Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page


To Mayors, City Executives and Urban Planners

You govern or plan cities that have expanded in size. Many count millions of inhabitants. Cities particularly in Africa, the Near East and Asia exhibit high rates of growth (see Table 1). The residents you serve need jobs, food, roads, shelter, hospitals, schools, security and services. They look to you for healthy, sanitary living conditions and hope for the future.

Some cities (e.g. Lagos, Dhaka, Freetown, La Paz, Kinshasa, Guatemala City) face poverty rates of 50 percent or more. Poor residents often live in suburbs or slums with little, if any, infrastructure and facilities.

The poor are challenged to feed themselves in your cities. These difficulties trigger rising levels of street begging and street vendors. Even the threat of food riots stems from the food access dilemma.

Significant food production takes place in certain cities (urban food production) or the periphery (periurban food production). These local producers often lack suitable land, safe water and adequate inputs.

Following recent market liberalization programmes, commercial food activities are now performed by the private sector. But roads, markets, slaughterhouses, licensing, dispute procedures, regulations and credit facilities have not kept pace.

Food security depends upon available income, consumers’ food habits and the costs faced by urban consumers in accessing food in hygienic conditions.

Unhygienic conditions and practices at each point in the food chain may introduce a major source of food contamination. Increasingly, consumers’ health is endangered by meat and meat products that have not been inspected. Air, water and soil are infected by improper use of chemicals and city waste disposal. Vehicle effluents and emissions compound this hazard.

Some governments still intervene in the food economy following unclear and often arbitrary rules.

In consequence, food production and distribution costs, borne by the private sector, may often be higher than necessary and private investment may not be forthcoming.

There is continuing urban expansion in many of your countries with implications for future urban food security.

More and more food is being produced, transported and distributed throughout urban areas (see Table 2 and 3). The demand for land, housing, industry and infrastructure competes with agricultural production in your cities and surroundings. Unless ample investments are undertaken to increase food production, subsequent food supplies are likely to originate from greater distances. Food may reach consumers at an even higher cost. Accessibility to food could be limited for a multiplying number of city dwellers.

Cities need More and More Food

Increasing quantities and varieties of fresh and processed food are required to meet the needs of urban dwellers (see Tables 2 and 3). Other requirements are:

  • land-use management to keep suitable land in urban and periurban areas for efficient and sustainable food production;
  • measures to protect human health and environment from contamination;
  • water supply commensurate in quantity and quality for food production, processing and drinking;
  • sufficient supply of fuelwood for food processing and cooking;
  • enough parking, loading and unloading facilities for a growing number of food trucks;
  • additional wholesale markets and slaughterhouses with plenty of facilities and professional management, away from city centres;
  • retail outlets easily accessible, adequately equipped and well managed, particularly in low-income areas;
  • facilities for spontaneous markets;
  • food producer markets, itinerant traders and retailer associations in low-income districts;
  • private investment in food shops, market improvement, transport facilities, etc.;
  • appropriate arrangements to manage escalating quantities of waste from markets and slaughterhouses;
  • market information for better production and marketing decisions;
  • better packaging and handling methods to reduce food losses;
  • simple, coherent and well understood food production, processing and marketing regulations.

Cities need more and more food which has to be produced and/or imported, transported and distributed throughout the urban areas.

Table 1 Estimated Annual Urban Population Increase in Selected Countries

Kenya

475 000

Nigeria

2 163 000

Bangladesh

1 153 000

Mexico

1 233 000

Brazil

2 087 000

China

11 165 000

India

8 991 000

Source: Habitat (1998) data, elaborated by the author.
Will satisfactory supplies of water in quantity and in quality be available for food production, processing and drinking?

Will today’s slaughterhouses, transportation, market and infrastructure handle well enough the processing and distribution of ever expanding amounts of food? Who will provide the additional capacity, facilities and necessary services if present conditions are not conducive to private investment?

What additional constraints can be expected from the impact on the environment? Badly planned and managed food supply and distribution activities may interfere with water, soil and forests.

This should be your concern!

But many of you may assign relatively low priority to overcoming food supply and distribution problems. Blurred lines of responsibility between government agencies and insufficient consultation with market users are responsible for many such problems. However, the main cause has been the inadequate understanding of:

There is a growing awareness of the need for city and local authorities - i.e. regional, metropolitan, municipal and other local government institutions directly concerned with urban development - to play a proactive and coordinating role in alleviating urban food insecurity, as confirmed by the declarations (see p. 6).

Your mandate is the focus of this guide. The content aims to assist you as well as public health, environment, water and agroforestry specialists, to formulate urban food supply and distribution policies. The goal is to facilitate the right to adequate food for all. You can achieve this goal with little, if any, additional resources. It is a matter of city and local authorities doing what they already do in a better way.

The need exists for a proper understanding of local conditions combined with a perspective of your cities. You are urged to apply an interdisciplinary, multisectoral and participatory approach to find sustainable solutions. The direct involvement of the private sector in planning decisions and their implementation is an essential requirement for sustainable impact.

FAO is ready to provide you with the required technical assistance.

Table 2 Estimated Food Consumption in Selected Cities (Thousands of Tonnes)


Year 2000

Year 2010

Yaoundé

670

1 040

Nairobi

686

1 140

Isfahan

1 417

2 247

Karachi

2 944

4 536

Lima

3 015

3 760

Port-au-Prince

441

685

Managua

309

453

Source: FAO (2000) data on national food consumption averages, elaborated by the author.

Table 3 Estimated Increase in 2010 in Traffic to Selected Cities because of Food Transport


10-tonne truck loads

Abidjan

124 600

Lagos

500 000

Bombay

313 400

Teheran

147 900

Guatemala City

22 900

Maracaibo

27 600

Santiago de los Caballeros

13 100

Source: FAO (2000) data on national food consumption averages, elaborated by the author. Base year: 2000.

Urban and Periurban Food Production

Food production in urban and periurban areas can contribute to (see Annex 5):

  • local supply of fresh, nutritious food such as poultry, small ruminant meat, fruits, vegetables and dairy products;
  • alleviating poverty and improving food security through consumption of self-grown products, employment and income generation;
  • cost-effective environmental management through productive use of organic waste for fertilizer;
  • productive use of suitable and unused open space, contributing to biodiversity and watershed management.


Health in cities starts in the food chain.

Urban gardens provide cheap fresh food for household consumption. But crops may be a source of health risks.

Public Health and Environmental Issues

The disadvantages that emerge when good planning, management, inspection and information are absent include:

  • contamination of food, land and water by incorrect application of wastewater, solid waste and chemicals for food production;
  • traffic congestion, air pollution and noise around markets will increase due to infrastructure shortcomings;
  • growing quantities of waste from processing plants, markets and slaughterhouses together with dumping of plastic packaging and wasteburning boost health risks and pollution of water, soil and air;
  • contaminated food can be caused by meagre market facilities for water supply, drainage, toilets and sewage as well as incorrect handling and storage techniques;
  • progressive depletion of forests because of need for fuelwood for cooking and processing.

The vulnerable urban groups are: the unemployed, new migrants, single mothers with dependent children, pensioners, disabled or old people lacking family support, indigenous people, ethnic minorities, formal sector workers with declining or unstable incomes and those dependent on “crowded” informal sector activities.

Socio-economic Profile of Slums in Ahmedabad, India

  • The population living in slums rose from 23 percent (1976) to 41 percent (1997);
  • sixteen percent of households are headed by women;
  • average family size of seven persons;
  • only 5 percent of households have more than three earning members;
  • seventy five percent of working adults earned less than the minimum wage;
  • eighty seven percent of working women take children to workplaces such as construction sites and markets (these children are unable to attend school);
  • high levels of illiteracy;
  • most live in the open or in temporary shelters such as tin sheds;
  • eighty percent of households have no water connection, 93 percent are without toilets and only 50 percent have electricity;
  • two thirds have to travel more than 1 km to the nearest bus stop, school, post office and clinic.

The above conditions are typical of many cities in developing countries and countries in transition.

Source: Onumah, E.G. and Hubbard, M., 1999.
Fuelwood is widely used for cooking, small-scale food processing, fish and meat smoking, etc. Periurban land can be used for fuelwood plantations.

Food marketing is a source of employment and income for the poor, particularly women and youth.

Dakar Declaration

“We recognize the important role which African city and local authorities can play in ensuring urban food security. We stand ready to undertake, in partnership with all concerned stakeholders:

DECLARATION BY THE AFRICAN
MAYORS PARTICIPATING AT THE
FAO-ISRA SUBREGIONAL SEMINAR
“FOOD SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION
TO FRANCOPHONE AFRICAN CITIES”.
DAKAR, SENEGAL,
14-17 APRIL, 1997

Medellín Declaration

“The need to increase access of all consumers, and low-income consumers in particular, to healthy food through participatory and intersectorial programmes designed to strengthen the efficiency of private systems for the supply and distribution of low-cost food and employment creation.”

DECLARATION OF THE MAYORS AND
MUNICIPAL HEALTH OFFICERS AT THE
3RD CONGRESS OF THE AMERICAS
OF MUNICIPALITIES AND
HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA,
8-12 MARCH, 1999

Barcelona Declaration

“We recognize the importance of ensuring access to food by low-income constituencies in low-income countries as a main objective of local development policies and programmes, following the recommendations of the World Food Summit, held in Rome in 1996.”

DECLARATION BY THE MAYORS, CITY
EXECUTIVES AND REPRESENTATIVES OF
CITY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AT THE
34TH WORLD CONGRESS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
BARCELONA, SPAIN,
20-24 MARCH, 1999


Previous Page Top of Page Next Page