Shifting people, shifting food security needs

As the world becomes more urban, where will our food come from and what will become of rural areas and people?

The world’s population is currently around 7.4 billion people and more than half live in cities. That means that for the first time in history the world is more urban than rural. By 2050, two thirds of the projected global population of almost 10 billion are expected to live in cities, with the largest increases in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Part of this increase is due to people leaving declining or sometimes conflict prone rural areas and heading to cities in search of a better life. Part of the future increase will be a combined result of those migrating today and the children that will be born to those residing in cities in the future.

What does this mean for food security and nutrition? Are there enough jobs and access to decent places to live to absorb this influx? And how will our food be grown if rural areas don’t have people to work in agriculture? What will happen to the people who remain in rural areas and how will they meet their needs?

The questions are many and the answers are far from black and white. One thing that is clear is that the solutions will be interlinked and interdependent. As leaders gather in Quito, Ecuador for Habitat III, the UN conference set to decide a ‘New Urban Agenda’, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will be taking up the issue at its annual session which is also this week. CFS 43 is looking at how we make sure that rural areas are not left behind and those that decide to move to cities can actually achieve the better life they are looking for.

Blurring lines

One of the biggest challenges in determining what to do is addressing the increasingly blurred lines between areas classified as rural and those classified as urban. Each country defines ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ using their own criteria which could range from population density to the number of post offices to the proportion of population engaged in agriculture. As cities grow larger and sprawl into rural areas, and rural areas take on urban characteristics, where is the line drawn on who has the jurisdictional authority to address food security and nutrition issues? Administrative boundaries and classifications are often no longer relevant to the types of challenges that communities are facing to meet their needs.

Changing diets and sources of food

One of the key ways that urban and rural areas are linked is through food. Historically, rural areas produced food both for rural people and to be transported and sold in urban areas. Similarly, people in urban areas ate more processed foods and rural people produced more food for their own consumption. This dynamic is changing with the rise of urban agricultural systems and urban farmers, with an estimated 1 billion people farming and fishing in cities providing 15% — 20% of the world’s food supply. At the same time, people living in rural areas, including farmers, are increasingly purchasing more of their food.

Integrated solutions

Although the speed of the changing dynamics is challenging, there are encouraging opportunities. Both urban and rural areas, and all the blurred areas in between, can meet their food and nutrition needs if there is a greater focus on connectivity and integrated planning. This can include solutions which connect the 500 million smallholder farmers — both urban and rural — directly with the poor and hungry who are not able to grow their own food and struggle to afford to buy healthy and nutritious food. In response to the needs and skills of shifting populations, employment options in both rural and urban areas should be created. More integrated and connected solutions means greater flexibility is needed in decision-making with a more significant role for local authorities and the people that they represent.

CFS 43 will decide how it can contribute to advancing these solutions and making sure that the food insecure and malnourished are not left behind in rural or urban areas.

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