Reframing food security for an urbanising world

This blog, published by IIED on 10 April 2017, reports on the discussions of a technical workshop, co-organised by IIED and IFAD in March 2017. The workshop reflected on the nature and diversity of urbanisation processes and rural-urban linkages, their impacts on food systems and what this means for achieving food security and adequate nutrition for the urban and rural poor.

The blog considers that much of the current debate on global food security is framed in terms of inadequate agricultural production, with little attention to how the diverse processes of urbanisation contribute to profound transformations in rural areas and in food systems. Understanding and documenting these transformations and how they affect low-income groups in rural and urban contexts is the first step to map out the interconnections between SDG2 and the other Goals. Recognising that food insecurity is context-specific helps shape pro-poor initiatives, and social protection has an important role to play in compensating for market gaps and failures. But perhaps most important is that the governance of food systems at the local, national, regional and global scales needs to reflect current transformations in both rural and urban contexts.