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Cities ‘play crucial role’ in transforming ‘increasingly relevant’ urban food systems’, say experts

Cities ‘play crucial role’ in transforming ‘increasingly relevant’ urban food systems’, say experts
Urban food system improvements “also foster entrepreneurship and economic development by enabling informal traders and farmers to operate more efficiently and expand their businesses. (Photo: Abigail Baard)
Abigail Baard
By Abigail Baard
10 Dec 2024
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With the growth of urbanisation in Africa, conversations around urban food systems have become increasingly relevant. Cities play a crucial role in transforming these food systems, with state infrastructure being a key mechanism in this.

‘There’s a lot of work to do around food governance and there’s a need to think about how cities should respond, in a way that is different to how we traditionally responded,” Luke Metelerkamp told Daily Maverick at the AfriFOODLinks’ yearly consortium meeting in Cape Town from 25 to 29 November. Metelerkamp is the coordinator of AfriFOODLinks, a four-year project funded by the European Union and coordinated by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) Africa. 

AfriFOODLinks’ “key objective is to transform urban food systems in African cities, through shaping food environments”, Ruby Schalit, communications officer at ICLEI, told Daily Maverick. 

The project is in its second year and is partnered by the City of Cape Town.

During the meeting, city officials from Africa and Europe, youth ambassadors and project managers gathered to reflect on the work AfriFOODLinks has been doing and to plan for the final two years of the project. The week included site visits, city-to-city dialogues, intergenerational dialogues between city officials and youth ambassadors and a research colloquium. 

City of Cape Town communications officer Lisle Brown said the City would ensure sustainability beyond the project by strengthening relations with affected stakeholders, policy integration and the continued education and empowerment of end-product users. “The City has allocated approximately R79-million for market infrastructure development and upgrades in the next short term,” Brown said.

Food security – an urban concern


Traditionally efforts to address food security in Africa have focused on the rural question, where the conversation centres on increasing productivity and growing more food, Metelerkamp told Daily Maverick.

Evidence suggested that enough food was being grown to feed the world. Africa was also experiencing an increase in obesity, which existed alongside malnutrition. According to Metelerkamp there is more to addressing hunger than the question of production, particularly in cities. 

Read more: Urbanisation is real in SA, yet food security is still seen as a rural challenge – time for policy rethink

According to a 2001 food inadequacy and hunger report by Stats SA, two-thirds of households that experienced hunger were in urban areas. Among South Africa’s six metros, Cape Town and Johannesburg had the most households that experienced hunger.

Africa has seen the largest growth of urbanisation in the past 20 years, with “an average annual urban growth rate of 3.5%”, according to the African Union in September 2024. The urban population is projected to double by 2050 and cities are expected to absorb an additional 600 million people, it says. 

This reveals the significant role urban food systems play in addressing food security in Africa and how these systems have become increasingly relevant. 

urban food Urban food system improvements ‘also foster entrepreneurship and economic development by enabling informal traders and farmers to operate more efficiently and expand their businesses’. (Photo: Abigail Baard)


Infrastructure and the transformation of urban food systems  


“State infrastructure can empower the informal food sector by providing well-designed trading spaces, storage facilities, ablutions, water access points and waste management systems that enhance food environments in low-income communities. This infrastructure plays an important role in food and nutritional security by ensuring food hygiene, safety and quality while reducing spoilage, health and environmental risks,” said Rirhandzu Marivate, programme manager at the South African Food & Farming Trust and project lead for AfriFOODLinks’s pilot interventions for informal food traders in Langa and Bellville. 

Some of the ways AfriFOODLinks is working towards transforming urban food systems in African cities is through city-to-city exchanges and fostering mutual learning between cities, incubating small food businesses, socio-technical experiments in project cities, and extensive city-based research, said Schalit.

Urban food system improvements “also foster entrepreneurship and economic development by enabling informal traders and farmers to operate more efficiently and expand their businesses”, said Marivate. 

For example, fresh produce markets offered the opportunity for micro enterprises to function and allow the circulation of money in low-income communities. South Africa had, by and large, lost most of its market infrastructure because about 70% of the country’s food retail occurs through supermarkets. 

Seventy percent of the social grants that filter into low-income communities go towards food and are spent at supermarkets, then disappear out of those communities almost instantly, said Meterlerkamp, explaining that if that money were spent at smaller markets the profit could be captured, leading to long-term and sustained wealth accumulation in lower-income communities. 

Cities’ role in transforming urban food systems 


“Cities play a crucial role in transforming urban food systems by integrating food sensitivity planning into urban planning and governance. City officials can drive this transformation by enabling and fostering collaboration across departments, align their policies and budgets to support urban food systems, and partner with stakeholders that include NGOs, private sector, informal traders, the broader community and other food systems actors,” Marivate said. 

Read more: Linking the right to the city with the right to food offers important opportunities to enhance food security

Understanding the intersections between different urban systems, such as water, waste disposal, energy, transport and infrastructure, can help create pathways for residents to access better-quality and more nutrient dense and fresh food, according to the City of Cape Town. DM

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