Food & Business Knowledge PlatformUrbanization and FNS - Food & Business Knowledge Platform

The impact of urbanisation on food systems in West and East Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 13:32:54 +0000

This policy report (PDF) by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency provides insights into the current and projected dynamics of urbanisation and food systems in West and East Africa and assesses the potential impacts on rural livelihoods. The increasing urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa is an important driver of change in the production, trade, processing and consumption of food. The holistic approach in this study includes analysis of potential social, economic and environmental impacts of urbanisation on food systems and rural livelihoods, providing a novel overview of possible developments and corresponding opportunities. Urbanisation does not affect food systems in a vacuum. Towards 2050, African food systems face four key challenges: providing sufficient food, now and in the future; ensuring healthy and affordable diets; making sure that agricultural production becomes m0re environmentally sustainable and resilient to environmental shocks; raising farmer incomes and creating more off-farm employment in dominantly agricultural economies. The most important changes that urbanisation causes in food systems are rising food demand and changing food preferences. The increase in the consumption of processed foods in West and East Africa has not yet benefited the regional processing industry. Urbanisation also affects rural livelihoods in several ways, such as by rural-urban migration can contribute to networks, shorter distances to cities can imporve acces to information, a diversified agricultural production response, and it has an impact on water and soil quality. The authors provide three recommendations to stimulate the potential positive impacts of urbanisation on rural development: 1) Contribute to disperse urbanisation and secondary cities in both development projects and local and foreign investment; 2) Strengthen rural-urban linkages as part of development projects and foreign investments; 3) Strengthen efforts to reduce inequalities between and with rural and urban areas.

Urban governance for nutrition

F&BKP Office — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 13:11:01 +0000

The ‘Urban Governance for Nutrition‘ programme by GAIN brings diverse stakeholders together to develop policies and actions that help to equitably and sustainably shape urban food environments to deliver healthy diets. Three working papers have been released. The first working paper (PDF) examines the Clean Street Food Hub Initiative (CSFHI), which promotes food safety and hygiene at popular street food locations across India, as an example of successfully prioritising (urban) governance for nutrition. The initiative has thus far certified eight locations throughout the country, led to improvements in food safety and hygiene, and begun to include non-hub vendors in training and certification processes. The involvement of private partners has increased the sustainability of the initiative, and street food festivals have brought increased attention to the supported hubs and street foods in general. The second working paper (PDF) focuses on the Punjab Food Authoroty (PFA) model as a governance mechanism, showing how it is bringing multiple benefits to the food system and ultimately to consumers through improved food safety and nutrition. It is therefore a useful example of why urban governance for nutrition should be prioritised by governments to improve nutrition. Since the PFA’s establishment, greater compliance with standards at inspections and higher rates of food businesses being licensed imply likely improvements in food safety. Food labelling and safety issues are openly communicated to the public. The third working paper (PDF) provides insights into how multi-level nutrition governance and urban govenance for nutrition are implemented in practice in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The National Multisectoral Nutrition Action Plan (NMNAP) provides Tanzania with a strong system for multisectoral nutrition governance at all levels. NMNAP has successfully helped to make nutrition a priority in the country. Accountability for achieving nutrition goals has been strengthened. As a result, multisectoral coordination and cohesive alignment with national priorities has improved at all levels.

Africa’s urban informal food sector in comparative perspective

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 May 2020 08:06:39 +0000

This special issue of the Urban Forum brings together collection of case studies from seven countries across the Global South—China, Jamaica, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda—to explore the dynamics of Africa’s urban informal food sector in comparative international context. The complex dynamics of the informal food sector in urban Africa are poorly understood. Urban informal food systems are beginning to receive attention from scholars and policymakers, but the notable absence of detailed empirical information and necessary theoretical engagement with their emergence, structure, and operation has thus far limited efforts to understand the central role that they play in urban development processes. The first article examines the enabling environment for informal food traders in Nigeria’s secondary cities. The second article stresses the importance of understanding informality through a historically rooted political economy approach, analyzes the modern history of informal vending in Kampala, Uganda, and identifies six ways in which the state has fundamentally shaped informal economic activity in the city. The third article studies the informal food sector and cohabitation with supermarktes in Namibia and shows that the informal food sector is vibrant and growing. The fourth article assesses the nature, operations, strategies and challenges of the informal food vendors in Cape Town and reveals that they have become an integral and indispensable component of the city’s food system. The fifth article assesses the demographic and entrepreneurial characteristics of young entrepreneurs in the food retail sector in Maputo and highlights the aspirations and the economic challenges in their business success. The sixth article examines the pathology of the urban food system as it relates to the characterisation, challenges and experiences of small-scale food retailers. The seventh article evaluates how the reforms of the regulations to formalize street food vending with a permit system affected vendor-chengguan (city management officers) relations and vendors’ livelihoods in Nanjing

Food safety and nutrition for low-income urbanities: Exploring a social justice dilemma in consumption policy

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 09:24:19 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Environment and Urbanization journal investigates how retail policies driven by food safety impact the diets of the urban poor in Hanoi, Vietnam. Equitable access to healthy food is a critical challenge in urban Asia. Food safety governance promotes modern supermarkets over more traditional markets, but supermarkets are associated with unequal access to food. Food retail modernization is not (yet) utilized in the well-established shopping practices of low-income consumers in Hanoi. From both time–spatial and quality–affordability perspectives, supermarkets do not contribute to more healthy diets for low-income urbanites. Distance to supermarkets did not change shopping practices. Supermarket shopping is not only considered inconvenient and time consuming, but the safe foods offered are also considered expensive and less fresh. This study unpacks the competing priorities of nutrition and food safety in governing food security for low-income urbanites. Results confirm the effective direction of the dominant food safety-oriented retail modernization policies. However, the findings also demonstrate that low-income urbanites rarely frequent these modern retail channels, even when a supermarket is very close to their home. The struggle of low-income urbanites with food safety is a well-recognized problem in Vietnam and affects people throughout Asia. Although it is not contested that traditional markets are often less hygienic than supermarkets and lack adequate control mechanisms, this research demonstrates the limits to pushing modernization by banning traditional vending structures as a remedy for recurrent food safety incidents. It was demonstrated that these one-dimensional ideal-type policies have limited success in improving access to certified-safe foods among low-income residents, or for improving diet diversity. They fail to produce socially inclusive food retail infrastructure. When successful, the policies might jeopardize dietary quality for low-income urbanites through two pathways: depriving them of access to nutritious foods and stimulating less healthy diets by increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods. Thus, transforming the food environment without considering the food shopping practices, especially of low-income citizens, might result in unwanted outcomes in terms of dietary intake.

Urban agriculture: Another way to feed cities

F&BKP Office — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 11:29:07 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by the Veolia Institute shines a light on the renaissance of (peri-)urban agriculture, its changing forms and technologies, its potential and limitations by a mixture of cross-disciplinary studies and reports from the field, from emering as well as developed economies. Urban and peri-urban agriculture will never produce enough but could make the difference locally in the event of a farming sector crisis. Urban agriculture is more about helping to feed citizens differently: a sustainable model to quality produce distributed via short circuits, bringing producers and consumers closer to each other. This issue is divided into three sections: First it sets out the background for the rise of urban agriculture in developed and emerging economies. After a look at the historical background, it then examines a few of the key issues raised by urban agriculture: ability to improve food autonomy, ties between city and territory, the role this new form of agriculture can play in combating the climate emergency, and the role of policymaking in its development in cities. Section two identifies different types of urban agriculture, seeking to highlight the various myths and realities that surround the subject. The aim is to show the potential offered by each type of technology and what can be expected of each form of agriculture in terms of productivity, environmental impacts and revitalization of the social fabric. The third section analyses successful programs and examines the cases of cities like Singapore, which have employed urban agriculture as a major lever for development. This final section also sets out to explain the obstacles and to pinpoint factors that might allow urban agriculture models to operate on a larger scale.

How the urban poor define and measure food security in Cambodia and Nepal

F&BKP Office — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 09:02:27 +0000

This article (PDF), published in the journal Environment and Urbanization, focuses on the issue that urban food security, or its lack, is attracting growing interest in global policy debates. The researchers argue that the voices of the urban poor are missing in these conversations. To fill this gap, grassroots community organizations, with decades-long experience collecting data on their own communities and taking action to improve conditions, decided to ask the urban poor in Cambodia and Nepal how they define and measure food security, what key challenges they face in the daily struggle to put food on the table and what actions might help. Their findings show that access to adequate diets is a major challenge for low-income communities in Asia, and that hunger is widespread, although with great variations and fluctuations between and within households. These fluctuations can only be understood by taking into account circumstances at the household and community levels, as well as the larger city and national contexts. This includes the growing concern around food safety which, together with ever-increasing prices, puts additional pressure on the ability of the urban poor to propoerly feed themselves. The study also highlight the extraordinary resilience of urban poor women and their multiple strategies to stretch meagre budgets and make sure there is something to eat, even though sometimes this is not enough.

Urban food environments in Africa: implications for policy and research

F&BKP Office — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 13:12:30 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the University of Sheffield provides an overview of the healthiness of African urban food environments, discusses the ways food environments can be characterised and summarises the methods that can be used to investigate and intervene in the food environment. Africa is currently experiencing rapid urbanisation impacting on people’s food environments and dietary habits. Such changes are associated with higher prevalence of obesity coexisting with undernutrition. Data for Africa over a 50-year period (1961–2013) suggest an increasing availability of energy, animal products, fruit and vegetables, vegetable oils, sugar and sweeteners but a decrease in animal fats. There is a lack of evidence about how social, physical and macro-environments drive dietary habits in urban Africa, as most research has focused on the individual level. Examining how food consumption is embedded in everyday life, by investigating social environments is crucial to developing effective interventions. The informal food sector plays an important role in the retail food environment. Macro-level food price changes are an important factor influencing nutritional quality of African diets. The rapid expansion of food/beverages advertising in Africa threatens traditional food habits. Liberalisation of food trade is already impacting on the nutritional quality of food available. Improving African food environments represents a pressing public health concern and has the potential to prevent all forms of malnutrition. Hence, by conducting research into the role of urban social, physical and macro-environments, emerging interventions and policies are likely to positively impact on nutritional status, thereby enhancing social and economic development.

The urbanization of food insecurity and malnutrition

F&BKP Office — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 14:20:31 +0000

This special issue of the Environment and Urbanization journal explores different dimensions and drivers of urban food insecurity, but share a focus on low-income and marginalized groups. The key questions explored in this issue include 1) the links between urban poverty and food insecurity. One of the interesting findings linked to this question is that food security among others depends on the ability to buy in bulk and store staples when they are cheaper (PDF). 2) The contribution of food safety concerns to the restriction of traditional and informal food markets, and the impacts for low-income consumers and traders. An interesting finding linked to this question is that food safety is a key driver to modernize cities and formalize street food markets. Though, these more centralized spaces are often not suitably located for many poor consumers who cannot afford transport costs and can only buy food daily and in small quantities (PDF). 3) The importance of using a gender lens to understand the challenges to achieving food securit. Linked to this question is was noted that women are more knowledgeable about health hazards and often adopt effective strategies to mitigate microbial risks and follow good basic hygiene practices (PDF). 4) The often underestimated role of food in social relations and in supporting community networks. Linked to question 4, it was found that low-income consumers’ access to and provision of food is based not only on the physical infrastructure of markets but also on the relations between traders and consumers (PDF).

Urbanisation, dietary change and traditional food practices in Indonesia

F&BKP Office — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 10:38:52 +0000

This paper published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, uses panel data covering a period of 23 years to examine how changes in the urban environment relate to food expenditures, dietary diversity and traditional practices (food self-production and sharing) in Indonesia, a country that has experienced rapid economic growth and urbanisation over the last few decades. The nutrition transition hypothesis poses that as low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) become wealthier and more urbanised, they experience a shift in dietary consumption towards ‘Western’ diets high in sugars, fats, animal-source foods, processed and packaged products. This paper examines trends separately for urban and rural areas, and then use fixed effect models to examine whether change in urban residence is associated with changes in food expenditures, traditional practices, and overall dietary diversity. Results show that, despite some increases in acquisitions of animal-source foods and of packaged and ready-made foods, budget allocations for other food groups has remained constant, and that changes have largely occurred in parallel across urban and rural areas. In turn, traditional diets high in cereal and plant products, as well as traditional food practices continue to be dominant in both rural and urban areas, despite the context of rapid socio-economic change and urbanisation. Fixed effect regression suggests that transition from rural to urban residence is not significantly associated with changes in food expenditures for any of the outcomes examined.

Implementing the New Urban Agenda: Urban and territorial integration approaches in support of urban food systems

F&BKP Office — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 14:01:07 +0000

This paper, published in the book series International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, provides an insight on the opportunities provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA) in advancing food systems within the context of urbanisation. To get a clear perspective on the opportunities posed by the NUA, the approach used involves an in-depth analysis of existing literature prior to and leading to the adoption of the NUA. The paper additionally gives an overview of existing policies and activities by a number of actors towards implementation of the NUA. The paper focuses on the role that sustainable urbanisation can play in supporting food systems, especially as it relates to and the application of an integrated territorial approach and urban–rural linkages. The paper also undertakes an extensive review of the NUA as it relates to urban food systems and finally a review of selected documents, processes and actions that may complement the New Urban Agenda in developing sustainable food systems. Section 1 starts with a background of food systems in the context of urbanisation and a background of the processes leading to the development of the NUA. Section 2 gives some reflections of the 1996 Habitat Agenda as it relates to food systems, whilst Section 3 discusses the opportunities for implementation of food systems outlined in the NUA. Section 4 highlights the key global processes and frameworks supporting sustainable urban food systems, and finally, Section 5 makes conclusive statements.

Informal Food Deserts and Household Food Insecurity in Windhoek, Namibia

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 10:40:23 +0000

This article (PDF), published in the journal Sustainability, focuses on the relationship between informality and food deserts in African cities. Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision, and chronic food insecurity. Traditional concepts of food deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal food deserts. This paper focuses on a case study of informal settlements in the Namibian capital, Windhoek. Using various standard measures, the paper reveals that the informal settlements are spaces of extremely high food insecurity. They are not, however, food deprived. The proximity of supermarkets and open markets, and a vibrant informal food sector, all make food available. However, as is shown in the paper, supermarket patronage by households in the city’s food deserts is targeted at monthly bulk purchase of key staples. Other healthier foods are available but are unaffordable for the majority. In addition to the supermarkets, there are numerous formal and informal food outlets both within and near the informal settlements. However, urban agriculture is unviable, leaving households reliant on occasional transfers of food from the rural north to diversify their diet. The high levels of food insecurity in Windhoek’s informal settlement food deserts documented here are therefore not a function of the lack or physical inaccessibility of food. Rather, they are due to economic inaccessibility and the inability of most households to secure sufficient income to meet their basic needs, and to purchase food in sufficient quantity and of sufficient diversity to ensure a balanced and nutritious diet for all household members.

Growing food in the cities: Successes and new opportunities

F&BKP Office — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:11:56 +0000

This Brussels briefing (PDF) by CTA discusses the development of urban agriculture in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, looking at successful urban agribusinesses and the innovations, partnerships and policy developments that are creating new opportunities in this field. Accelerated urbanisation is affecting economic, social and environmental dimensions and oblige us to rethink how cities are provisioned with food and water. The task of feeding cities will face multiple constraints in terms of unbalanced distribution and access, environmental degradation, resource scarcity and climate change, unsustainable production and consumption patterns, and food loss and waste. Urban and peri-urban agriculture offers opportunities for productive employment in a sector with low barriers to entry. Intensive horticultural and livestock products employs workers, but also has an multiplier effect, stimulating job creation in many other sectors. Priorities for policy makers for this development include: 1) Develop land use policies to enable (peri-)urban agriculture to be recognised; 2) Ensure water suplies are not contaminated; 3) Identify ways to incorporate private organisations. Many urban agriculture policies do not address commercial urban agriculture, agro-processing and value addition activities well. To be sustainable and attract youth, the sector needs further enterprise development, entrepreneurial skills development, improved processing and marketing capacity, access to finance, identification of lucrative markets. The greatest impact is achieved when a food system approach is advocated and support is provided to the entire network of city region producers, wholesalers, processors, caterers and shopkeepers. Support mechanisms include legal and regulatory instruments, setting of procurement standards and targets, zoning and agricultural land protection. Governments and the larger private sector can generate large buyer demand for city region products through their own public procurement. Businesses need better knowledge of the availability of local products. Consumer awareness and education are also needed on the benefits of city region food supply. It would be important to monitor the impacts of the various proposed policy measures once they are put in place.

What can the Latin American cities of Cali, Quito and Medellín learn from each other’s efforts to build sustainable food systems?

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 13:30:32 +0000

This paper (PDF) by CGIAR-WLE shares various experiences associated with the construction of urban city-region agri-food practices and policies in Latin-America. Latin America is the most urbanized region in the developing world. Two-thirds of the Latin American population lives in cities. This represents a challenge, which is compounded by factors such as migration and climate change that translate into increased pressure to use natural resources efficiently. When talking about urban planning the need to promote sustainable development throughout the whole territory that comprises a city and its rural hinterland is important. It ensures that city development can be linked to new forms of production and systems that guarantee access to healthy and nutritious food for all people, particularly the most vulnerable groups. The need for such development can only be met when accompanied by the strong involvement of civil society and the establishment of new institutional and governance mechanisms. In recent decades, Latin America has witnessed the emergence of initiatives and movements that seek to promote urban and organic agriculture, waste management, short distribution chains and healthier consumption as part of urban development. In general, efforts undertaken in Latin American cities have aimed to: 1) Increase food system sustainability and resilience; 2) Promote food and nutritional sovereignty and food safety through local, fresh and diverse products for the growing population; 3) Generate employment and income; 4) Strengthen community live. These initiatives have begun to transform agri-food dynamics and the concept of conventional urban development, but have also brought up new challenges for the wide range of actors involved. Regional exchanges allow learning about experiences adapted to the realities of each territory, identifying successful practices, generating cooperation linkages as well as inspiring and encouraging innovation.

Urban Food Deserts: Perspectives from the Global South

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 11:25:34 +0000

This special issue of the Sustainability Magazine calls for both empirical studies and theoretical discussions of urban food deserts in the Global South, with a focus on a broad range of issues such as food accessibility, food affordability, urban food sources, informal food economies, supermarketization and the food security characteristics and consequences of food deserts, as well as urban policies that contribute to or mitigate the existence and development of food deserts. The industrialization of the urban food system, alongside the proliferation of supermarkets, has dramatically transformed the landscape of food accessibility in cities. In many countries, especially the US, the spatial consolidation of food provisioning has deprived many urban neighbourhoods of easy access to food, particularly foodstuffs integral to a healthy diet. These often socio-economically disadvantaged urban areas are referred to as “food deserts”. However, studies of urban food deserts in cities of the Global South are sparse, given their complicated urban food systems with the strong presence of informal food economies and diverse food sources. One article interrogates the potential value and risks associated with the adoption of the discourse of the food desert in the African context. Another article explored demographic and socio-economic factors associated with food purchasing characteristics of supermarket shoppers and the perceptions of their neighborhood food environment. A study in Brazil investigated the availability and food sources in urban areas and identified inequalities in the geographical distribution of food retailers that commercialize (un)healthy foods. The influence of the proximity to wet markets and supermarkets on urban household dietary diversity was explored by a study in China.

Devising urban food security policy for African cities

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 10:22:27 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by the Hungry Cities Partnership focusses on policy development to guarantee food security for urban families. The countryside is not the same as the city, yet too often policy confuses the two. The United Nations has framed food security solutions around production – focusing on increased investment in rural agriculture. Yet the contemporary food system is equally composed of production and access. Not only does there need to be enough food to go around, there also needs to be enough infrastructure in place to distribute it. If food security issues for the urban poor can not be solved now, then that challenge will only increase given the rapid urbanization that is expected to take place in the next 30 years. Most of this growth will be felt in Asia and Africa, and policy needs to be ready to handle population strains as cities are pushed to capacity. There are three main policy considerations for urban food security: 1) Informal food services are one of the few options for financially disadvantaged families. Food access policy needs to be created in partnership with informal economy actors to ensure that those who rely on informal systems are not ignored. 2) As household size increases, the likelihood of food insecurity grows exponentially. Adequate social protection programs are required to support household dependants including children and the aged and improve food security. 3) Secondary school completion is a specific milestone that significantly increases one’s food security outlook. Free primary and secondary school policies could return dividends in terms of nation-wide food security, and subsidized uniforms and feeding programs are a good starting point. Lastly, to identify where these strategies would be most effective, stakeholders should conduct surveys at the household level that involve inquiries on education, food affordability and household size.

Measures and determinants of urban food security: Evidence from Accra, Ghana

F&BKP Office — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 15:57:11 +0000

This paper (PDF) by IFPRI compares the food security status of households in Accra and examines the household-level demographic, socioeconomic, environmental, and spatial predictors of urban food security. The urban population in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) is expected to expand rapidly from 376 million people in 2015 to more than 1.25 billion people by 2050. Measuring and ensuring food security among urban households will become an increasingly pertinent task for development researchers and practitioners. Results show that households tend to purchase food from traditional markets, local stalls and kiosks, and street hawkers, and rarely from modern supermarkets. Households generally do not suffer from insufficient calories. However, a clear majority of households in the sample experience food insecurity regularly. It is clear that these urban households regularly worry about having enough food and, at times, cannot access sufficient food to meet their needs. These results buttress the need for a greater understanding of how the food security challenges of the urban poor will cascade into broader food system. Throughout SSA, many local governments lack the institutional capacity to rapidly implement effective policies to meet the needs of the growing numbers of urban poor. Yet local governments do have options to shore up household food security. For example, our results suggest that ensuring access to high-quality education opportunities for all urban dwellers may strengthen food security in the long-term. But overarching urban policies in the medium term – such as transportation and water and sanitation infrastructure improvements – can reduce poverty-levels and disease-risk and may reduce vulnerability to food insecurity among low- and middle-income households. Through infrastructure and improved urban services, local governments can strengthen household food security directly by reducing the economic burden of procuring food.

Rural-urban linkages: Syngergies, threats and limitations

F&BKP Office — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 09:23:55 +0000

This edition (PDF) of the Rural 21 magazine provides advices and examples of best practices as well as failures to bridge the gap between rural and urban regions. The United Nations New Urban Agenda implies changing diets and thus the need to include sustainable food systems for the cities. So the rural areas have to transform in parallel. Secondary cities are growing enormously in the rural areas and play a crucial role in coping with waste management or wastewater treatment and other problems that are arising. Spatial regional planning approaches have to be adjusted to take rural and urban development into account in parallel. Do rural surroundings really feed urban areas? And what about other flows such as cash in form of remittances, or the dynamics of geographical closeness which can lead to health risks? Land and resource conflicts may arise when cities are growing, and the demand for goods and services is changing production in the rural areas. Do such linkages pose an advantage or a threat? The introduction article by FAO states that for urban development, rural elements, whether it is food, ecosystem services, natural resources or labour, should be better connected with urban elements, such as financial services, information and energy; to work towards a more sustainable development. It states that physical or virtual distance between rural and urban does not really exist with the technologies in transportation or ICT. So that it is a change of mind sets for the environment we already live in, and accept the fact that we cannot live without one or the other. The magazine comprises case studies for example on the push and pull relations between villages and cities in Southern Africa, a missed opportunity for the dairy and meat market in Cameroon, and the untapped potential of small and medium-sized towns in Bolivia and Nepal.

Consolidating the current knowledge on urban agriculture in productive urban food systems: Learnings, gaps and outlook

F&BKP Office — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 13:11:29 +0000

This review in the Journal of Cleaner Production looks at a breadth of novel insights that are indicative for sensible future development of urban agriculture, including new possibilities for nutrient circularity, opportunities for increased sustainability and open questions regarding logistics and economics and development pathways. Urban agriculture is of increasing interest for tackling a range of environmental and social issues of the current food systems. However, many questions remain unanswered regarding upscaling, the balancing of its multipurpose nature, and how it should be embedded into the broader urban system. A thorough assessment of the existing self-sufficiency studies is provided to advance the debate on expected productivity, which is highly dependent on the intended outcomes and the choice of practices employed. Addressing resource circularity, decentralized anaerobic digestion and vermicomposting are presented as methods of utilizing organic waste in urban agriculture, in particular food and garden waste. Furthermore, critical aspects of sustainability are synthesized and promising developments, such as the co-location of micro-scale anaerobic digestion and greenhouses, are evaluated and research gaps regarding life cycle analysis and technical understanding identified. The review also identifies three aspects of urban agriculture upscaling that have not been well studied, namely logistics, economic performance and business models, and institutional and civil development. Finally, the realization of the transformative potential of urban agriculture based on industrial ecology and inclusive co-design is discussed.

Integrating food into urban planning

F&BKP Office — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 16:03:45 +0000

This book (PDF) by the UCL Press and FAO discusses planning cities in such a way they will increase food security and nutrition, not only for the affluent segments of society but primarily for the poor. The integration of food into urban planning is a crucial and emerging topic. Urban planners, alongside the local and regional authorities that have traditionally been less engaged in food-related issues, are now asked to take a central and active part in understanding the way food is produced, processed, packaged, transported, marketed, consumed, disposed of and recycled in cities. One article assesses the role of informal retailers to improve urban food security in African cities. Supermarkets will increase their presence and influence over food economies in cities, local governments should consider their potential impact. Small and informal food outlets have important roles in cities, yet city governments evict, harass and constrain informal workers. The authors argue that urban policy and planning to support informal food economy can make an important difference. Another article pictures the challenges of urban food supply and food waste management for system sustainability. More attention is needed to inter-sectoral planning and a shift in focus from technical solutions to institutional business models and economics. Concepts like CRFS, foodsheds, short supply chains and resource recovery and reuse can add value to urban planning. Broader stakeholder involvement to understand and appropriately address possible concerns will have to be part of any resource recovery initiative. The book draws on cities of different sizes, from regions across the global north and south, in both developed and developing areas, the contributors collectively attest to the importance of global knowledge rooted in local food planning practices, programmes and policies.

City Region Food System Toolkit: Assessing and planning sustainable city region food systems

F&BKP Office — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 10:44:14 +0000

This toolkit (PDF) by the FAO, RUAF Foundation and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Centre for Sustainable Food Systems provides guidance on how to assess and build sustainable city region food systems (CRFS). It includes support material on how to: define and map your city region; collect data on your city region food system; gather and analyse information on different CRFS components and sustainability dimensions through both rapid and in-depth assessments; and how to use a multi-stakeholder process to engage policymakers and other stakeholders in the design of more sustainable and resilient CRFS. The City Region Food System assessment is aimed to help strengthen the understanding of the current functioning and performance of a food system in the context of a city region, within which rural and urban areas and communities are directly linked. It forms the basis for further development of policies and programmes to promote the sustainability and resilience of CRFS. The toolkit outlines the approach, techniques and tools used by seven cities that engaged in a CRFS assessment and planning process in the period 2015-2017. It tells the story of why and how they have been implementing this process and what outcomes they achieved. It is meant to be a resource for policymakers, researchers, and other key stakeholders and participants who want to better understand their own CRFS and plan for improvements. The CRFS assessment is aimed to help strengthen the understanding of the current functioning and performance of the city region food system. It forms the basis for further development of policies and programmes to promote the sustainability and resilience of CRFS.

For more information on the ‘Food for Cities’ programme and a quick run through the toolkit, please visit this website.

Urban food systems governance and poverty in African cities

F&BKP Office — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 14:28:05 +0000

This book (online version) from Routledge presents the findings of an international collaborative research project that aimed to improve our understanding of the connections between urban poverty, food systems, household food security and governance, by focusing on three secondary cities in Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa. As Africa urbanises and the focus of poverty shifts to urban centres, there is an imperative to address poverty in African cities. This is particularly the case in smaller cities, which are often the most rapidly urbanising, but the least able to cope with this growth. Results reveal the lived reality of food poverty for many urban households, including a lack of dietary diversity and frequent food insecurity. It stresses the continuing rural bias of national and international food security policy, one of the reasons why interventions are often inappropriate and damaging. It unpicks some of the complex interconnections between poverty, food systems and governance, and shows that urban food systems have intra-urban, city-regional, national, and international dimensions. Revealing the many links between formal and informal food supply systems, it strengthens calls for improved theoretical understanding of urban economies. And it documents how limited and inaccurate understanding of the complex interconnections between poverty, food systems and governance, professional preconceptions and political dynamics leads to interventions that are often inappropriate and damaging. The book argues that an examination of the food system and food security provides a valuable lens to interrogate urban poverty. This research shows that future work needs to overtly acknowledge and analyse the realities of political power relationships, examine the drivers and characteristics of changes in urban food wholesaling and retailing systems, and ensure that analysis and policy is gendered throughout.

How African cities lead: Urban policy innovation and agriculture in Kampala and Nairobi

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 12:02:08 +0000

This study in the World Development journal examines how citizens, civil society organizations, city governments and national bureaucrats in two cities of East Africa – Kampala and Nairobi – have interacted to produce urban policy innovation in agriculture. City governments in sub-Saharan Africa have historically been beholden to national governments. Lack of national urban policy and tensions between national and city governments are common. Yet, for decades, research has identified small-scale innovations at the urban scale. Rarely, however, are policy innovations in African cities so influential as to lead national governments to scale up city based actions. This is particularly true in sectors that have been the dominant purview of central governments. Agriculture has always been a sector of high national importance in Africa, but increasingly cities are becoming focal points for agricultural policy change. The two cities compared in the paper are unusual in having a collection of interests who have been advocating for improved support and recognition of urban food production. Indeed, these cities are rare for having continually promoted the formalization of urban agriculture in local and national policy. While advocacy for urban agriculture is common globally, what is not clear is under what conditions local advocacy produces policy uptake and change. What are the conditions when city-based advocacy deepens the institutionalization of policy support locally and nationally? Drawing from theory and research on policy change and African urban politics and governance, and qualitative data collection in each country, this paper argues that while external, international assistance has helped initiate policy dialogue, domestic civil society organizations and their engagement with local and national bureaucrats are key to policy support at the local and national scales.

Assessment of urban farmers access to agricultural credit and extension services in Kogi East senatorial district Nigeria

F&BKP Office — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 09:12:03 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies & Management examined urban farmers access to agricultural credit and extension services, the study also assess the socioeconomic characteristics of urban farmers and the problem affecting urban and peri-urban agriculture. The targeted population for this study were urban and peri-urban farmers in Kogi East Senatorial District. Cluster sampling was used to sample farmers in each farmers cooperative society. The total number of registered famers in the various cooperatives in the study area is 504. The study revealed that 72.9% of the respondents surveyed across the selected communities were males, and respondents within the ages of 41 – 60yrs dominated the survey. The result obtained indicated that, 31.5% of the respondents were involved in farming as their major occupation. the study further showed that 79.6% of the farmers did not have access to agricultural extension services, also 92.9% had no ccess to agricultural credit facilities.

Measuring impact

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 10:24:37 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by the RUAF Foundation explores how various assessments and indicator frameworks to help cities map the current status and performance of their city region food system, have concretely supported planning and policy, and have enabled cities to measure and monitor changes in relation to food strategies and action plans. Assessment of urban region food systems is an important basis for improved policy making and planning for more sustainable and resilient food systems. Assessment methodologies are becoming more widely available. City resilience to climate change and disasters is increasingly becoming a specific area of interest for such assessments. One article (PDF) focuses on improving urban nutrition in Africa and Asia though policy change and concludes that the link connecting poor diet and nutrition to the strong impact of urbanization means that nutrition should be central to any urban food policy. Key to his is multi-stakeholder alliances to improve the governance of nutrition. An article on resilience of urban food supply in West Africa (PDF) aimed to answer the question how City Region Food Systems respond to natural disasters which might severely affect urban food supply and resilience. Results indicated that foodsheds were highly crop specific and a tendency to an increase of city vulnerability from south to north was observed. The magazine concludes that because food system transition is a serious, urgent and very complex challenge, it requires a serious and longer-term assessment and planning process, supported by policy that is monitored in relation to outcomes. Assessment and measuring of impact must serve to support on-the-ground policy and practice transformation.

Opportunities of urban horticulture for poverty alleviation in Dar es Salaam city, Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 May 2018 12:02:43 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Journal of Nutrition, Food and Agriculture was conducted to explore to opportunities of the urban agriculture focusing on vegetables and ornamental flowers production towards poverty reduction and alleviation in Dar es Salaam, as a case study of Ubungo Municipality. Urban agriculture reveals to play a significant role towards reducing and alleviating the poverty among inhabitants of Dar es Salaam. An increase over the years of vegetable crops production was seen. This increased trend is due to the increase of productivity of smallholder farmers, the increase of market regarding high consumers due to population growth in the city, and reasonable price of the products. Furthermore, there was an increase of available agricultural input, like working tools, fertilizers and seeds. The production of urban vegetables and ornamental flowers has a significant positive contribution towards food security. The majority of smallholder farmers (73.4% and 70.4%) reported that there is an increase of the accessibility and availability of food respectively, at household level after participating in the urban vegetable and ornamental flowers production. Furthermore, the production resulted in income generation. These results have facilitated the increase of essential social services, such as water, electricity, health and education. It is recommended that the government and other stakeholders should assist in formalizing the sector and provide incentives such as land, agricultural extension services, loans and subsidy to the agricultural inputs to the smallholder farmers.

The supermarket revolution and food security

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 May 2018 08:59:49 +0000

This report (PDF) by the African Food Security Urban Network examines the surprisingly high rate of supermarket patronage in low-income areas of Windhoek, Namibia. What makes supermarkets so much more accessible to the urban poor, what do they buy, how frequently do they go, and what was the relationship between supermarkets and informal food vendors? Result of an earlier survey showed that 83% of the households in low-income areas of Windhoek obtained at least some of their food through supermarket purchase. The supermarket revolution in Namibia has focuses predominantly at the retail level op the food supply chain. This supermarket revolution is incomplete in the sense that it has not involved wholesale transformation of the agro-food system. The overall number of local producer-beneficiaries is small. New initiatives may lead to more local sourcing of products but the main beneficiaries are likely to be large commercial farms and food processors rather than small farmers. Likely, consumers benefit by getting more varied, cheaper, fresher and safer foods. However, overall dietary diversity has fallen significantly over the years and food security rates have remained almost stagnant. So supermarkets may be making more food available, they are not making it more accessible to improve food security significantly. Informal food vending struggle to make a living in the competitive environment since supermarkets are moving close to low-income mass market with budget subsidiaries. The government leads and controls the process of mall development but has no explicit food security or food system mandate. Mallification represent other urban planning priorities and interests. Obstacles to developing a coherent food security strategy at city level are many but not insurmountable. Advocacy and declarations will make little progress unless they understand the centrality of the supermarket revolution and seek to regulate it in the interests of the urban poor and food insecure.

The growth of food banking in cities of the Global South

F&BKP Office — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 09:25:56 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by the Hungry Cities Partnership examines the globalization of food banking and its growth in the Global South. Through a case study of FoodForward South-Africa, it critically analyzes the roles that urban food banks play in cities of the Global South. This paper suggests that the impact of urban food banking may be limited in many contexts in the Global South. Since many countries in the South have both the highest levels of food insecurity and the weakest infrastructure, it is in these high-need locations that food banks may struggle to operate effectively. The paper finds that while food banks may improve the efficiency of food redistribution systems, it is unclear whether they reduce food insecurity or food waste in the long term. In addition, many food banks suffer institutional crises related to lack of funding, interference by the state or private sector, and inappropriate placement in many parts of the Global South. As the number and size of food banks increase globally, it is critical to research how food banks fit into existing food systems and their role in reducing food insecurity and food waste. Furthermore, it is important to examine how formalized food bank structure fit within the complex network of informal foodways. Lastly, it is of importance to examine how food banks either challenge or reproduce the status quo of structural inequality associated with the political economy of poverty and welfare.

“Measurement drives diagnosis and response”: Gaps in transferring food security assessment to the urban scale

F&BKP Office — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 12:09:00 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Food Policy journal highlights the urban transition and attendant food security challenges, and reflects on existing food security measurement methods in the urban context. The understanding of food security has seen major shifts since the original conceptualisations of the challenge. These changes in understanding have been accompanied by different food security measurement approaches. The world has become increasingly urbanised and the developing world is experiencing its own urban transition, but changes in food security measurement remain predominantly informed by a rural understanding of food security. Where urban measurement does take place, rural-oriented measurement approaches are adopted, occluding critical urban challenges and systemic drivers. At the urban scale, a food system assessment is argued to be one appropriate tool to respond to urban food insecurity while at the same time providing both the “breadth and depth” to inform effective food security programming and policy interventions. What is required is a different scale of assessment, one that draws on the realities of the individual and the household, but then integrates these issues with other food system and urban structural issues at scales that extent well beyond the household. Theoretically, questions of scale, context and a critique of the rural bias in food systems work are essential informants guiding the approaches applied. City managers, food system actors and urban political actors have a far greater role to play in the rapidly transforming urban food system. The increasingly negative food security indicators at the urban scale mean that this is an area requiring drastic attention. This has to engage the issue form the city scale, not a top down uniform national policy response. The urban context, the multi-dimensionality of food security and the rate of change, all mean that single measurement approaches are no longer adequate.

Food and nutrition security in Southern African cities

F&BKP Office — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 12:06:11 +0000

This book (preview of first chapter) of the Taylor & Francis Group places urban food and nutrition security firmly on the development and policy agenda. It shows that current efforts to address food poverty in Africa that focus entirely on small-scale farmers, to the exclusion of broader socio-economic and infrastructural approaches, are misplaces and will remain largely ineffective in ameliorating food and nutrition insecurity for the majority of Africans. Using original data from the African Food Security Urban Network’s (AFSUN) it is demonstrated that the primary food security challenge for urban households is access to food. Already linked into global food systems and value chains, Africa’s supply of food is not necessarily in jeopardy. Rather, the widespread poverty and informal urban fabric that characterizes Africa’s emerging cities impinge directly on households’ capacity to access food that is readily available. Through the analysis of empirical data collected, from 6,500 households in eleven cities in nine countries in Southern Africa, the authors identify the complexity of factors and dynamics that create the circumstances of widespread food and nutrition insecurity under which urban citizens live. Useful policy approaches to address these conditions that currently thwart the latent development potential of Africa’s expanding urban population. The chapters in the book cover a wide range of topics related to urbanisation and food security, for example: approaches to defining food security from the perspective of food systems (chapter 2); implications of migration for urban household food security (chapter 5); the implications of social protection cash transfer interventions for food and nutrition security (chapter 6); the importance of gender in urban food security (chapter 7) and; the process of supermarket expansion (chapter 12)

The book can be purchased here.

Poverty reduction during the rural–urban transformation

F&BKP Office — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 09:01:26 +0000

This article in the Journal of Policy Modeling, focuses on poverty reduction during the rural–urban transformation and argues that rural development is still more important than urbanisation. Based on cross-country panel datasets, the authors find that (i) an increase in population share in agriculture is associated with poverty reduction once the longer-term poverty change or the dynamic is taken into account; (ii) rural non-agricultural sector also is poverty reducing in some cases; and (iii) increased population in the mega cities has no role in poverty reduction. In fact, the growth of population in mega cities is “poverty-increasing” in a few cases. Given that a rapid population growth or rural–urban migration is likely to increase poverty, more emphasis should be placed on policies that enhance support for rural agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, according to the authors.

Cities, planning and urban food poverty in Africa

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 13:56:43 +0000

This chapter (PDF) of The Routledge Companion to Planning in the Global South argues that there is a new role for urban planning (which in the African context takes the form of municipal spatial and land use planning) as a discipline to meet the food and nutrition security challenges facing African cities. Food insecurity has not historically been considered an urban planning issue. However, as the locus of food insecurity shifts towards the urban in Africa there is a need to consider what role planners may play in alleviating the problem through food system planning. This chapter argues that because of dominant discourses on food security and the ideal African city, planners have had unintended impacts on the food system, which have generated conditions that exacerbate food insecurity. This argument is illustrated through drawing on cases of urban agriculture, maize milling and food retail in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia. There are many direct food system interventions available to planners, however, there is a wider need for food to be considered in non-food planning decisions which affect the food system. In order to achieve this, planners need to consider how households actually access and utilize food and develop planning responses that acknowledge these realities.

The urban agenda: Meeting the food and nutrition security needs of the urban poor

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:10:38 +0000

This paper (PDF) by SNV explores the malnutrition situation in the urban environment and explores interventions that can be used to address it. Urbanization is expected to put an increased pressure on the global food systems. As the world’s cities expand, they are becoming home to an increasing number of malnourished people, particularly women and infants. In October 2016, the New Urban Agenda was adopted. The set of non-binding principles and commitments will guide the efforts around urban development through to 2036. The paper argues that the following key areas provide potential intervention pathways towards addressing urban food and nutrition security in a concrete manner: 1) improved urban FNS governance, 2) income generation/supportive employment, 3) consumer demand and Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC), and 4) improved food environments. A few of the recommendations in the four strategic areas proposed include: Develop clear urban strategy and municipal food policy, led by Government and involving UN, NGOs, civil society, private sector and research; inclusively develop informal food markets, with tested interventions such as investment in basic infrastructure (such as running water and toilets) and storage, or microcredit programs; incentivize more widespread use of technologies to allow sharing of information on costs of production and prices of food; and consider targeting foods that consumers already know to be healthy and make them more accessible, affordable and consistent.

Cities and agricultural transformation in Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 14:52:39 +0000

This article in the journal World Development explores the relationship between proximity to a city and the production behavior of rural staple crop producers. More in particular, the study analyzes data from teff producing farmers in major producing areas around Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Due to the rapid growth of cities in Africa, more rural farmers are providing staple foods to urban residents. However, empirical evidence on how urbanization affects these farmers is scarce. It is found that farmers more closely located to Addis Ababa face higher wages, land rental rates, and teff prices, leading to better incentives to intensify production as seen in the uptake of modern inputs. Moreover, the authors observe that land and labor productivity as well as profitability in teff production improve with urban proximity. These results suggest that better connectivity of rural farmers to cities and growing urban demand for food are important associates of the process of agricultural intensification and transformation in Ethiopia. The working paper (PDF) suggests that the strong and significant direct effect of urban proximity is related with more use of formal factor markets, less transaction costs, and better access to information. The results show the importance of increasing investments in roads and other physical infrastructure to reduce farmers’ transportation costs and provide greater access to markets. Similarly, new communication systems make information exchange, cost searching, and communication less costly.

Food (in)security in rapidly urbanising, low-income contexts

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:22:57 +0000

This article in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health describes how, for the urban poor in low and middle-income countries, food affordability and utilization are shaped by the income and non-income dimensions of poverty that include the urban space. Urbanization in low and middle-income nations presents both opportunities and immense challenges. There is limited knowledge of how these challenges affect the ways in which poor urban residents gain access to food and secure healthy and nutritious diets. Current discussions on food security continue to focus on production, with limited attention to consumption. The article finds that at the household level, access to food is determined largely by affordability, that is, by incomes. Equally important, however, are the availability of time to purchase and prepare food and of space to cook and store food and the location of selling points. Additionally, living in slums has important implications for health and access to initiatives like nutrition programs. Hazards and risks play at both household and and neighborhood level, for example lack of sanitation in crowded settlements. Local governments have an important role to play in urban food systems. However, local governments need support from national governments if they are to fulfill their responsibility to provide their populations with the basic services and infrastructure needed for urban living. The authors conclude that perhaps what is most necessary is acknowledging that urban food insecurity and urban poverty need to be a central concern at all levels of governance, from the local to the global.

Rooftop gardening for improved food and nutrition security in the urban environment

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 15:11:11 +0000

This book chapter by Springer reviews the diversity of species and cultivars which can be grown on the roofs of buildings, and of how they can contribute to supplying a variety of nutrients. This can help to meet the requirements for a healthy diet and contribute to the food and nutrition security of the increasing urban population. In a world characterized by growing urbanization, urban agriculture is gaining relevance due to its potential for increasing resource efficiency, contributing to city food security and enhancing associated ecosystem and social services. With the expanding population and the shrinking area for conventional horticulture and home gardens within cities, the idea of roof gardening in towns has evolved. Rooftop agriculture can also contribute to addressing specific city challenges such as climate change. Experiences are sprouting all over the world, scientific evidence on most suitable growing solutions, policies and potential benefits is growing. New technologies have been developed to grow a series of horticultural crops in different types of containers. Information is provided on the productivity of different technologies used for roof-top gardening. Other chapters of the book address the main features of rooftop gardening, rooftop farming policy, design of rooftop agriculture systems and rooftop agriculture management.

The use of urban plant resources for health and food security in Kampala, Uganda

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 11:14:52 +0000

This PhD dissertation (PDF) of Eefke Maria Mollee from Bangor University aims to provide an understanding of the current and potential contribution of urban plant resources to human wellbeing (with a focus on food security) in Kampala, Uganda. With some of the highest urbanization rates in the world, Sub-Saharan Africa faces serious challenges in providing sufficient, healthy and affordable foods for its growing urban populations. Urban biodiversity can provide people with healthy food products in addition to other ecosystem services. This dissertation explores two urban landscape options: homegardens and wild collection. A total of 270 plant species were identified of which 248 different food plants were considered useful. Comparisons with secondary data suggests that the children included in this study with access to homegardens have better nutritional status then urban children in Uganda overall. Moreover 5% of the food items consumed during the recall was derived from the homegardens and 33% of the food items came from neighbours or friends. In addition, half of the respondents reported collecting wild plants during the six months preceding the interview. The findings indicate that urban homegardens and wild space can play an important role in human wellbeing. It is important to incorporate biodiversity and green structures in urban landscape designs to create holistic sustainable cities. Highly valuable (and nutritious) plant species should be selected and promoted. Innovative practices should be developed and tested to lift the current barriers and challenges that keep people from growing them. The overall value of gardens and green space should be acknowledged.

Urban diets and nutrition: Trends, challenges and opportunities for policy action

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:16:35 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition explores the deepening crisis of urban malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries. Urban malnutrition will not ‘solve itself’ as average incomes increase. Evidence shows that as economies grow and urbanization accelerates, child stunting tends to decrease at a slower rate than the concurrent rise in adult overweight and obesity. Urban policymakers need to give more attention to the specific challenges associated with rising rates of overweight and obesity. Without decisive action, the nutrition crisis in urban areas will deepen over the next decade in response to multiple pressures. A rebalancing of policy attention which ensures that all urban residents have access to high-quality diets needs to be a key objective. Policymakers at the local level need to take a leading role in this. Policymakers also need to take a perspective which looks right across urban food systems and beyond to wider areas of government policy which affect urban diets and nutrition. This brief sets out four priority areas where policies concerning urban diets and nutrition are in particular need of change: governance of urban food systems, wider aspects of urban governance, policies relating to the informal retail sector and addressing the triple burden of malnutrition, including overweight and obesity. Only by acting now can policymakers avoid locking in future burdens for health, well-being and economic development.

Urban agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 13:58:37 +0000

This Spore dossier discusses micro-gardening and urban farming initiatives, which help to address increased pressure on Africa’s food security as urban populations continue to rise. When correctly planned and managed, urban agriculture can provide fresh produce and increased dietary diversity, a source of income, and an opportunity to recycle waste products. Farmers are adopting and adapting technologies suited to urban environments, including vertical farming, aeroponics and hydroponics. Vertical farms are being installed in areas where land is limited to grow leafy greens and vegetables in vertically stacked containers. An added advantage of vertical farms is that they recycle water and nutrients within the system and therefore require far less water. Esther Ngumbi’s viewpoint discusses barriers for adopting vertical farming and possible actions to promote urban farming. African innovators are also developing low-tech systems that use crates and even hanging pipe gardens in which plants are grown hydroponically (in a reservoir of nutrients and water). In systems where aquaculture is combined with hydroponics, known as aquaponics, water and nutrients are recycled between the two systems. In high-tech systems, plants can be grown aeroponically by dangling roots in a fine mist, which provides the plants with nutrients and water. This case study shows the use of soilless organic micro-gardening in Senegal, which requires less water than conventional gardening.

The urbanization of malnutrition

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 14:40:29 +0000

This article on the Inter Press Service (IPS) discusses how rapid urbanization is shifting the impacts of malnutrition from rural to urban areas. Rural marginal landholders, compelled to abandon their food producing role, migrate to urban centers to join instead the growing millions of consumers. Where once they grew their own food, kept aside for their own needs first and the remainder sold to urban food chains, and reached out to the natural ecosystem in hard times, these farmers are migrating into an economic structure where access to cash alone determines their food security. Although in cities, food is available year-round, a growing number of urban poor face a daily struggle to feed their families. Poor shelter, lack of sanitation and hygiene in slums, and insufficient family and community support further compound the problems of the urban poor. Price fluctuations, sometimes of staples which are increasingly being imported from other parts of the world, hit the poor hardest. Under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are the result. Not only will urban land area triple globally between 2000 to 2030, the projected expansion will take place on some of the world’s most productive croplands. Policies to ensure sustainable urbanization and adequate quantity and quality of food supply include protecting peri-urban agricultural land from conversion, incentivizing farmers in proximity to cities to maximize production, and encouraging urban residents to grow food even on small patches and rooftops.

This article links to the following reports: Global land outlook and The state of food security and nutrition in the world.

Promoting integrated and inclusive rural-urban dynamics and food systems

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 14:58:53 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) provides recommendations for creating synergies between different settlement types, leveraging rural-urban linkages, providing avenues for vulnerable groups to advocate for their interests, and supporting small-scale actors in food systems. One of the key messages is that greater attention to the specificities, complexities and implications of current urbanization processes is needed, in particular the role of growing towns and small-scale food systems actors therein. Coherence and integration of policy processes that cut across rural and urban areas is imperative. Additionally, the socio-economic benefits of working with small-scale food systems actors are often unrecognized and unrealized, but offer significant potential for promoting food security and nutrition in the context of emerging transitions. Integrated approaches – focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable people in rural and urban areas – will be essential to foster balanced and inclusive rural-urban transformations. Balanced, territorial and people-centred approaches that support the roles of local small-scale actors and the inclusion of vulnerable groups offer a viable model of working in the evolving contexts. Policy and investment frameworks must respond to the emerging complexities and the specific scenarios facing people in all settlement types along the rural-urban continuum.

Urbanization, rural transformation, and food security

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 12:27:44 +0000

This position paper (PDF) by the International Agri-Food Network gives policy recommendations to meet the challenge of improving food security and nutrition in the context of changing rural-urban dynamics. Policies and interventions have to adopt an integrated approach to development, dealing with rural and urban regions not as distinct and isolated environments, but as part of a unified continuum of food systems. Therefore, the first recommendation is to leverage and expand dynamic rural-urban linkages to ensure food security and improved nutrition for all. Secondly, the development of off-farm economic activities in rural areas should be supported. The increasing vertical integration of agricultural value chains, as well as reduced demand for labor due to mechanization mean that farmer’s livelihoods may be undermined if they are unable to diversify into off-farm economic activities. Moreover, the sustainable intensification and integration of urban agriculture should be supported. One of the conditions needed for this is that the long-term security of tenure for land used in urban agriculture is ensured. Also, it is recommended that urban encroachment on rural and peri-urban agricultural land should be avoided. Finally, youth should be engaged in farming. This can be achieved by ensuring access to educational resources; implementing or expanding financial support schemes for young entrants into the agricultural sector; and engaging youth actively in rural agricultural development processes.

Alternative approaches to food: Community supported agriculture in urban China

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 10:28:26 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Sustainability studies the role of new and alternative approaches to food. The conventional answer to deal with new challenges to the food system is to focus on economies of scale and intensify the use of chemicals of pesticides, and China’s case is no exception. However, with increasing food safety scandals and emerging pressures amidst China’s development, there is growing dissatisfaction with China’s current food regime. The paper focuses on the question of how community supported agriculture can deal with the food-related issues emerging from China’s development. The study finds that the model of community supported agriculture demonstrates an innovative approach to deal with food safety issues, address sustainability, and operate in an environment where future food demands are most critical. Yet, this study finds that community supported agriculture’s recent emergence in China remains mostly reserved to relational embeddedness, i.e., between a homogeneous group farmers and consumers. In turn, structural embeddedness is bound by a number of challenges and contradictions, including conflicting motivations and high operational costs. Although the movement is gaining popularity across various parts of China, more efforts are necessary to establish a more attractive and lasting presence in the urban food system. One of the most important requirements is to make community supported agriculture more accessible and bridge the gap between new and local farmers, as both groups currently operate mostly independently.

Urban-rural linkages: Let’s revitalise the broken rural-urban linkages!

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 09:54:41 +0000

This meeting report in the Rural 21 Journal discusses the impacts urban growth will have on food security and nutrition, how it reshapes agricultural value chains and how small farmers can benefit from it. These were the items discussed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) with Welthungerhilfe and SNV. Most of the fresh food in developing countries is produced and marketed in the informal sector which is often associated with a lack of regulation, insecurity and poor quality. However, these so-called wet markets have numerous advantages; food is fresh and cheap, and local breeds are used. Additionally, women dominate food processing, where they ensure quality. So concentrating only on achieving formalization in reshaping markets, will have an anti-poor and anti-women effect. Furthermore, the broken linkages between cities and rural areas need to be strengthened. Supplying the urban population with food offers huge opportunities for small-scale farmers. An example of a successful program that enables small-scale farmers to shift from cotton growing to horticulture and that links them to the urban markets was presented. However, numerous obstacles have to be overcome if these success stories are to be scaled up. Nevertheless, the wide range of opportunities for the involvement of small-scale farmers and rural areas as a whole should not be forgotten.

The role of urban-based agriculture on food security: Kenyan case studies

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 07:09:23 +0000

This article in the Geographical Research Journal characterizes urban farming and urban-based rural farming in medium-sized towns of Thika and Kisumu, Kenya. Kenya is rapidly urbanizing, which results in growing cities and towns and an increasing need for food supplies. This creates demand for agricultural products. High unemployment rates, urban poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity force some urban dwellers to partly adopt livelihood strategies based on urban agriculture. This study used a sample of 2,009 households. Results demonstrate that more than half of the households produced part of their food, either in urban or rural areas. About 37 per cent and 25 per cent of the respondents produced food in rural and urban areas, respectively. Presently in Kenya, urban and peri-urban agriculture plays an important role in urban food system, because it enhances livelihood strategies for urban households, not least the poor. The article further assesses food security levels of urban households engaged in farming and households that do not farm. Generally, more of the households engaged in both urban farming and urban-based rural agriculture are more food secure compared with the non-farming households. Urban farming has a potential of improving household food security and provision of fungible income; hence, the practice should be included in the urban food policies. Another related article in this journal discusses urban households’ engagement in agriculture in Ghana.

Sustainable Development Goals: Strengthening rural-urban linkages is the key for India

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 13:27:59 +0000

This blog by the Financial Express argues that strengthening rural-urban linkages is the key to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture) in India.The Global Food Policy Report 2017 highlights how rapid urbanization brings unique challenges to rural and urban areas, including challenges to agriculture and nutrition. Yet rapid urbanization also brings opportunities, as the rise in urban food demand can contribute to improved farmers’ livelihoods. To take advantage of these opportunities, strong rural-urban linkages are needed. These are the physical, economic, social and political connections that link remote areas to large cities through smaller towns and cities in between. Where links are strong, rural farmers can sell shares of produce in urban markets, laborers can migrate or commute to nearby towns for seasonal work. Leveraging towns and intermediate cities to facilitate economic and social connections between rural and urban areas, and improving rural infrastructure is crucial. Also institutional arrangements supporting participation of marginal and small farmers are needed to establish efficient and inclusive rural-urban value chains. A comprehensive policy to improve agricultural productivity, strengthen value chains, promote diversification and agro-processing, and reduce food loss and waste is necessary. In this regard, policy coordination across rural, peri-urban and urban areas will be critical.

Assessing the sustainability of vegetable production practices in northern Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 09:41:01 +0000

Urban vegetable production is an intensive agricultural strategy through which urban dwellers secure income and improve their livelihoods. This article in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability aims to understand whether vegetable gardening is a sustainable form of intensification for urban dwellers. An ethnographic study was conducted in Tamale, Northern Ghana. The study used an updated version of the Food and Agricultural Organization’s International Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management. Accordingly, qualitative data were collected on the security and access to land, political acceptability and human and environmental health implications of urban patch farming. Changes between 2008 and 2014 in the spatial area of the vegetable sites were measured. Cabbage farmer incomes were quantified. The study found that urbanization has prompted an increase in the cultivation of highly profitable vegetables like cabbage. However, they are irrigated with grey and waste water while eaten raw. This, and the use of pesticides in high dosages, poses health and environmental hazards. Industrial growth has reduced the area of open space urban agriculture by 8.7% between 2008 and 2014. Farmers cope with this by cultivating on interstitial spaces and moving to peri-urban fringes. There, farmers develop institutional liaisons to gain access to intensification technologies and commercialize their production. This production system is dynamic but not yet sustainable.

The rush for land in an urbanizing world: From land grabbing toward developing safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and landscapes

Nynke — Mon, 15 May 2017 14:20:41 +0000

This article in World Development elaborates on the importance of linking debates on land governance and urbanization. It aims to contribute to current discussions about “making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” (SDG 11) by linking debates that are currently taking place in separate containers: debates on the “global land rush” and the “new urban agenda”. It highlights some important processes that are overlooked in these debates and advances a new, socially inclusive urbanization agenda that addresses emerging urban land grabs. The global land rush debate has ignored not only the fact that large-scale land investments take place in a context of rapid urbanization, but also that these investments are often triggered by urban demand. At the mean time, discussions on the new urban agenda prepared for the latest United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) are typically city-biased, and pay little attention to the role of increasing cross-border investment in land and the transformation of the countryside. The article uses cases from areas where the global land rush and urbanization are simultaneously intensifying in the global South, and identifies four areas that should be prioritized in current debates: the impacts of land investments on intra-city dynamics; peri-urban dynamic the emergence of new cities; and new infrastructure corridors.

India’s peri-urban frontier: rural-urban transformations and food security

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 04 May 2017 08:35:28 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by IIED and IFAD examines rural-urban transformations in India in relation to changes in food production, access, consumption, nutritional quality and safety. In India, peri-urban areas are often neglected while many people here live in poverty and face increasing marginalization and food insecurity. Peri-urban agriculture could be a major contributor to poverty alleviation and food security. The authors demonstrate how now efforts to address malnutrition in India are decoupled from urban development initiatives and associated areas of policy and planning. In this light, the paper considers the potential of peri-urban agriculture to expand and support rural-urban synergies in environmental management through low external input peri-urban food systems. Currently the ability to realize this potential is undermined by competing development priorities, uneven power relations and complex governance arrangements. The paper shows examples of specific policies and programmes and considers knowledge gaps, governance challenges and mechanisms that might help facilitate pro-poor food security developments. The authors argue that for improved health and nutrition, a more holistic, food security-based perspective is needed. Policy and planning must support those fragile communities engaged in peri-urban agriculture while protecting the environmental services on which they depend. Forward-looking policy, planning and research will demand trans-disciplinary approaches and sustained engagement with peri-urban communities to establish adaptive environmental governance mechanisms.

How urbanization patterns can guide strategies for achieving adequate nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:20:56 +0000

This book chapter published by Springer illustrates how a better understanding of urban development and urbanization patterns can help policy makers to achieve better urban nutrition, including for the urban poor. The urban poor should be one of the key target groups since they are most vulnerable to experience consequences of inadequate or unbalanced nutrition. Urban dynamics such as city size, infrastructure (including cold chains, water and sanitation, roads and transport) and global and local supply chains play significant roles in the ability of city dwellers to access nutritious foods. Creating better connections between rural and urban areas will be a key component of improving urban nutrition security. By 2050 two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities and 90% of the urban growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa and Asia. This urbanization speed and scale has been unprecedented, and the fastest growing cities are large and medium in size. These medium-sized cities have the potential to generate more equitable growth including for their surrounding rural areas and could help promote improved, nutritious food systems. However, if this rapid urban expansion in low- and middle-income countries is not planned right, urban expansion could exacerbate poverty, malnutrition and slum development in these countries that often already face the double burden of malnutrition.

Food remittances: rural-urban linkages and food security in Africa

Nynke — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 13:10:13 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from IIED elaborates on the importance of food remittance for analyzing rural-urban linkages and food security in Africa. The transfer of funds by migrants to their home countries (cash remittances) is at an all-time high. By 2017, it is predicted to rise to US$500 billion – and there is a growing policy consensus that cash remittances can be mainstreamed into development. Equally, food remitting also has a role to play in urban and rural food security. Yet despite its importance, researchers and policymakers tend to ignore food remitting. This briefing is aimed at researchers and policymakers interested in transforming rural-urban linkages and the implications for food security of rural and urban residents. According to the authors, the current rural-urban binary is arbitrary, outdated and unhelpful. At a time of rapid urbanization in the global South, a wider lens is needed: focusing on rural-urban linkages and moving beyond cash-based, market transactions to consider the bidirectional flows of goods – including food – and their impact on food security. Using case studies from Zimbabwe and Namibia, this report demonstrates how lessons related to food remitting can be applied in other African contexts – and highlights the urgent need for a new research agenda.

You can also find the related briefing here.

Global food policy report 2017

Nynke — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 15:11:50 +0000

The Global Food Security Report (PDF) is a reoccurring IFPRI publication that provides a synthesis of all major developments regarding food policy. This edition pays special attention to the challenges of urbanization for food and nutrition security (FNS) since rapid urbanization and population growth are expected to put growing pressure on the global food system as agricultural production comes under stress. In addition, urban poor face unique challenges since they are highly dependent on the informal sector, are more vulnerable to income and price shocks and have limited access to basic services. While informal markets are key to ensure FNS, government policies tend to focus on control, regulation or eradication of urban informal food economy. Urbanization also reshapes the agricultural value chains since commercial flows of agricultural goods increase, diets change, and commercial markets become more important. In this, rural-urban linkages are crucial, since urban growth can create opportunities for rural producers, and can help propel economic development, food security and nutrition. However, progress is often hold back due to broken value chains and poor coordination linkages. Recommendations to improve these linkages are: improving policy coordination; support efficient and inclusive rural-urban value chains;leverage towns and intermediate cities to facilitate economic and social links; improve targeting of public investment; and promote social protection in rural and urban areas.Another challenge in urban hunger is the lack of data on urban poverty, food security and malnutrition.

Next to the thematic focus, the report contains country-level data on hunger, agricultural spending, agricultural research investment and capacity, and projections for future agricultural production and consumption.

A global analysis of land take in cropland areas and production displacement from urbanization

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:20:23 +0000

This article in the Global Environmental Change Journal analyses urban land take in cropland areas for the years 2000 and 2040, using a land systems approach. The results show that future urban expansion is primarily expected in areas that are also suitable and available for cropland. This suggests a continued competition for land between urban expansion and food production, which further limits our food production capacity. As urbanization typically prevails in this competition, this will likely yield a displacement of crop production to other areas. As of the year 2000, the hectares classified as urban land were 2.06% of the earth’s surface. In the year 2040, these figures increase to 4.72% of all the earth’s surface. The share of urban land take in cropland areas is highest in Europe, the Middle-East and Northern Africa, and China, while it is relatively low in Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2000 and 2040, urban growth caused the displacement of almost 65 Mton of crop production, which could yield an expansion of up to 35 Mha of new cropland. Land-use planning appears as an important measure to minimize further losses in crop production. It can influence both the location and the form of urbanization.

Another related article on urban land expansion and the implications for global croplands published in PNAS can be found here.

Secondary towns, agricultural prices, and intensification: evidence from Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:54:15 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by IFPRI and the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) analyses how cities and secondary towns affect agricultural practices in their rural hinterlands. While most of the population in sub-Saharan Africa resides in cities and secondary towns, this relationship is not well understood. To fill this gap, a conceptual model was developed to analyze how farmers’ proximity to cities of different sizes affects agricultural prices and intensification of farming. Then, these predictions were tested using large-scale survey data from producers of teff, a major staple crop in Ethiopia, relying on unique data on transport costs and road networks and implementing an array of econometric models. The results show that agricultural price behavior and intensification is determined by proximity to a city and the type of city. While proximity to cities has a strong positive effect on agricultural output prices and on uptake of modern inputs and yields on farms, the effects on prices and intensification measures are lower for farmers in the rural hinterlands of secondary towns compared to primate cities. The results show that while more farmers may benefit from urban spill-over effects on agricultural prices and access to modern inputs due to their proximity to secondary towns, the size of the benefits they realize is smaller.

Urban expansion brought stress to food security in China: Evidence from decreased cropland net primary productivity

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 11:37:37 +0000

This paper in the Science of the Total Environment journal assesses the impact of urban expansion on the Cropland net primary productivity (CNPP) in China from 1992 to 2015 in a spatially explicit manner. CNPP is a crucial indicator of grain productivity and food security. However, assessments of the impact of urban expansion on the CNPP in China have been inadequate owing to data limitations. The authors first obtained the CNPP before urban expansion between 1992 and 2015 in China using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model. The authors then assessed the impact of urban expansion on the CNPP from 1992 to 2015 at multiple scales (the whole country, agricultural zones, and urban expansion hotspots) by combining the CNPP before urban expansion with the urban land coverage time series extracted from multi-source remotely sensed data. The authors found that the total loss of the CNPP due to urban expansion from 1992 to 2015 was 13.77 TgC, which accounts for 1.88% of the CNPP before urban expansion in China. Therefore, the authors concluded that rapid urban expansion from 1992 to 2015 caused stress to China’s food security. They conclude that it is still vital for China to effectively protect cropland to improve the urbanization level to 60% by 2020.

Mapping the invisible: The informal food economy of Cape Town, South Africa

Nynke — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:17:09 +0000

This report (PDF) from the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) maps the informal food sector and argues that the sector is of significant importance to reach improved nutrition status of people. The authors argue that the informal food retail sector is an important component of urban food systems and plays a vital role in ensuring access to food for the urban poor. Yet, policy frameworks to address food security and to govern the informal sector neglect informal retail and, as a result, the sector is poorly understood. The findings illustrate that the informal and the formal food retail sectors intersect at various points upstream as well as through customer practices and are not isolated from each other. The authors believe therefore that it is essential to view the formal and informal food sectors as part of the same food system and to generate policy and planning responses that acknowledge the role of both sectors in meeting local food security needs. The authors argue that if South Africa’s constitutional right to food is to be achieved, it will be necessary to develop a multi-departmental food system and food security strategy that facilitates the progressive realization of the right of all residents to access sufficient, nutritious, safe and culturally appropriate food. Although the research in this report is focused on Cape Town, South Africa, the findings are of broader relevance.

Urbanisation, rural transformations and food systems: the role of small towns

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 11:51:15 +0000

This paper (PDF) by IIED and IFAD reviews evidence of the role of small towns in the ‘virtuous circle’ of rural-urban linkages, and distills the key lessons for equitable food security policy that is spatially and context specific. Small towns are an essential but often-neglected element of rural landscapes and food systems. They perform a number of essential functions, from market nodes to providers of services and goods and non-farm employment to their own population as well as that of the wider surrounding region. In demographic terms, they represent about half of the world’s urban population, and are projected to absorb much of its growth in the next decades. But the multiple and complex interconnections between rural and urban spaces, people and enterprises – and how these affect poverty and food insecurity – remain overlooked. Drawing on lessons from a set of case studies from Tanzania and other examples, this paper aims to contribute to this debate by uniting a food systems approach with an explicit focus on small towns and large villages that play a key role in food systems. The case studies presented in this paper emphasizes the critical role of governance to support equitable urbanization and rural transformations. Local authorities in small towns have a potentially key role to play.

See also the related briefing (PDF) “Why smaal towns matter: urbanisation, rural transformation and food security” by IIED.

The role of private sector in city region food systems

Nynke — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 11:00:12 +0000

This publication (PDF) from RUAF Foundation, supported by the Food & Business Knowledge Platform, elaborates on the role of the private sector in building more sustainable city region food systems. Private sector actors have the potential to contribute to more sustainable city region food systems, but up to date information on their role and initiatives is scarce. Little is known about their drivers for engagement, the extent and type of impact of their interventions, their needs for support and enabling policy environments. This study was done in order to better analyse the role of the private sector in building more sustainable city region food systems. The aim of the study is to provide suggestions for private sector actors, policy support mechanisms, and to identify key lessons learned. The report further explores the concept of a sustainable and resilient city region food system and addresses some issues in need of further exploration to help advance the debate. By doing so, this study aims to serve as a starting point for enhancing private sector engagement and putting in place (support) mechanisms to build more sustainable and resilient city region food systems in different city regions.

The case studies on Rotterdam, Quito and Bristol are also available separately.

Sustainable food systems: The role of the city

Ati van der Honing — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 14:29:03 +0000

This book (PDF) by Robert biel brings an interdisciplinary approach to the role of the city in sustainable food systems, creating a dialogue between the physical and social sciences. Faced with a global threat to food security, it is perfectly possible that society will respond, not by a dystopian disintegration, but rather by reasserting co-operative traditions. This book, by a leading expert in urban agriculture, offers a genuine solution to today’s global food crisis. By contributing more to feeding themselves, cities can allow breathing space for the rural sector to convert to more organic sustainable approaches. Biel’s approach connects with current debates about agroecology and food sovereignty, asks key questions, and proposes lines of future research. He suggests that today’s food insecurity – manifested in a regime of wildly fluctuating prices – reflects not just temporary stresses in the existing mode of production, but more profoundly the troubled process of generating a new one. He argues that the solution cannot be implemented at a merely technical or political level: the force of change can only be driven by the kind of social movements which are now daring to challenge the existing unsustainable order.

Inclusive use of urban space

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 12:29:08 +0000

The central theme in the latest issue (PDF) of the Urban Agriculture Magazine published by the RUAF Foundation is community involvement in urban food planning. Urban agriculture and food systems are gaining the attention of planners and policy makers across the global south and north. While this emerging planning and policy attention is laudable, it must build on decades of community-led efforts to rebuild urban agriculture and community food systems. Failure to build on these on-the ground practices run the risk of developing policy that is uninformed and disconnected from the lived experiences of people in communities. The magazine explores the issue of community engagement in shaping urban and peri-urban agriculture and food policies and plans. Key questions explored in this edition are how communities can be engaged in urban food policy making and planning and how local governments are responding to community demands for food policies and plans. The magazine sets out the specific characteristics and needs of the informal sector and local initiatives that are important for policy makers to take into account. Also the importance of city food councils is highlighted, because they can ensure that planning documents do not lose their community edge. Another article uses case studies in West-Africa and South America to illustrate how the gaps in formal policy can be filled through local informal initiatives. It illustrates the important role informal relationships can have for the improvement of food production and distribution in urban areas.

The complete magazine and separate articles can be downloaded here.

Urban disasters and resilience in Asia

Nynke — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 13:26:34 +0000

In this book published by Elsevier Chapter 11 is dedicated to urban food security in Asia. This chapter focuses on the issues of food security in terms of diminishing urban agriculture land. Comparative analyses of cases from developing urban centers in Asia are discussed in order to highlight the commonalities and differences employed to devise strategies that could enhance food security. Urban food security is emerging as a dominant area of global developmental policy deliberations. By 2020, more than half of the Asian population will reside in urban centers, and as a result, the demand for food will be high. Characteristically, these urban centers rely on the neighboring peri-urban and rural areas for agriculture-based food products. As these cities seamlessly merge into their peripheral areas, agricultural lands are being converted into urban environments to meet the increasing demand for residential land. This trend negatively impacts the local food supply, resulting in an increasing dependency on the national and global supply chain. Considering Asia’s high vulnerability to natural hazards, its urban centers are exposed to food security threats from both localized and distant disaster events. Thus, strengthening the supply chain and food storage will reduce food security and enhance urban resilience in the process.

Investing to nourish India’s cities

Nynke — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 14:59:13 +0000

This report (PDF) from The Chicago Council investigates India’s challenges with regard to ensuring urban food security and the difference among urban resident groups in food security status. India is forecast to experience the largest increase in urban population of any country in the world. Cities are important for India’s economy and provide higher incomes, support increased consumption and access to quality food options. However, much of urban India is considered highly or moderately food insecure. The majority of urban residents do not achieve the daily intake of nutrition and the poorest urban residents consume on average 55 percent less than the wealthiest urban residents. For the most vulnerable urban residents, a variety of public health interventions and social safety nets are required. However, growing demand in urban food markets also needs significant transformation of India’s food supply chain. Today, India’s food system is largely unorganized and highly fragmented, inhibiting large-scale procurement, distribution, and retail sales. Substantial public investments are needed to expand and increase the quality of storage, handling, and transportation infrastructure. Value-added processing offers opportunities to mainstream micronutrients into the diet by fortifying widely consumed staples with vitamins, minerals, and iron to help address deficiencies. The government of India must continue improving the regulatory environment as a prerequisite to private-sector investments in vertically integrated sourcing, modern logistics services, large-scale food processing, and retail efficiencies— four critical routes to improving urban nutrition and food security in India.

City region food systems and food waste management: Linking urban and rural areas for sustainable and resilient development

Nynke — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 15:21:52 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) from GIZ, RUAF en FAO describes the results of 13 case studies on city region food systems and food waste management. It provides lessons learned on the institutionalisation of city region food policies and programs; provisioning of national and legal frameworks embedding city region food systems in broader legislation, on strengthening of coordination and collaboration across horizontal and vertical government levels, and on design of specific programs and policies for sustainable city region food systems. The brief concludes that City region food systems (CRFS) are vital to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in three key ways. First the benefits of CRFS are multiple and stretch far beyond the food system to key policy areas of concern to the NUA, including local economic development and urban governance, spatial and economic planning, public health, and ecosystem protection. Second, the development of CRFS can generate positive political support for wider urban-rural linkages through coalition building centered on food. And thirdly, CRFS merit attention in their own right, given the importance of addressing more sustainable urban food systems and rural development.

Vacant lots to vibrant plots: a review of the benefits and limitation of urban agriculture

Nynke — Mon, 09 May 2016 10:29:56 +0000

This report (PDF) from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future argues that the benefits of urban agriculture are important but may be overstated. The report examines the benefits and limitations of agriculture and provides an overview of the documented outcomes of urban agriculture so far. Urban agriculture’s most significant benefits center around its ability to increase social capital, community well-being, and civic engagement with the food system. However, special attention should be paid to ensure that residents have a voice in decision-making around urban agriculture and economic development issues pertaining to their neighborhoods. The authors argue that many of the demonstrated benefits of urban agriculture efforts will only be achieved with adequate local, state, and federal governments’ long-term commitment of support. The authors also identify research gaps. The report is based on research from the Global North, however, the recommendation could also be interesting for researchers and practitioners in the Global South.

Growing food for growing cities: Transforming food systems in an urbanizing world

Nynke — Wed, 04 May 2016 14:36:01 +0000

This report (PDF) by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs argues that the global food system must transform to feed growing cities and that this transformation need to create opportunities for small-scale and especially female farmers. The growth of cities fuels an unprecedented demand for food, due to changing diets of people moving to cities, in combination with increase population growth, climate change. Feeding cities presents a major opportunity to improve the plight of millions of small-scale farmers and rural residents trapped in subsistence agriculture and joblessness. Participation in growing urban food markets can provide the rising incomes and rural employment needed to meet rural food security challenges, alleviate rural poverty, and address the devastating lack of jobs among the demographic “youth bulge” in low-income countries. Despite the opportunities, the transformation of food systems and the development of supply chains will not self-evidently include small-scale farmers. There is a risk that many will be left behind. The authors argue that it is critical that the development of the food system for urban demand includes small farmers and rural entrepreneurs in small enterprises along the supply chain. Inclusive growth will require smart and deliberate investments by governments and the private sector. While the report puts forward recommendations that are specifically aimed at the US government, they can inspire other policymakers since the recommendations and other lessons in this paper are broader applicable.

Urban-rural linkages and their future: Impacts on agriculture, diets and food security

Nynke — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 11:52:48 +0000

This conference paper (PDF) focuses on the urban-rural linkages in the emerging food system. Recent debates on food and agricultural issues emphasize the significance of the spatialization of food systems and location of agriculture. In this emerging food system geography, urban-rural relationships play a significant role in food value chains, food security and nutrition, which is still poorly understood. This presentation explores these issues based on rural-urban scenarios in 2050. This research combines two approaches: a comprehensive scientific review of urban and rural changes, and a foresight method based on an expert group. The results focus on four main future figures: mega-cities and rural-urban blurring; role of intermediate urban centers in agri-food networks; household mobilities and multi-activities between urban and rural areas; counter-urbanization and re-agrarianization. These four scenarios help to understand how distinct issues might be articulated, and to better differentiate what is at stake for agriculture and food security in those specific forms of urban-rural relationships.

Food coping strategies in northern Ghana: A socio-spatial analysis along the urban–rural continuum

Nynke — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 07:28:07 +0000

This paper (PDF) in Agriculture & Food Security focuses on how households cope with food shortages and how these food coping strategies vary along the urban–rural continuum. In peri-urban and rural areas, gathering of wild food and selling of charcoal was widely practiced, while in urban areas, most households tended to reduce the number of meals as a more frequent coping strategy. The study identified five coping strategies along the urban–rural continuum as the most severe in times of food insecurity, namely skipping a whole day without food, borrowing, buying food on credit, consuming seed stock and restricting adult intake in favor of children. Hunting, consuming less preferred food, taking occasional jobs and engaging in small trading were considered as not severe. Women in the study area participated in coping strategies which helped in providing food in many households, like trading items, shea butter processing and other handcraft. The authors recommend further support by respective institutions such as microfinance in providing financial means to start small business and establish trading cooperatives as a contribution to food security in northern Ghana. In general, study results reveal that food coping strategies vary in the urban-rural continuum in terms of frequency, severity and coping strategy. This information is useful for indicators to predict crisis (early warning), to understand shortfalls in access to adequate food (assessment), to allocate resources (targeting) or to track the impact of interventions (monitoring and evaluation).

Growing food for growing cities: Urbanization as an opportunity for many small-scale farmers

Nynke — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 09:58:16 +0000

This blog from the blog series “Growing Food for Growing Cities” from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs adresses the new market opportunities for small-scale farmers. The series explores the challenges posed to global food security by urbanization. This blog argues that the demand from urban consumers who are buying food from newly available chain stores is swelling and huge quantities of food are bought in supermarkets. However, for all the opportunities created by urbanization, new urban areas place a large demand on the food system—by 2050, global food production must double to satisfy a growing and predominantly urban population. While innovations in urban or vertical farms have a niche role to play, the overwhelming majority of this food will be sourced domestically from rural areas. As such, growing urban markets offer a significant new economic opportunity for farmers. With access to cities, small-scale farmers can expand production to higher value products, such as dairy and vegetables, and earn greater incomes as a result. The blog series leads up to the Global Food Security Symposium 2016.

Informal food systems and food security in rural and urban East Africa

Nynke — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 11:38:59 +0000

This IIED briefing (PDF) argues that urbanization, population growth and environmental change in East Africa are generating distinct food security challenges for urban slum dwellers and the rural poor. The author argues that the relation between rural and urban areas will change, especially in relation to food security. By 2050, the proportion of urban residents in East Africa will increase from 25 to 44 per cent. In urban areas, residents of low-income settlements depend heavily on informal food systems that have been traditionally ignored or penalised by governments. Informal value chains and markets play a pivotal role for both the urban and rural poor, but there is a gap between the perception and reality of food safety in local, informal markets. In rural areas, the impacts of climate change are heightening food insecurity and poverty. Rural-urban linkages are reshaping economic and social relations in both rural and urban areas, but need to be managed to ensure low-income producers and consumers benefit from these transformations. The author states that a new narrative is needed that views food security through the lens of consumption of the poor, drawing on research that supports more comprehensive methodologies, community-driven capacity building, greater understanding of rural-urban linkages, a stronger voice for civil society in policy/advocacy, and more effective and inclusive local regulations.

Urban versus conventional agriculture, taxonomy of resource profiles: a review

F&BKP Office — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 15:48:16 +0000

This article in the Agronomy for Sustainable Development Journal review knowledge on urban versus conventional agriculture. Urban agriculture appears to be a means to combat the environmental pressure of increasing urbanization and food demand. However, there is hitherto limited knowledge of the efficiency and scaling up of practices of urban farming. The authors review the claims on urban agriculture’s comparative performance relative to conventional food production. Their main findings are as follows: (1) benefits, such as reduced embodied greenhouse gases, urban heat island reduction, and storm water mitigation, have strong support in current literature. (2) Other benefits such as food waste minimization and ecological footprint reduction require further exploration. (3) Urban agriculture benefits to both food supply chains and urban ecosystems vary considerably with system type. To facilitate the comparison of urban agriculture systems we propose a classification based on (1) conditioning of the growing space and (2) the level of integration with buildings. Lastly, we compare the predicted environmental performance of the four main types of urban agriculture that arise through the application of the taxonomy. The findings show how taxonomy can aid future research on the intersection of urban food production and the larger material and energy regimes of cities (the “urban metabolism”).

Multifunctional rooftop horticulture: a promising strategy for intensifying horticulture production in cities

Nynke — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 14:47:52 +0000

This article (PDF) in Chronica Horticulturae argues that multifunctional rooftop horticulture is one of the more promising strategies to increase horticulture production in urbanized areas. It summarizes the different models and advantages of rooftop horticulture and provides a review of the main features of rooftop horticulture. It brings together existing experiences as well as suggestions for planning of future sustainable cities. Since rooftop horticulture experiences are “sprouting” all over the world, scientific evidence on the most suitable growing solutions, policies and potential benefits is growing. Urban horticulture is gaining more attention since it has the potential to increase resource efficiency, contribute to city food security and enhance associated ecosystems and social services. However, spaces available for cultivation are limited, thus leading to the need to explore innovative growing solutions, for instance, plant cultivation on building rooftops. Taking into account the multiple challenges cities face, rooftop horticulture is one form of urban horticulture that has specific potential in dense urban neighborhoods and in areas where land is scarce/polluted or highly priced. The authors argue that conversion of paved rooftops into urban green infrastructures seems a suitable strategy for most cities. However, further technological and policy development is required to design efficient rooftop horticulture systems that optimize space and their different benefits.

Urbanisation and evolving food security challenges

Nynke — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 11:18:32 +0000

The third chapter from Sylvia Szabo’s book focuses on the relationship between the evolving nature of food insecurity and urbanisation in different human development contexts. The book examines contemporary urban challenges and opportunities within the context of the traditional Malthusian theory. This chapter delves more specifically into policy oriented research in the area of food security and sustainable development. While traditionally the debate has focused on undernutrition and hunger as the only outcomes of food insecurity, the chapter posits that obesity constitutes a major contemporary food insecurity threat. Drawing from Popkin’s nutrition transition theory, the chapter discusses how obesity and evolving nutrition challenges are increasingly linked to the impacts of urbanisation, such as contemporary lifestyles in urban areas. The chapter provides a revised conceptual framework of food insecurity risks and a conceptual analysis of factors affecting global food insecurity.

Mapping for food safety in Nairobi’s slums

Nynke — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:08:05 +0000

This article from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) explores how communities in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya create and use maps to ensure food safety. It shows how rapid urbanization in Nairobi, has created food safety and security challenges in the overpopulated Mathare slum. The article demonstrates that a map on which food kiosks, street vendors and hazards such as rubbish dumps and open sewers are depicted can help to ensure food safety. While informal settlements tend to play a key role in the economies and food distribution of cities, they are often not depicted on official maps from the government. Community led mapping processes can help to show where undocumented people live and which challenges they face. In addition, the mapping process can create knowledge and provide a basis from which communities can engage local authorities in policy dialogues. The mapping project in Nairobi used a ballon with a camera that took a photo per second. The balloon mapping showed where food vendors operate, the environmental hazards they face in their daily work and the wider settlement’s layout, including unoccupied areas. The mapping process helped to demonstrate how food vendors supported local food security and the needed action from local government and residents. The article also contains a practical guide to balloon mapping.

Addressing undernutrition in the context of urbanisation in low- and middle-income countries

Nynke — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:30:12 +0000

This report (PDF) prepared by MQSUN for Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK, presents a set of challenges and opportunities for tackling under nutrition in low- and middle-income countries where DFID works. However, since it also displays different approaches to urbanisation issues, it can be useful for others practitioners in different countries. The report provides contextual information, describing the projected increase in urbanisation and urban nutrition statistics. Urban-specific diet and food security considerations are described. The report considers the scale of urbanisation in different countries, appraises what works in urban settings and how this context differs from the rural context with regard to nutrition programming, and identifies the main evidence gaps.

Urbanisation, rural transformations and food security: the view from China

Nynke — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:40:13 +0000

This paper (PDF) of the International Institute of Development and Environment (IIED) elaborates on the food security transition that China has undergone over the last 35 years. It tries to understand the evolving axes of inequality with regard to access to affordable, safe and nutritious food in the context of changing rural–urban linkages. In China the production, distribution and consumption of food changed in this period due to rapid economic growth, urbanisation and industrialisation. In addition, rural-urban linkage have become denser and more complex, through the re-emerging of markets. The paper discusses how this change was addressed by policies aimed at ensuring adequate food provision and the regulation of quality and safety. It elaborates on the synergies and tensions between them such as the need to keep prices low while at the same time ensuring safety and nutritional quality. The authors argues that a focus on nutrition among poor and the rural-urban migrants is necessary but that the actual levels of risk vary widely between regions, the quality of the agricultural production environment, occupation and access to markets. All in all, it concludes that while some overarching principles for policy are needed, a ‘one size fits all’ policy in China will probably only waste resources and fail to adequately address the needs of particular populations and will fail to be responsive to rapidly changing risks.

Urbanisation and rural development in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta: revisiting livelihood transformations in three fruit-growing settlements, 2006-2015

Babs — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 13:29:34 +0000

This article by IIED focusses on urbanisation and rural development in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. In 2006, the authors conducted a study of the social and economic transformations in three rural settlements in the area often described as Vietnam’s rice bowl and where livelihoods and the nature of the local economic base, including farming, had changed radically. Almost a decade later, this paper revisits the same settlements and describes their social and economic evolutions and the key factors that help decipher three distinct but similar trajectories. The overall trends noted in 2006, namely the strong complementarity between farming, trade and services supported by local traders with access to a wide range of markets, seems to have remained the basis for successful local economic development. At the same time, access to non-farm employment within the settlements and within commuting distance has reduced the need to migrate to the cities, while retaining the all-important access to non-farm income that supports investment in high value fruit production.The authors conclude that population and urbanisation pressures on land mean that if fruit production is to continue being the mainstay of local economies, some careful thinking on planning will be necessary to ensure that sufficient land is set aside for fruit production. Find the related briefing here.

Can our global food system keep up with rapid urbanisation?

Nynke — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 15:22:00 +0000

This blogpost from Marc van Ameringen on the GAIN-webpage explores whether there are limits to the capacity of our global food system to deal with increased urbanisation. The author argues that what is needed to ensure emerging urban markets do not lose nutritious foods, is the scaling up of innovative green cold chain technologies. He argues that while cold chains can contribute significantly to ensure less food is wasted and more consumers are able to access diverse and nutritious foods, at present they are often heavily reliant on diesel fuels. He therefore recommends that global and national policies should ensure that companies to invest in these green cold chain technologies in emerging market economies, where the urban middle class is rapidly rising and thus multiplying consumer demand. Ameringen argues that alliances are needed among different actors across and within supply chains to ensure less food is wasted and more nutrients are captured, in order to ensure that vulnerable people gain access to the essential vitamins and minerals.

Cities and agriculture: developing resilient urban food systems

Babs — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 12:22:44 +0000

This book “Cities and agriculture: developing resilient urban food systems” by the RUAF Foundation, provides urban planners, specialists, local policy makers and urban development practitioners with an overview of crucial aspects of urban food systems based on up-to-date review of research results and practical experiences in both developed and developing countries. The book contributes to the intensified sharing of research results and policy and planning experiences between different regions and countries, as well as to facilitatating innovation and more effective urban food system research, policy planning and implementation. The authors also hope that this book finds its way to educational institutes that provide training in this field.

Toward SDG 2: Food security and urbanization in the Global South

Nynke — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 13:40:42 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) from the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) argues that urban food insecurity is significantly distinct from rural food insecurity and that therefore insecurity in urban areas must be addressed through a different set of policies. The brief provides policy suggestions for national governments in the Global South on how to improve sustainable, healthy food access in urban areas, and identifies issues that need to be addressed. National governments are targeted because they are the signatories of the SDGs and can coordinate with other levels of government to implement the policy recommendations necessary for improving food access. The brief suggests that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 (“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture“) provides an avenue for governments to create and develop food security-related policies and regulations. While supermarkets are increasingly common in cities in the Global South, informal economies and state food distribution programs still play an important role in meeting food security needs of urban poor. Therefore, strategies proposed include the use of formal and informal food channels, as well as direct government intervention. The authors recommend governments to support the role of the informal food economy, integrate non-food issues related to food security (such as spatial planning and infrastructure), collaborate with supermarkets to create policies catering to the poor and track food consumption patterns to develop strategies for improved food options. The brief includes case studies in Mexico, China, Kenya, India that focus on the relation between urbanization, local food markets, supermarkets and food security.

Urbanisation and food insecurity risks: Assessing the role of human development

Nynke — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 12:35:57 +0000

This article (PDF) in Oxford Development Studies elaborates on the linkages between urban growth, food insecurity and levels of human development. It uses statistical modelling to analyse this. So far, there have not been systematic analyses on how urbanisation affects contemporary food insecurity risks or how these potential risks are likely to be mitigated by increases in human development. The author argues that an understanding of the interconnection between urbanisation and food insecurity in different developmental contexts is particularly important within the context of setting up a comprehensive post-MDG agenda. For the purpose of this research, levels of human development are measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). The analysis uses country-level data, from the World Development Indicators and the United Nations’ World Urbanization Prospects. Using a Food Insecurity Risk Index as the outcome variable, the results confirm a significant negative impact of urban growth on food security at the country level. It further finds that rapidly urbanising countries with the lowest levels of human development are most at risk of food insecurity. In addition the author suggest that due to the increasing urbanisation of poverty disaggregated indicators for food security in urban, peri-urban and rural areas is necessary.

Effect of urban household farming on food security status in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria

Babs — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 08:46:25 +0000

The study in the Journal of Agricultural Sciences, investigated the effect of urban household farming on food security status in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. Primary data was collected for the study using structured questionnaire. Two-stage sampling technique was employed for this study. The first stage involved the random selection of two urban local government areas from Ibadan metropolis. This was followed with the selection of 110 urban farming households from these local government areas. The study showed that the majority of the urban farming households were not food secure and fell below food security line. Results showed that sex, years of schooling, marital status, household size, access to extension agent, hired labour and type of farming enterprises are determinants of food security. The authors recommends the policies that make extension services accessible to urban farmers and also skills development among others.

2015

Rural–urban linkages

Babs — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 08:18:26 +0000

This issue (PDF) of Farming Matters and Urban Agriculture Magazine is is a co-production between ILEIA and the RUAF Foundation. The issue looks at some existing experiences with strengthened rural–urban linkages and what they teach us about improving food systems for both consumers and agroecological farmers. The magazine provides examples from across the world (China, Cape town, Bolivia and Japan amongst other examples). This issue shows how agroecology is a consistent thread in building stronger connections between the rural and the urban. Alternative marketing arrangements are highlighted as well as the strength of rural identities in urban contexts for solidarity between farmers and urbanites. Multiple examples show that active engagement of citizens, both consumers and producers, is a good way to create new pathways towards sustainable food systems. If interested in reading more, please find this edition on rural-urban linkages from LEISA India.

Food in an urbanised world: The role of city region food systems in resilience and sustainable development

Babs — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 09:45:58 +0000

This report by the International Sustainability Unit (ISU) and FAO, aims to provide a synthesis of the current state of knowledge on city region food systems. Its objective is to clarify the on city region food system concept and analyse the proposed benefits of pursuing a city regional approach to food policy and planning. Based on practical initiatives detailed in the report, ten actions are outlined that could help to strengthen city region food systems linkages in policy and practice, focussed around five pointers: 1) catalysing change; 2) understanding the food system; 3) using policy instruments; 4) leveraging wider impact; and 5) learning and sharing knowledge.

Urban agriculture and food security in developing countries: a case study of Eldoret Municipality, Kenya

Babs — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 09:02:27 +0000

This article in the European Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, investigates the contribution of Urban Agriculture to the food security of residents of Eldoret Municipality, Kenya with the aim of laying the foundation for future policy formulation for Urban Agriculture in Kenya. The study used a cross sectional survey design with both open and closed ended questions. Information from focus group discussions and key informants was sought to gain in depth information and to reinforce the findings from the interviews. This research gives a critical view into how aspects of urban agriculture in Eldoret Municipality are currently contributing to food security and income. In the case of Eldoret Municipality, Urban Agriculture is seen to play important roles, including the provision of better nutrition, poverty alleviation, employment creation and environmental conservation.

2015

City Region Food Systems

Babs — Thu, 28 May 2015 10:18:06 +0000

The RUAF Urban Agriculture Magazine No 29 (PDF) on City Region Food Systems addresses the growing attention for policy and practice approaches that focus on food issues from a city-regional perspective, taking into account possible contributions from urban and periurban agriculture and strengthening of urban-rural relations. The focus of this issue is on methods for the mapping and assessment of city-region food systems; urban food policies and governance models for city-region food systems; and social and entrepreneurial business models in the context of city-region food systems. It features amongst others articles on research and policy development in partner cities involved in the EC funded SUPURBFOOD programme.

Urbanization and linkages to smallholder farming in sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for food security

Babs — Wed, 27 May 2015 13:21:03 +0000

The article in the Global Food Security Journal reviews evidence on African urbanization trends and consequences of these for the smallholder sector and rural food security. The author highlights that urban growth is less rapid than often assumed and consumption rather than production driven, while liberalized trade regimes have globalized food systems. Urban insecurity and rural poverty are handled through self-provisioning arrangements in both rural and urban areas, which may undermine the role of urban areas as sources of demand for rural produce. Smallholders in rural areas close to existing urban areas are likely to benefit most from growing markets for high value products. Food security must be the priority for marginal areas untouched by urbanization.

Grow the city: innovations in urban agriculture

Babs — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 12:34:36 +0000

This issue (PDF) of Urban Agriculture Magazine highlights innovations in urban agriculture and was made in collaboration with GROW the city, a project supported by Oxfam Novib, and coordinated by RUAF Foundation with ETC foundation and Wageningen UR. The project GROW the City ran in the Netherlands from September 2013 to July 2014 and brought pioneers of urban agriculture and urban food strategies from all over the world to the Netherlands to share and discuss their practices, experiences and challenges. Other innovative examples of urban agriculture covered in the magazine include a back-to-school farming initiative, rooftop greenhouses, unmanned aerial vehicles and vertical farming.

Reframing the debate on urbanisation, rural transformation and food security

Babs — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 10:29:47 +0000

This briefing by IIED highlights the need to adapt the rural-urban production-based debate on food security narratives: urban dwellers are not all ‘over consumers’; rural communities are not exclusively producers. The authors argue that it must be considered how consumption and urbanisation are transforming rural spaces and economies, food systems and food security. Important focus points are access, affordability, safety and nutrition for both rural and urban low-income groups. Policy can be informed by innovations in trade networks and governance systems that span urban and rural contexts.

Understanding ‘urban youth’ and the challenges they face in Sub-Saharan Africa: unemployment, food insecurity and violent crime

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 10:01:54 +0000

This publication (PDF) by IDS reviews how the various definitions of ‘youth’ relate to three dominant discourses about poverty and vulnerability in urbanising Africa: 1) food insecurity; 2) unemployment; and 3) violence/insecurity. The paper’s discussion of common youth definitions seeks to identify if and when these are responsive to the needs of urban youth as well as practical for policy efforts aimed at reducing poverty and vulnerability in urban areas. An important conclusion is that there are tangible benefits of having generalised categories of ‘youth’. On the other hand, definitions should be adjusted to context-specific realities and must account for developmental processes, as well as the social and physiological realities.

City regions as landscapes for people, food and nature

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:31:14 +0000

This publication (PDF) by The Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative is focused on how agriculture provides important and reciprocal benefits to the sustainable development of both rural and urban communities. The paper provides short examples of cities, initiatives and projects from around the world with key lessons learned and good practices. Three thematic sections are covered: 1) equity, economic development and the right to food; 2) planning for an urban rural continuum that links biodiversity and agriculture and 3) health, food and nutrition security in an ecosystem context. Furthermore, linkages between urban and rural governing and policy pathways for resilient city region food systems are described. The author argues that creating sustainable city region food systems with durable urban rural linkages will require support at all levels of government. Five key recommendations are made.

Growing greener cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:25:03 +0000

This FAO report (PDF), released at the World Urban Forum 2014, highlights urban and peri-urban agriculture in 10 major cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report looks at the progress that has been made toward realizing ‘greener cities’ in which urban and peri-urban agriculture is recognized by public policy and included in urban development strategies and land-use planning. The study is based on the results of a survey in 23 countries and data on 110 cities and municipalities. The study highlights that urban food producers and their families enjoyed a more diverse diet than and were more likely to consume fruit and vegetables regularly. Furthermore, women are the driving force behind urban agriculture in many of the countries. Main challenge facing farmers in the cities surveyed was lack of space, followed by the poor quality of soils and the unreliability of water supplies. An important recommendation of the report is that strong political commitment, regional development plans and effective public-private partnerships are required in order to address current short-comings.

Urban China: toward efficient, inclusive, and sustainable urbanization

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:14:26 +0000

This joint report (PDF) by the World Bank and the Development Research Center of China’s State Council, addresses the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in China and aims to help China forge a new model of urbanization. The report includes six priority areas for a policy reform for urbanization. Chapter 10 (part I) and 5 (part II) are focused on food security and highlight that the challenges of urbanization require policy reforming in order to address problems related to changing food consumption patterns, distortions in food prices, environmental constrains, distribution systems and weak food safety nets amongst others. Furthermore, investments in agricultural water resources management, and rural land and labour market reforms are needed. The report pays attention to the development of greener urbanization, recognizing current resource depletion and local and global pollution.