Urban Challenges to Food and Nutrition Security in the Developing World

FOOD SECURITY TENDS to be viewed from a rural perspective. This special issue, based on a research program underway at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), provides a welcome exception. Not only is food and nutrition insecurity found to be growing faster in urban than rural areas, but the challenges are significantly different. While the information base is patchy, these finding clearly indicate the importance of taking the urban challenge seriously.

The first two articles review international trends in developing countries. Drawing on recent surveys of urban poverty and undernutrition, Haddad and colleagues conclude that there are still more poor and undernourished people in rural areas, but that both the absolute number and the overall share in urban areas is increasing. They also point out that the tendency to ignore intra-urban differences is misleading, and that it is important to distinguish between rural and urban areas in terms of strategy and tactics. In the second article, Popkin (the one author not involved in the IFPRI programme) focuses on the “nutrition transition,” and presents evidence that obesity and dietary excess, normally considered problems of affluent countries, are also becoming serious problems among the urban populations of many lower income countries. The next four articles examine the causes and responses to urban food and nutrition insecurity, starting with two review articles and proceeding with two case studies from sub-Saharan Africa. Ruel and colleagues focus on the distinct features to urban food and nutrition insecurity, including: greater dependence on cash income; weaker informal safety nets; more female participation in the labour force; and greater exposure to environmental contamination. Maxwell examines the political economy of urban food security in sub-Saharan Africa, noting that while food shortages have commanded political attention, for many urban dwellers the problem has become more one of insecure access to food, which is more easily ignored. Garrett and Ruel compare rural and urban food security and nutritional status in Mozambique, where rural nutrition problems are particularly severe, even if food security is also poor in urban areas (for somewhat different reasons). Finally Levin and colleagues use survey data from Accra to examine a gender dimension to food insecurity, noting for example that working women tend to spend a greater share of their income on food, as compared to men who spend more on their own leisure activities.

The final two articles turn to ways of addressing food and nutrition problems. Ruel and colleagues conclude on the basis of survey data from Accra that good care practices can make an appreciable difference. Morris and colleagues, on the other hand, find that data from Accra and Abidjan indicate that there are serious limitations to approaches based on geographical targeting, since nutrition problems are not as clustered as problems relating to, for example, sanitation.