Articles
The role of urban and periurban agriculture to build food secure cities and resilient food systems
Article number
1356_1
Pages
1 – 8
Language
English
Abstract
The global population is estimated to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, 70% of which will be living in urban areas.
This rapid process of urbanization and population growth can directly lead to increasing number of people to feed in cities, while indirectly relating to the rise of unhealthy diets and consequent health issues such as overweight, obesity and diet-related diseases.
Meanwhile, the population suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition is on the rise.
Currently, more than 700 million people experienced severe food insecurity with the majority located in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.
Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is increasingly recognized as a key component of the resilience of local food systems as it diversifies food value chains, improves the livelihood of city dwellers, and brings about multiple benefits to sustainable urban development through local food production and short supply chains.
Growing research and awareness of the variety of production systems and practices in many cities and regions is bringing to light the significant contributions made by UPA, even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The keynote presentation describes the role of UPA in contributing to urban food security and to building resilient local food systems.
In particular, the keynote presentation will be based on the findings of the upcoming FAO/Rikolto/RUAF publication Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Sourcebook: from Production to Food Systems (FAO, 2022) that catalogues, organizes and analyses various existing UPA typologies, cases and examples at the global level in order to set out the key lessons and provide guidance for a diverse range of actors involved in local food systems, particularly decision-makers, planners and practitioners responsible for planning and implementing UPA schemes.
This rapid process of urbanization and population growth can directly lead to increasing number of people to feed in cities, while indirectly relating to the rise of unhealthy diets and consequent health issues such as overweight, obesity and diet-related diseases.
Meanwhile, the population suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition is on the rise.
Currently, more than 700 million people experienced severe food insecurity with the majority located in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.
Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is increasingly recognized as a key component of the resilience of local food systems as it diversifies food value chains, improves the livelihood of city dwellers, and brings about multiple benefits to sustainable urban development through local food production and short supply chains.
Growing research and awareness of the variety of production systems and practices in many cities and regions is bringing to light the significant contributions made by UPA, even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The keynote presentation describes the role of UPA in contributing to urban food security and to building resilient local food systems.
In particular, the keynote presentation will be based on the findings of the upcoming FAO/Rikolto/RUAF publication Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Sourcebook: from Production to Food Systems (FAO, 2022) that catalogues, organizes and analyses various existing UPA typologies, cases and examples at the global level in order to set out the key lessons and provide guidance for a diverse range of actors involved in local food systems, particularly decision-makers, planners and practitioners responsible for planning and implementing UPA schemes.
Authors
G. Santini
Keywords
UPA, local food systems, resilience
Groups involved
- Division Landscape and Urban Horticulture
- Division Horticulture for Human Health
- Division Greenhouse and Indoor Production Horticulture
- Division Horticulture for Development
- Division Precision Horticulture and Engineering
- Division Vegetables, Roots and Tubers
- Commission Agroecology and Organic Farming Systems
- Working Group Urban Horticulture
- Working Group Landscape Horticulture
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