Political instability, chronic poverty and food production systems in Central Chad

In many parts of the world long-term political instability combined with frequent droughts results in chronic poverty and high levels of malnutrition and child mortality. Despite the magnitude and importance of the problem in these areas, the relation between political instability, resource tenure systems and changes in food production systems that form the basis of the economy in many remote rural areas of the world, has rarely been investigated. This chapter investigates three case studies of villages in the Guéra region in central Chad. This areas was particularly hard hit during 25 years of civil war and recurrent drought between 1965 and 1990. The case studies shows that the functioning of food production systems in these villages differs widely depending on the particular context and the extent to which the villages were exposed to violence and other pressures such as drought and religious change.