A group of leading African academics from various social science disciplines engage in an in-depth examination of the current food and agricultural crisis in Africa, touching on the causes, nature, scope and dynamics of the problem. They bring to the subject a new framework of analysis which successfully combines the generality of global approach with the specificity of empirically based case studies, carefully chosen to cover the different types of production systems in Africa. Concrete proposals for overcoming the continents food and agricultural crisis are made.