina F aso. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative ethnographic field data from three time periods, the research illustrates how public and private responses to seasonal food insecurity are improving and becoming more appropriate to local contexts. The G overnment of B urkina F aso and NGOs have invested in improved agricultural technologies that farmers have rapidly adopted. They have also assisted in the development of local institutions such as village cereal banks that help farmers self‐insure against crop failure. Whereas other scholars have described tensions between private and public responses to agroclimatic shocks that ultimately make rural producers more vulnerable, this case study illustrates how the two are complementary and reinforce one another. Overall, seasonal household food insecurity is declining in the northern C entral P lateau region of B urkina F aso.