Cape Town's urban food security plan : a conceptual framework for achieving an accessible and healthy urban food system

Includes bibliographical references.Until recently food insecurity has been thought to be a primarily a rural problem. Local, national and international food security agendas have focused primarily on agricultural production as a means to addressing food insecurity. However more recent analyses of urban food insecurity indicate that is not a result of food shortage but rather food access and affordability. This research focuses on Cape Town as a case study as its rapidly rising urban population, especially amongst the lower income groups, is placing further pressure on the urban food system as the poor are often unable to purchase sufficient food throughout the month due to income constraints. Nevertheless, enhanced food production still remains the cornerstone strategy to alleviate food insecurity and even poverty in Cape Town. The interviews revealed that urban food insecurity is absent from urban planning agendas which has consequently caused food insecurity to proliferate in the city environment, especially amongst the urban poor. Considering that urban food insecurity is a relatively new concept, especially for South Africa, it is important to understand how it manifests itself within urban contexts and understand the determinants of it in Cape Town. The research identified that food moves through the city differently between formal and informal markets and that informal markets tend to have higher unit prices. Regardless of the higher prices of products from informal markets they were still found to be key food sourcing strategy for the urban poor as supermarkets were found to be, for the most part, absent from the Cape Flats area. The challenge for urban planners in Cape Town is to understand how food insecurity manifests itself spatially and to consider what policy approaches are available to them to improve food access and thus food security throughout Cape Town. The intention of this research is to understand the extent of these problems in Cape Town and to develop an Urban Food Security Plan to place urban food systems planning on the planning agenda