One of the most complex policy issues facing many developing-country governments over the next decade, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, concerns the problem of providing the impoverished sections of urban populations with adequate food at prices they can afford, while both meeting the fiscal requirements of adjustment programmes and promoting domestic agricultural production. The pressure to reduce urban food subsidies is in many cases already immense, and the implications for urban household food security are considerable. This article looks at recent Zambian experience, and suggests that new and more efficient ways of targeting subsidies may be required if levels of food consumption are not to deteriorate still further.