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Introduction

In a recent overview of the urban food situation, Atkinson (1995, p. 152) suggested that given current trends, the question of urban food security may become the “greatest humanitarian challenge of the next century.” Yet, this paper argues that food insecurity in African cities is relatively invisible to policymakers and is scarcely recognized in contemporary political debate. This paper very briefly reviews the contemporary urban situation in Africa, discusses the “disappearance” of the urban food problem, and suggests some research questions of policy relevance.

The problems faced by African cities are many. Rates of urban-population growth, which had slowed during the 1980s, are again on the increase (United Nations 1995). The infrastructural and tax bases of cities cannot catch up with the services demanded by their expanding urban populations, and this leads to increased crowding and a deteriorating urban environment (Farvacque and McAuslan 1992; Stren et al. 1992; Becker et al. 1994). Urban economies in sub-Saharan Africa declined markedly during the 1970s and 1980s, and policy reforms initiated under structural-adjustment programs (SAPs) in the 1980s cut many services and certainly cut public-sector employment. In theory, the movement toward more democratic forms of government in contemporary Africa strengthens local and municipal governments. But it also puts increased demands on their already strained capacities, and questions remain about the access of the urban poor to local political processes.

Although poverty is still primarily a rural problem, the rapidly increasing level of urban poverty requires much greater policy attention (Naylor and Falcon 1995). Urban poverty is increasing over much of the continent, and urban analysts believe the extent of urban poverty may be underestimated (Satterthwaite 1995). The urban poor spend a large portion of their income on food (von Braun et al. 1993), which largely means that the poverty problem appears as a food-security problem. Contemporary African urban food economies comprise both a global supermarket for the well to do and a set of very localized coping strategies for the vulnerable (Drakakis-Smith 1991).

Development theory has been ambivalent about African urbanization, which was once equated with modernization and growth but has since been branded as a “parasitic process” and a cause of underdevelopment (Baker and Pedersen 1992, p. 12). Many of the reasons for the change in view have stemmed from “urban-bias” theory (Lipton 1977; Bates 1981), which suggests that because of the greater political clout of urban populations, they are favoured at the expense of rural populations. Urban-bias theory became one of the intellectual cornerstones of SAPs in Africa. During the 1980s and 1990s, policy emphasis was on “getting the prices right,” or permitting market

forces, rather than (urban-biased) bureaucracies, to set prices, with urban consumers bearing much of the cost of this adjustment (von Braun et al. 1993). Urban-bias theory is still very influential in the views of planners and policymakers in the 1990s, although perhaps not as much as in the past. Fortunately, researchers are reexamining cities and urban poverty, in terms of both research and policy (Amis 1995; Moser 1995; de Haan 1997). However, urban food-security issues have virtually disappeared from the political debate.

Food security and African cities

Definitions of food security used in African policy debates revolve around that of the World Bank (1986): “access by all people at all times to sufficient food for an active healthy life.” Other definitions of food security include different elements but emphasize overall food availability, food access, and food use. Recent work on food security also emphasizes the risks to food access and people’s ability to cope with such risks (Davies 1996). Most of this conceptual and empirical work has been done in rural areas.

In the 1980s, two major strands of analysis characterized the debate on urban food security in Africa. One centred around the serious matter of “feeding the cities,” that is, maintaining the overall supply of food to African cities (World Bank 1981; Eicher 1982; Guyer 1987). The other concerned SAPs (Cornia et al. 1987; Walton and Seddon 1994). These were serious political problems because both food shortages and sudden increases in food prices could — and did — lead to political protests that ultimately toppled governments. Political protests were linked to more than just the availability and price of food; rather, access to food and other basic urban necessities was at their root. Protests occurred in Africa through the 1980s and early 1990s. Not surprisingly, these political disturbances were the strongest in the most urbanized of African countries, most notably Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia (Riley and Parfitt 1994). And, contrary to popular belief, the protestors were not necessarily the poorest people but those who perceived most markedly the changed economic and political circumstances that led to impoverishment and loss of entitlement.

In the short term, the market reforms of the SAPs brought about price shocks that led to political protests. But in the longer term, these reforms appear to have reduced problems in overall supply of food to cities. Certainly, “feeding the cities” is no longer the political issue it was in the 1980s. But removing the major supply constraints has tended to close the political debate, even at a time when differences in access to food at the household or individual level are becoming more acute. Thus, even as food insecurity is becoming a more serious problem for the urban poor it has dropped out of political visibility.

Food insecurity has become politically invisible in contemporary African cities for several reasons. First, to urban managers, urban food insecurity is obscured by more urgent urban problems — unemployment, the burgeoning of the informal sector, overcrowding, decaying infrastructure, and declining services — although food insecurity is directly linked to these other problems. Second, national policymakers have tended to focus less on urban food insecurity than on food insecurity in rural areas, where it is typically a more seasonal and community-wide phenomenon. Third, both urban managers and national policymakers fail to recognize urban food insecurity because, in the 1990s, unless major supply problems or sudden price spikes negatively and simultaneously affect a large number of urban residents, food insecurity must be dealt with at the

household or individual level. It rarely becomes a political issue. So long as food insecurity is a household-level problem and does not translate into a political problem, it does not attract policy attention.

To sum up, urban populations and urban poverty in Africa are growing rapidly, and inequality is increasing. The major urban food problems of the 1970s and 1980s — food shortages and price shocks — have apparently been largely resolved, at least in the short to medium term. Because of this, urban food security — having long been defined as the issue of feeding the cities (aggregate food supply and price considerations) — has dropped off the political agenda of urban planners and urban managers; indeed, specifically urban food-security problems receive relatively little attention from national food or nutrition policy planners. Thus, even though the indications are that food insecurity in African cities in the 1990s is on the increase, it is relatively invisible, partly because it tends not to be linked to seasonal or community-wide processes and partly because of a long-held belief that urban populations are better off, or even favoured. But urban food insecurity is directly linked to urban poverty and inequality, and for this reason, research on urban food security in the 1990s must focus on the question of access — access not only to food but also to political processes.

Empirical questions for an analysis of urban food and livelihood security

Several questions must be investigated simultaneously if one is to understand the issues of urban food and livelihood security and make relevant policy recommendations:

1. Have problems of aggregate food supply been resolved?
2. What has happened to real urban food prices and real incomes over time?
3. What has happened to formal safety nets intended to protect the poor?
4. How have people responded to drops in real income? What happened to livelihoods, household organization, and the labour of women?
5. What has been the response of national and local governments to changes at the household level? What happens when the livelihood and survival activities of the urban poor run into direct conflict with actions and policies developed by urban managers and national policymakers to improve infrastructure, attract investment, and lay the foundation for sustainable economic growth, at city and national economic levels?
6. Can examples be found of “constructive reciprocities” between state–local government and civil society? Are there models of collaboration among national and municipal governments, local organizations, and local communities to protect the most vulnerable?

No general answers can be given to these questions. They have to be answered on a case-by-case basis. But answers to these questions are crucial to understanding food insecurity in contemporary urban Africa. In a resource-constrained era, when money for formal safety nets is unlikely to be broadly available, the crucial challenge will be to incorporate the answers to these questions into the policy-formulation process.

References

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