Overall theme of the 2016/2017 Vijverbergsessions is “The African future is for young, well educated, market oriented and organized farmer-entrepreneurs”. On April 12, 2017, the session is organized in cooperation with RUAF and UvA and focuses on “Urban food systems and the value chain”.  

About this session

What opportunities does urban and peri-urban agriculture offer for farmer-entrepreneurs in African cities. This Vijverbergsession is about how farmers in and around the city can produce for the market in the city, and not just for their own consumption. It is about the food system of the city where food is produced and processed and where opportunities exist for entrepreneurs. It is also about the capacity of the urban food system to absorb the surplus of a young workforce from rural areas.

In this Vijverbergsession, we shall first focus on the opportunities that (peri-)urban agriculture holds for production, processing, and distributing food for the city (read more). René van Veenhuizen, of the RUAF Foundation, will introduce the need, and recent attention, for sustainable urbanization and city region food system approach, that foster connectivity between urban centres and surrounding areas and the development of resilient and sustainable food systems, stimulating smallholder agriculture, employment, livelihood support, and food and nutrition security. In addition to the economic impact of urban and peri-urban agriculture, he will also provide examples of business opportunities, the role of sme’s in building short cycle value chains and multifunctional land use, and the role of an enabling environment as part of sustainable city region food systems.

In a second presentation Yves van Leynseele (UvA, NWO-WOTRO research programme ‘Inclusive Value Chain collaboration’, (read more) will discuss the limits of the mainstream inclusive business approaches for enhancing participation in agriculture for small and medium scale farmers. He will suggest an alternative inclusive development framework that aims to promote a combination of sustainable production, farmer wellbeing (beyond income) and people-centred agricultural innovation. Drawing on recent research on value chain participation in Ghana and South Africa, he will argue for the importance of understanding farmer heterogeneity in relation to the terms of farmer participation in value chains and other, local markets. Illustrations will be provided of different farmer profiles and how access to markets and agricultural support services is socially differentiated. Following this, the presentation invites a discussion about the possible ways in which value chain collaboration or producer-public-private-partnerships may contribute to more inclusive development and social learning within partnerships.

In addition, we welcome two short presentations on current projects in Africa: Pitch Hugo Verkuil (Hivos) on the “Food Change Lab”, and Remco Rolvink (Dasuda) on the “Rain project”.

Programme

17h00 – Opening and welcome by foodFIRST

17h05 – Introduction to the session by Annemarie van Paassen (WUR)

17h10 – Presentation René van Veenhuizen (Ruaf) on “Sustainable urbanization and city region food system”

17h25 – Presentation Yves van Leynseele (UvA) on “Inclusive Value Chain”

17h40 – Pitch Hugo Verkuil (Hivos) on the “Food Change Lab”

17h50 – Pitch Remco Rolvink (Dasuda) on the “Rain project”

18.00 – Discussion

19.00 – Drinks & snacks