Hunger and malnutrition can often appear to be the plight of the rural and remote, yet for the four billion of us who live in urban areas, these problems are increasingly close to home.
An invisible food and nutrition crisis is unfolding in plain sight in cities across the world. Even in the UK labour shortages have recently led to supply disruption and empty supermarket shelves.
A rising urban population is causing greater competition for food, jobs, and resources, and as links to rural areas weaken, this crisis is becoming even more pronounced. With urbanisation unlikely to slow down, especially in the developing world, food systems must adapt or fail.
By 2050, more than two-thirds of the global population will live in urban environments, up from just over half of the world population today. Around 90 per cent of this growth is expected to take place in Asia and Africa.
As it stands, our food systems are not prepared for such dramatic growth in the global urban population coupled with ongoing environmental degradation and widening inequality.
If we want to avoid a future hunger and nutrition crisis in rapidly growing urban areas worldwide, we need decisive action now.
For example, by 2100, the population of Addis Ababa alone is expected to rise from more than five million today to almost 40 million people.
In the Ethiopian capital, as with many of the world’s biggest and fastest growing cities, food systems are already pushed to their limits with levels of food insecurity at around 75 per cent, and are unable to provide affordable and healthy food for their people.
The triple burden of malnutrition – bringing together undernutrition, overnutrition, and micronutrient deficiency – is a particular plight of the urban poor in the same communities and sometimes in the same families, and one that can only be expected to worsen as the burden upon food systems becomes ever greater.
Governments and policymakers must take decisive action to bolster urban food systems, not only to tackle food crises and reduce hunger and malnutrition, but to also contribute towards environmental goals, better employment opportunities for women and young people, and greater social equality.
This starts with better urban planning, which incorporates food systems – from production and consumption to disposal – within the very structures and systems that underpin cities.
One key example involves factoring in informal food-related structures like markets and street vendors, which are particularly important for both producers and consumers in developing countries.
It also includes adopting new technologies and better environmental regulations in towns and cities, such as providing cleaner sites and resources for small-scale vegetable growers on the urban outskirts, as well as supporting innovative start-ups piloting vertical farming.
These innovations, when embedded into growing cities, can help to increase the availability and affordability of vegetables, livestock and fish and improve the diets of millions of low-income consumers.
Secondly, creating resilient and food-secure cities also means developing and maintaining a strong relationship with rural areas and the rural economy, as these areas will remain the predominant food-producing zones.
Strengthening these links is mutually beneficial, and minimises the kind of disruption to global trade seen during the pandemic. By fostering healthy food systems in urban areas, cities are also supporting sustainable economic growth for the millions of women and young people that are otherwise left behind in both the urban and rural economies.
Finally, improving standards of food safety, as well as the management of food waste, in cities would not only reduce health risks, but would also reduce the environmental impact of urbanization and provide unique business opportunities for food enterprises.
For instance, investing in facilities to recycle leftover food can provide organic matter to feed insect farms. In turn, this emerging, profitable and sustainable market also generates an alternative source of protein for livestock feed whilst also minimising the waste that arrives at landfills.
The world’s rapidly growing urban populations are facing an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis with tremendous public health consequences, which is only compounded by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yet, our current system of food production and distribution does not automatically feed and nourish cities and towns. This needs to change.
Scientists at CGIAR see potential to improve the diets of as many as 50 million consumers by 2030 with dedicated efforts towards transforming urban food systems, which also come with benefits for health, environment and livelihoods.
Ahead of the crucial UN Food Systems Summit, decision makers must address a looming food crisis in cities worldwide. And they can do this by seizing a valuable opportunity to create better food futures for the world’s urban majority through investments in agri-food systems that cater for urban as well as rural needs and resources.
As our cities grow, so too should our food systems. If we act now, we can build healthier, more sustainable, and more resilient systems of the future that can provide good food for all.
- Simon Heck is Program Director of CGIAR’s International Potato Center
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