The potential of urban agriculture for
food security
RUAF Foundation www.ruaf.org
Summary
•
Growing urban food insecurity
•
Defining urban agriculture
•
Different pathways to food security
•
Realising the Right to Food through policy and
spatial planning and small agribusiness promotion
Growing urban food insecurity and malnutrition
• Limited access of urban poor to nutritious and
affordable food mainly due to low and irregular income
• Urban poor are net consumers (spend 50-80% of their
income on food) and are directly affected by variations
in food and fuel prices
• Increasing dominance of supermarkets and fast food
chains in the local food systems, resulting in increased
consumption of fats, sugars, salt and processed foods
• Lack of policy attention to urban food security; “rural
bias” of food security programmes; Low visibility of
urban hunger
Rural and urban incidences of hunger (food-energy
deficiency) Source: Ahmed et al., 2007
.
• Neglect of investment in domestic rural agriculture in
the past 15 years ; use of agricultural land for bio fuels;
major land sales to foreign countries; increasing food
imports
Hence: increasing dependence on international food
markets and vulnerability to price increases
• Effects of climate change on rural food supply and
transport aggravate this vulnerability
• Effects of climate change on rural food supply and
transport aggravate this vulnerability
Urban Agriculture
• Agricultural production (crops, trees, livestock, fish) in
and around urban areas for food (vegetables, eggs,
milk, meat, ..) and other uses (e.g. herbs, ornamental
plants)
• And related inputs provision, processing and marketing
activities
• Often combined with other functions (greening and
biodiversity, recycling of wastes, disaster reduction,
capturing CO2, reduction urban heat, recreational
services,…)
Urban vs Peri Urban Agriculture
• Urban agriculture are of smaller scale, intra urban
areas
• Peri urban larger and more commercial scale+ outskirts
of the city
Urban Agriculture
A recent RUAF study for World Bank on the socioeconomic impacts of urban agriculture in Nairobi,
Accra, Bangalore and Lima indicated that in average
about 20% of the urban population is involved in some
type of urban agriculture, of which 30% (over 1.3
million HH in the 4 cities) gain an important part of their
income from agriculture
An African perspective
-Approximately 40% of African
urban dwellers farm in town
-However, well-off people are
over-represented among African
urban farmers; the poor lack
space.
-More than three quarters of poor
people in Southern African cities
are food insecure
-UA is associated with better food
security and higher incomes,
especially livestock farming
Food security pathways
Own food production by urban poor
• Access to extra food and more
varied diet
• Cash savings used for to
purchase staple foods and
higher value items (micronutrients; fish)
• Redistribution of harvested food
to non-producing households
• Diversification of food sources
enhances coping capacities
Urban Agriculture, food security and nutrition
City
% of urban consumption met by urban and peri-urban
agriculture
Vegetables
Eggs
Poultry
meat
La Paz (2000)
30
Dakar (2000)
70-80
Dar es Salaam
(2000)
90
Accra (2003)
90
Shanghai
(2000)
60
90
50
0-75
(@ season)
40
50
Hanoi
(2000 y 2004)
Milk
Pork
65-70
60
90-100
50
50
Kampala
Farmers in Nairobi and Kampala
operate small diary enterprises
that supply 70% of the milk
needs of consumers
(Lee-Smith, 2014)
Nairobi
Approximately 40% of urban
dwellers farm in town (self
production). 200 000 farming
HH in Nairobi
(Lee-Smith, 2014)
Food security pathways
Job and income generation
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Savings on food expenditures
From agricultural production, espec. for vulnerable
population (women, elderly, less educated)
Generated in related small enterprises: compost
production, processing, marketing, recreational
services, etcetera)
UPAF highly compatible with other jobs and facilitates
multiple income sources; hence enhances resilience
City
Monthly income generated (US$) in peri-urban
horticulture (= above formal minimum wage)
Accra
40-50
Rosario
40-150
Brazzaville
140-170 (productores)
120 (vendedores)
Cameroon
70
Lagos
120
Ouagadougou
25-100
Yaoundé
35-70
Ho Chi Minh City
40-125
Yakarta
30-50
Nairobi
Highest incomes from urban
animal production
(Lee Smith, 2014)
Accra
Urban vegetable farmers can
earn twice what rural
farmers earn
(RUAF, 2013)
Food security pathways
Access to food for urban households
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Access to fresh and sometimes cheaper food
Reduced vulnerability to market prices and imported
food
Responds to cultural demands
Need to manage health risks
Belo Horizonte
Urban, peri-urban and rural agriculture
contribute to food and nutrition security
Lima
Action is needed to protect
Lima’s fertile farmland from
exponential urban growth.
Realising the Right to Food for urban dwellers
•
Importance of supporting more small-scale commercial
urban and peri-urban agriculture
•
Importance of increased policy recognition and support
for urban and peri-urban agriculture
•
Need to enhance secure tenure of land for urban and
peri-urban agriculture
RUAF From Seed to Table Programme
•
Development of social agro and food enterprises
for urban farmers and unemployed youth in 17
cities around the world
-> Market analysis
-> Business planning
-> Strengthening producers
organisations
-> Enhancing access to financing
-> Creation of food hubs for
Improved marketing
-> Small enterprise friendly
regulations
RUAF From Seed to Table Programme
•
Main results:
-> 18 agri-businesses set up with/by poor urban
producers: different vegetables; improved small animal
production; niche products like mushrooms or aromatic
plants
-> Impact monitoring shows increase in income of
members (5-50%)
-> New consumer markets created
-> Agro-bussiness increased access to financing
RUAF Strategic planning and policy formulation
•
Development of municipal UA and food
programmes in 20 cities around the world
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Land use and food system analysis
Critical policy review and stakeholder analysis
Multi-stakeholder coordination and agenda setting
Policy formulation and action planning
Integration UA into spatial and land use planning
Pilot project formulation and implementation
Different policy dimensions
RUAF Strategic planning and policy formulation
•
Main results
-> Revised and new UA policies
elaborated and formalised
at local and national level
-> UA institutionalised in
municipal programmes and
budgets
-> Improved access to land,
finances, resources and
assistance
RUAF city region food systems
•
Technical assistance and training, exchange
and learning, policy advocacy
-> CITYFOOD Network with ICLEI
-> City region food system analysis
and planning
-> Link to climate change strategies
-> International advocacy
RUAF city region food systems
•
Main results
-> UA integrated in city
climate change strategies
-> Organisations of
webinars and events
-> Publication of books,
Magazines and policy briefs
and planning
-> City region food systems
being discussed as part of
the post 2015 and SDG
agenda
m.dubbeling@r
www.ruaf.