Transforming Urban Food Systems in Secondary Cities in Africa

Countries across Africa are rapidly transitioning from rural to urban societies. The UN projects that 60% of people living in Africa will be in urban areas by 2050, with the urban population on the continent tripling over the next 50 years. The challenge of building inclusive and sustainable cities in the context of rapid urbanization is arguably the critical development issue of the 21st Century and creating food secure cities is key to promoting health, prosperity, equity, and ecological sustainability. The expansion of Africa’s urban population is taking place largely in secondary cities: these are broadly defined as cities with fewer than half a million people that are not national political or economic centres. The implications of secondary urbanization have recently been described by the Cities Alliance as “a real knowledge gap”, requiring much additional research not least because it poses new intellectual challenges for academic researchers and governance challenges for policy-makers. International researchers coming from multiple points of view including food studies, urban studies, and sustainability studies, are starting to heed the call for further research into the implications for food security of rapidly growing secondary cities in Africa. This book will combine this research and feature comparable case studies, intersecting trends, and shed light on broad concepts including governance, sustainability, health, economic development, and inclusivity. Jonathan Crush is University Research Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and Professor Extraordinary at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. He obtained his first degree at Cambridge University and his M.A. at Laurier and Ph.D. at Queen’s University. He has taught at the National University of Lesotho, the University of Alberta and Queen’s University and has published extensively on African development, migration and food security. He is currently Director of the Hungry Cities Partnership, a global network focused on the governance of urban food systems under conditions of rapid urbanization. Dr Liam Riley works on several inter-related projects investigating food security and food systems in Africa’s rapidly growing cities. He holds a PhD (2013) and MA (2008) in Geography from Western University in London, Canada and a BA (2003) in East Asian Studies and African Studies from McGill University. Liam held a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2016) and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016-2019) at the BSIA at Wilfrid Laurier University where he is currently an Adjunct Faculty member. His work is rooted in fieldwork in Malawi, Cameroon, South Africa, and Botswana that uses a host of qualitative and quantitative research methods to investigate gendered household food strategies in urban Africa and the political economic dimensions of urban food security as a development challenge.

1. Introduction: African Secondary City Food Systems in Context -- Part 1: Food System Actors, Concepts and Governance -- 2. Understanding Secondary City Typologies: A Food Governance Lens -- 3. Practice Theory and Informal Urban Livelihoods in M’Bour, Senegal: A Case Study of Urban Cultivation -- 4. Co-Productive Urban Planning: Protecting and Expanding Food Security in Uganda’s Secondary Cities -- 5. The Role of the Informal Sector in Epworth’s Food System, Zimbabwe -- 6. The Enabling Environment for Informal Food Traders in Nigeria’s Secondary Cities -- 7. Secondary Cities and Urban Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa -- Part 2: Food Security, Poverty & Livelihoods -- 8. Spatial Characteristics of Urban Food Systems and Food Retailers in Smaller Urban Areas -- 9. Food Insecurity, Food Sourcing and Food Coping Strategies in the O-O-O Urban Corridor, Namibia -- 10. Analysing Diet Composition and Food Insecurity by Socio-Economic Status in Secondary African Cities -- 11. Household Dietary Patterns and Food Security Challenges in Peri-Urban South Africa: A Reflection of High Unemployment in the Wake of Rising Food Prices -- 12. “We eat everyday but I’m perpetually hungry”: Interrogating Food System Transformation and (Forced) Dietary Changes in Tamale, Ghana -- 13. Understanding Food Security and Hunger in Xai-Xai, Mozambique -- Part 3: Environments, Linkages and Mobilities -- 14. Hunger in an Agricultural City: Exploring Vulnerability in Dschang, Cameroon -- 15. Non-Timber Forest Products in Cameroon’s Food System and the Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in Dschang -- 16. Accessibility of Sanitary Facilities Among Food Sellers in African Secondary Cities: Implications for Food Safety and Urban Planning Policies -- 17. Migrant Remittances and Household Food Security in Mzuzu, Malawi -- 18. Rural-Urban Migrants in Mzuzu’s Informal Food Trading System -- 19. Rent as Ransom: Lodging and Food Security in Gweru, Zimbabwe. .