Urbanisation, rural-urban transformations and food systems

With much of the debate on global food security and rural development framed in terms of inadequate agricultural production, little attention is paid to how the diversity of processes of urbanisation – reflected in food consumption and food systems that include processing, transport, markets and all related activities – generate different pathways of transformation in rural, peri-urban and urban areas. 

Understanding and documenting these transformations, and how they affect low-income groups in all locations, is central to formulating and implementing appropriate policies that support the food security and livelihoods of low-income groups while fostering sustainable rural-urban transitions. 

This project addressed a number of interrelated questions:

• How does urbanisation affect food consumption patterns and, as a result, agricultural production, processing and handling systems at the local, national and regional levels?
• Who are the emerging key players in these evolving food systems, and what are the impacts of these transformations for lower-income groups (small-scale producers and family farmers, landless and land-poor rural net food buyers, informal sector traders, low-income urban consumers…)?
• How do evolutions in rural economies interact with increases in non-farm employment, mobility and migration? 
• What is the role of small and intermediate urban centres in linking producers to wider (urban national, regional and global) markets, and in providing local opportunities for income diversification?
• What is the impact of agricultural and trade policies on both urban and rural food consumption and local agricultural production? And what are their often unintended consequences (for example, an increase in net food buyers, especially among lower-income rural groups)?
• What policy approaches, and at what scale, are needed to ensure that in the process of urbanisation, and in the context of climate change, equity be ensured for both rural and urban people and areas?  

What IIED did

IIED convened and supported a global network of researchers and practitioners, including urban civil society organisations and farmers' organisations, through a number of exchange/learning workshops and case studies in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and China. These reflected on the nature and diversity in both urban systems/urbanisation processes, and the nature of rural-urban linkages.

Network members engaged in debates on food security at the global level through collaboration with international agencies such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UN Habitat, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

At regional level IIED did this through workshops in London (briefing/report), Dakar, Hanoi (briefing/report), and Nairobi (briefing/report) with local government officials, civil society organisations and regional research institutions.