In April 1989, the IDS convened a workshop on Food Security in Developing Countries. The workshop was organised by Simon Maxwell and Stephany Griffith-Jones at the request of the UK Overseas Development Administration, ODA provided most of the participants; others came from related departments of the British Government, from aid ministries in other countries and from the international agencies.

The papers presented to the workshop form the core of the Bulletin, though all have been revised and some have been written from scratch since April 1989. Additional papers have been contributed by Walter Kennes of the EC Commission and Peter Dearden and Eamon Cassidy of the ODA. Taken together, the papers provide a snapshot of current thinking on food security, both in the academic community and in the aid agencies. There is a bias in the Bulletin to sub-Saharan Africa, but this is an accurate reflection at least of Agency interests. Otherwise, the Bulletin demonstrates the range of food security concerns in production, marketing and consumption.

We are grateful to ODA for their initial encouragement of the workshop; and to the participants for their comments on the material presented. Needless to say, ODA bears no responsibility for this publication.