Food Consumption, Food Chains and Market Evolution in São Tomé e Principe: Case Study in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

São Tomé e Principe is a small country in the middle of the Atlantic and exactly located at the Equator. It is a country where food consumption has been mainly dependent upon local production (where nature is very exuberant), but where imports, donations and globalization are determinant elements in consumption changes in the last decades.
This article provides an analysis of the most significant changes in the last decades, showing how local product consumption is associated with lower income households, how recent improvements are maintaining the local consumption basis in many cases, and also how food markets are missing improvements with big price differences across different regions. This behavior is consistent with many problems in market performance, showing how important can be adequate technical support.
Market problems are not the only important constraint for supply growth and food chain development but provide evidence of the need for better food policy and technical intervention to improve production systems while, at the same time, providing a better use of local resources and of the international trade/cooperation for better quality of live and food security.