Guido Santini, Technical Coordinator of the “Food for the Cities” Programme at FAO 3 December 2018. This was the forth event in the series ‘Frontiers in Development Policy’ and it analyzed the importance of the link between both the rural and urban dimension. In particular the focus was on recognizing the role of small towns and enhancing rural-urban linkages in making food systems more effective and inclusive.

1. Frontiers in Development Policy
Strengthening Rural-Urban Linkages in Africa to achieve food security
DEVCO Info Point, 03 December2018
Guido Santini (Food for the Cities Programme Coordinator)

2. 1. Why cities and towns?

3. Because the world is urbanizing…
Source: FAO (2017) Future of food and agriculture

4. 4
Source: OECD dataset
… with more and bigger cities and
towns…

5. Source: UN Habitat and Frost & Sullivan
... where slums concentrate poverty

6. …adult obesity is increasing

7. … and food systems are unsustainable
Urbanization
Transformation of food systems
Multidimensional rural urban linkages
Food insecurity
and
malnutrition
Livelihoods and
economic
development
Social exclusion
and inequity
(slums, informal
settings)
Pressure on the environment
Impacts on

8. Food is already in the urban agenda…
Key facts
 UPA is practised by 800 million people worldwide. Cash savings used
for buying staple foods. 100 million people estimate.
 About 90% of all agricultural products are traded on markets that are
embedded within a territory.
 About 15-20% of the world’s food is produced in urban areas; For
perishable products this may rise to 60% or more
 Poor urban households produce 15- 60 % of their food themselves
(e.g. East Jakarta 18 %, Kampala 50 %, Harare 60 %)

9. Cities have the means to shape their food
systems…but under conditions
 Policy or investment decisions at local level shape the food
system in the metropolitan area/region,
 Local authorities are key players but a significant level of autonomy is
needed (remits, financial, human resources, etc.)
 Cities have instruments but not sufficient legal and regulatory to
integrate into policy and planning
 Cities are but one of the many actors of their food systems
(partnership, multi-stakeholder dialogues, governance)
 Cities’ actions go beyond the city boundaries and are shape by
their external environment.
 Lack of vertical and horizontal integration and governance mechanism
structure for food security and nutrition

10. • Recognizing the role of local governments in achieving FSN
• Facilitating a more solid bridge among several SDGs,
particularly SDG2 SDG11
2015 2016 2017
Political Momentum
Growing recognition - food for sustainable urban development

11. Cities are innovating…
• Land management, urban and peri-urban agriculture
• Commercial urban planning
• Mass catering
• Rural urban linkages
• Waste management
• Governance

12. … which is increasingly
documented

13. How to support the urban food
agenda?
How to shift from local innovations to revolution?

14. 179
cities
Governance
Sustainable
diets and
nutrition
Social and
economic
equity
Food
production
and rural
urban linkages
Food supply
and
distribution
Food loss and
waste
Milan Urban Food Policy Pact

15. Cities are already cooperating but need support…
2018 Doula
Food Advisor on Food Systems
Strategy
2017 Microgarden technology
exchange (Dakar/Praia/Doula)
2018/19 Deeper city to city
exchange Douala, Pointe Noire –
food department in the council
2018 urban food monitoring
framework: exchange among 14
cities

16. From sectoral to system approach to food in cities
food links sectors and development objectives
Food and
agriculture
Natural
resources
management
Socio-
economic and
health factors
Agro-biodiversity
Livestock and aquaculture
Food markets/supply
Food loss and waste
Soil and water
Land tenure
Energy
Forest and trees
Hunger and malnutrition
Shifting diets and habits
Food safety and street
food
Migration and labour

17. From city to territorial approach to food in cities
fostering rural urban linkages through food
Farmers markets, retail
and wholesale markets
Coastal resources
Peri-urban and
rural green wedges
Riparian zones
Farmers markets, retail
and wholesale markets
City
City region
Upland forest

18. FAO’s role:
Local stakeholders are key actors in achieving FAO’s mandate
• Promote territorial and city region approaches to food systems , by
strengthening rural-urban linkages
• Harness the potential of rural-urban migration to create employment
opportunities in the food system across urban and rural areas
• Facilitate the creation of multistakeholder food governance mechanisms
across urban rural areas
• Help in building a more permanent local food system network of key actors and
broad inter-sectoral alliances (agriculture, health, infrastructures, etc.);
• Facilitate bridging and policy dialogue between local and national governments =>
resources allocation from national to local governments
• Facilitate mainstreaming food and agriculture in national urbanization policies and
decentralization processes
• Facilitate the engagement of private sector
• Foster knowledge exchange on good practices and promote cooperation
mechanisms among local and national governments
• South-South cooperation through city to city exchange on good practices

19. How FAO does it
an programmatic and integrated approach
Food system assessment
Investment to deliverImplementation and monitoring
Food policy and planning
- Support assessments through tools
and guidelines
- Facilitate policy dialogue, provide
advise on policy formulation and
planning
- Provide technical support by sector and
across sectors, including assistance towards
sustainable production, efficient postharvest
systems, healthy food environments,
improved food waste management
- Facilitate partnership
engagement and resource
mobilization
- Support business models and
investment planning
- Enhance multi-stake
holder participatory
processes, multi-level
governance and cross-
sectoral coordination
- Facilitate city to city
collaboration
Support by FAO and partners
Key element for
operationalizing
food systems
Governance
mechanism

20. Conclusion
• Strong demand to design urban and territorial food policies with strong
rural-urban linkages => need for innovative instruments for planning
• Cities and towns have a critical role (innovations) in this most needed to
address the problem of hunger, malnutrition, food waste and climate
change, but under conditions
• Change software for action and decision making: impacts
• Beyond cities: innovations from private sector, producers, consumers,
NGOs, academia, technical and financial partners, etc. => multi-
stakeholder/social choice
• Beyond urban boundaries: multi-level governance / national and
international policies
• city region food systems are practical solutions to deal with challenges
and opportunities related to climate change and migration across urban
and rural areas
• Sustainable cities requires sustainable connected rural areas

21. Thank you
guido.santini@fao.org
http://www.fao.org/in-action/food-for-
cities-programme/en/