Food Into Cities

The rapid growth of African cities is increasing food insecurity for urban households, especially for the poorer ones. The challenge confronting cities consists in ensuring an adequate supply of food to satisfy their nutritional needs in terms of quantity, variety and taste, at accessible/affordable prices. Food supply and distribution systems (FSDS), whether formal or informal, are a key element in this challenge. They are a link between the production areas (mostly rural and peri-urban) and the consumption areas (urban). An efficient FSDS can, in effect, increase the availability of food to the urban consumer, and at the same time increase the revenues of both traders and producers. However, a number of different constraints impede the necessary efficiency and dynamism of FSDS to ensure the food security of urban households. These constraints affect both the urban and non-urban areas and are discussed in the various papers in this Bulletin. The papers are a selection of those originally published in the French version of AGS Bulletins 132-133 "Aliments dans les villes" and cover the major issues affecting urban food supply and distribution systems and their role in increasing urban food security. They are addressed towards urban managers and planners together with professionals and researchers concerned with urban food security.