FOR MORE INFORMATION IFPRI has launched the “Urban Challenges to Food and Nutrition Security” program to help provide information for these strategies. Download a copy of this press release in PDF format: (PDF 118K)

Urban policy makers in developing countries face a growing problem – literally. By 2020, the number of people living in the developing world will grow from 5 billion to 7 billion; 90% of this increase will be in rapidly expanding cities and towns. By 2020, more than half the population of Africa and Asia will live in urban areas; more than three-quarters of Latin Americans already do.

Urban and rural dwellers alike are drawn to cities by the promise of a better life, yet the sheer volume of people compromises the ability of the city to meet their basic needs. As a result, in many developing countries, urban poverty, hunger, and malnutrition are increasing. In Bangladesh, statistics show that while rural poverty rates have declined in the past decade, poverty rates in cities have increased for the first time. Increases in urban poverty are evident across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Urban hunger and malnutrition cannot be ignored. In the past, urban development strategies focused largely on building infrastructure to keep up with demands of an increasing population. However, improving lives for the urban poor is not just about where they live, but how they live. If nations are to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of cutting hunger and poverty in half by 2015, they must place the need to effectively feed cities firmly on the agenda. Addressing urban hunger and malnutrition must be a prologue to urban development, not a postscript.

The merging of the Urban Environment Forum and the International Forum on Urban Poverty into the World Urban Forum recognizes this crucial distinction, and the United Nations supports this perspective through its “Cities Without Slums” initiative. These are important steps in the struggle to improve the lives of the urban poor; unfortunately, the solution is not that easy.

The Urban Food and Nutrition Security Perspective

Urban hunger and malnutrition are problems that are all too often overlooked, for a number of reasons. In some cases, other needs are more visible. For example, cleaning up slums mired in dirty water and human filth seems more urgent than attacking the problems of food insecurity and malnutrition; squalid conditions are much more easily seen than hunger. Frequently, the poor themselves do not see food security or nutrition as high priorities; hunger and malnutrition seem normal since they have been part of their lives for so long.

Yet the problem persists, and the consequences threaten future generations. Hungry children have greater difficulty in school than well-fed children. Malnutrition in young children has long-term negative effects on physical and cognitive development. It also has enormous impacts on economic growth and productivity, with the potential to do untold amounts of damage for years to come.

Governments and donor agencies tend to view hunger and malnutrition as general indicators of the success of other development activities, rather than as the central focus of their anti-poverty strategies. Improving urban food and nutrition security requires a more direct, more focused, and more integrated strategy.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has launched the “Urban Challenges to Food and Nutrition Security” program to help provide information for these strategies. Currently, IFPRI is conducting research that provides policymakers, program administrators, and development practitioners with information to assist in making sound decisions to reduce urban food insecurity and malnutrition.

Fighting the Challenges of Urban Food and Nutrition Security

City dwellers cope with vulnerability and risk in distinct ways, and unique policy responses are required to address their needs. For example, poor people frequently pay more for food than rich people. This is partly due to congestion in urban markets that serve the poor, and partly because poor urban consumers tend to buy in smaller quantities. In response to these problems, markets for food must function efficiently. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has taken steps toward addressing this issue through its “Food into Cities” initiative that works with local governments to improve food supplies to and inside urban areas.

An ample supply of food does not guarantee the urban poor will be able to afford it, however. To increase incomes of the poor, national governments must establish macroeconomic policies that encourage growth, and labor policies that do not discriminate against them. City governments must also pay attention to the potential of urban agriculture. Even in crowded areas, people can often find space to grow vegetables or raise animals to supplement the food they buy. The Strategic Initiative on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture, an international research program led by the International Potato Center, provides information on international experiences with urban agriculture to local partners to assist city officials in meeting urban agricultural needs.

Urban nutrition depends not only on food, but also on health and caring practices, especially for children. In many countries, however, women do not get enough or appropriate food, even when they are pregnant, because they often give it first to the men and children. The health of the urban poor is threatened as a result of living amid filthy conditions in flimsy, makeshift, and overcrowded housing. Infrastructure programs are critical to provide safe water and adequate systems for disposing of garbage and human waste. Improving women’s educational levels and providing mothers with information they need on childcare are also important components of a strategy to improve nutrition.

Policymakers must also examine how goods, services, and people link urban and rural areas. In many cities, a majority of people depend directly on agricultural production for their livelihoods; many more do so indirectly as vendors of agricultural supplies, and as processors, transporters, wholesalers, and retailers. Many city dwellers also still own land in the country, and may fall back on relatives in rural areas in time of need. Policies must take into account that the livelihoods of the urban poor do not exist in geographical isolation; instead, their lives, needs, and survival strategies span the urban-rural divide.

Growing Cities, Growing Needs

Many nongovernmental and donor organizations are beginning to make urban food and nutrition a priority, implementing programs that focus on these issues in developing countries. By including issues of poverty on the agenda of the World Urban Forum, governments, NGOs, and donors are taking an important step toward assisting the needs of the urban poor. Addressing hunger and malnutrition will require a clear, comprehensive strategy that includes governments, nongovernmental and community organizations, and the urban poor themselves. Food security and nutrition must not be thought of as an after-effect of general anti-poverty programs. Policymakers cannot afford to miss an opportunity to utilize and build on currently available knowledge and resources to dramatically reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Urban populations will continue to grow, and these problems will only grow with them- unless we take action now.