Food Security in Southern African Cities: Conditions and Prospects

Bruce Frayne

Outline

• The ‘invisible crisis’

• Responses to urban food insecurity

• AFSUN 11 city urban food security baseline survey findings

Food Security - the ‘big issues’

• 25,000 people die every day from hunger and related causes

• 3 billion people malnourished (poverty)

• 3 billion more people by 2050

• +40% of agricultural land and ocean resources degraded

• Climate change is upon us

Sources: FAO, IFPRI, UNFPA, UNEP

1950 1975 2000 2025 20500

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

World Population Growth Projection

Least DevelopedMost Developed

Pop

ula

tion

in

Bil

lion

s

Why urban food security?

human future is urban

essential basic need (survival)

cross-cutting

multi-sectoral and

multi-disciplinary

population growth greatest in

poorest regions

locus of poverty shifting to urban

areas

health dependent on food security

rural - urban interdependence and food system

continuum

current agro-industrial model unsustainable

chronic illness greatest in cities

The Invisible Crisis• World Food Summits in 1996 and 2002 (and MDG No. 1)

made commitment to reducing no of undernourished people (800 million) by 50% by 2015

• 2006 Mid-Term Review of Committee on World Food Security found “progress has been negligible.”

• 2009, following global food price hikes and world economic crisis, FAO estimates number exceeds 1 billion

2030 – Africa’s urban population exceeds the ruralNational growth rates: Urban = 3-5% p.a.

Rural = 0-2% p.a.

Source: World Population Prospects: The 2009 Revision, http://esa.un.org/wup2009/unup/

Rural

Urban

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Million

ProjectionsEstimates

SADC will be 77% urban by 2050

Urban Poverty +40%

Country Urban growth Rate (%)

Urban Poverty (%)

Botswana 6 30

Lesotho 4 46

Malawi 6 54

Mozambique 6 62

Namibia 4 40

South Africa 4 40

Swaziland 6 66

Zambia 4 52

Zimbabwe 5 70

Source: World Population Prospects: The 2009 Revision, http://esa.un.org/wup2009/unup/

Mean UGR = 5% Mean UP = 51%

3. RESPONSES TO URBAN FOOD INSECURITYGlobal Responses

…the world is urbanizing at a fast pace and it will not be long before a greater part of developing country populations is living in large cities. Therefore, urban food security and its related problems should also be placed high on the agenda in the years to come (FAO Executive Director, Jacques Diouf, 2006)

The phenomenon of urbanization, which will be one of the strongest social forces in the coming years… One major challenge will be how to provide adequate quantities of nutritious and affordable food for more urban inhabitants, with less water, land and labour (FAO 25th Regional Conference on Africa, Nairobi, 2008)

There is an urgent need to collect evidence on, and monitor, the food and nutrition security situation of the urban poor, recognizing the complexity involved given the mobility of the urban poor within and across cities. ( Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP, 2009)

CANADA-AFRICA PARTNERSHIP RESPONSE

• AFRICAN FOOD SECURITY URBAN NETWORK (AFSUN) established in 2008

• Initial funding from CIDA University Partners in Cooperation and Development (UPCD) Tier One Program

• Partnership between 6 Canadian universities, 11 African universities, major NGOs and municipal governance networks

Cape Town

Durban

Johannesburg

Maseru

Windhoek

Maputo

Lusaka

Harare

Bulawayo

Blantyre

Gaborone

Manzini

CITY NETWORK

CANADA

QUEENSRYERSONCALGARYGUELPH

UWOUW

CIDAPARTNERSHIP

BRANCH

POLICY

Municipal Development Partnership (MDPESA)South African Cities Network (SACN)

COMMUNITY

Care Southern AfricaFood and Trees for AfricaIdasaABC Ulwazi

SOUTH AFRICA – Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN (LEAD)WITS UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU NATAL

BOTSWANA – GaboroneUNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA

LESOTHO – MaseruNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LESOTHO

MALAWI – BlantyreUNIVERSITY OF MALAWI

MOZAMBIQUE – MaputoEDUARDO MONDLANE UNIVERSITY

NAMIBIA – WindhoekUNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA

SWAZILAND – ManziniUNIVERSITY OF SWAZILAND

ZAMBIA - LusakaUNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

ZIMBABWE - HarareUNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

TRAINING / RESEARCH

AFSUN Objectives

Goal To increase the capacity of SADC universities,

municipal governments and community agents to enhance urban

food security in major SADC cities

Purpose To create a dynamic regional partnership network to work collaboratively on

enhancing urban food security in the SADC

Applied Research

UFS Baseline Survey – 11 cities

research projects on key themes

demand/supply driven

graduate research

Capacity Building

Program in Urban Food Security (PUFS) at UCT

bursaries

in-service short courses

(professionals and community

agents)

Policy Support

raising awareness

build policy capacity

policy engagement/UFS

strategies

strengthen inter-governmental &

multi-stakeholder cooperation

Community Interventions

inventory & needs assessment

training workshops to

evaluate program impacts/outcome

community radio programs

AFSUN Activity Streams

AFSUN Urban Food Security Baseline Survey 2008-9

• 11 cities, 9 SADC countries

• Pro-poor focus: target poor households in each city

• 6,500 households and 28,700 individuals

• Standardised survey questionnaire

• Internationally validated food security scales (FANTA)

Major Findings1. Levels of Urban Household Food Insecurity

Windhoek

Gaborone

Maseru

Manzini

Maputo

Blantyre

Lusa

ka

Harare

Cape Town

Msunduzi

Johannesburg

Total0

102030405060708090

100

Household Food Security Status for 11 Cities

Food secure

Food insecure

77%

77% chronically food insecure

Windhoek

Gaborone

Maseru

Manzini

Maputo

Blantyre

Lusa

ka

Harare

Cape Town

Pietermarit

zburg

Johannesburg

Total0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (months in past year)

Food secureFood insecure

4 months without

Major FindingsFood Sources for Urban Households

Reliance on informal/coping sources > food insecurityHousehold Sources of Food by Household Food Security Status (%)

Urban Agriculture

Proportion Households Sourcing Food from Urban Agriculture

Food Transfers: Transfers > for food insecure households

Food Transfers to Urban Households (% receiving)

Food secure Food insecure Total Transfers

16

84

28

Major FindingsImpact of Food Prices on Urban

Household Food Security

Food Prices: 78% ‘going without’

www.afsun.org

Looking to the future of food security in Africa

Small-scale farming?Urban livelihoods?

Migration in sample (%)

Our urban future – food security will be resolved in the towns and cities of the world

Yet despite the evidence…

The global paradigm still ignores food as an urban

issue

12 thematic areas