The Crisis of Food Insecurity in African Cities

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and increasing urban poverty are shifting the historical locus of food insecurity from the rural areas to the cities of Africa. This article uses data from the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) baseline survey carried out in 11 cities in 9 southern African countries in 2008–2009 to demonstrate the existence of extremely high levels of urban food insecurity. The lack of access to food is primarily the result of household poverty, high unemployment, and limited income-generating opportunities rather than any absolute food shortages. The article also shows the growing importance of supermarkets, and the relative insignificance of urban agriculture in the food sourcing strategies of the urban poor.

Keywords:

• urban
• food security
• southern Africa
• poverty
• hunger
• supermarkets
• informal food economy

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the following for their contributions to the AFSUN baseline survey: Caryn Abrahams, Ben Acquah, Jane Battersby-Lennard, Eugenio Bras, Mary Caesar, Asiyati Chiweza, David Coetzee, Scott Drimie, Rob Fincham, Miriam Grant, Florian Kroll, Clement Leduka, Aloysius Mosha, Chileshe Mulenga, Peter Mvula, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Wade Pendleton, Akiser Pomuti, Ines Raimundo, Cecilia Rocha, Michael Rudolph, Shaun Ruysenaar, Nomcebo Simelane, Godfrey Tawodzera, Daniel Tevera, Percy Toriro, Maxton Tsoka, and Lazarus Zanamwe. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Christa Schier with data analysis and Cassandra Eberhardt with the editing of this article. The Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project (FANTA) is gratefully acknowledged for providing the methodology and questions used in this survey to collect food insecurity data. The survey was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through its University Partners in Cooperation and Development (UPCD) Tier One Program.