This document contains three initial draft commentaries on the paper by Jean-Louis Arcand. Two were prepared by leading international food security and development policy experts, Simon Maxwell (ODI) and Stephen Devereux (IDS). They focus more on the relevance and validity of the overall argument and policy implications, in the context of wider contemporary food security and development debates. However, where relevant, the authors make comments on the adequacy of the data and analysis.

The third commentary was prepared by an expert in quantitative econometric analysis, Dr. Barry Reilly, (Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Sussex), who analyses the validity of the econometric analysis and quantitative methods used.

Stephen Devereux, Simon Maxwell, Barry Reilly