Linking urban food security, urban food systems, poverty, and urbanisation

Abstract

The majority of research on food security and food poverty conducted in Africa focuses its attention solely at the household scale. This chapter argues that this has led to a series of inappropriate policies and programmes that neglect the systemic drivers of food insecurity. The chapter therefore makes a case for considering food insecurity as the outcome of the interaction of households and wider food and urban systems factors. The chapter organizes itself around a discussion about the value of the FAO’s Four Pillars of Food Security as a basis to develop urban food security policy and programming. It makes a case for linking analysis of food security to analyses of food systems and urban systems more broadly in order to develop more appropriate policies and programmes.