The next century has been designated the Century of Cities. While in Latin America most people already live in urban areas, many Asian and African cities are likely to double their populations within a decade. In particular, the number of low-income urban households will increase. Their food security will depend upon the level and stability of the cost of accessing food as well as on the variety and quality of food available to them.
A very effective way of enhancing urban consumers’ food security is to improve the efficiency of all activities that bring food into cities and distribute it within urban areas, i.e.: assembling, handling, sorting, packaging, storing, transporting, processing, wholesaling, retailing and cooking for sale as street food.
All of you can do a great deal to improve local food marketing systems by addressing present constraints and expected requirements at the level of market infrastructure and services, transport and credit facilities, legislation and regulations, as well as technical, commercial and managerial skills.
The specific problems faced by your city, the solutions that have been identified, as well as your professional experience and expertise, can also be most useful for your colleagues in other cities who need to strengthen the skills of their managerial and technical staff in identifying local problems and sustainable solutions. FAO wishes to invite you to increase your efforts in sharing technical expertise, exchanging experience, developing complementary capacities, exchanging information and hosting meetings. FAO Partnership Programmes of Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries and Countries in Transition may facilitate the transfer of expertise and sharing of experiences.
Through its initiatives on Food Supply and Distribution to Cities, in collaboration with City and Local Authorities of any country and with the support of Donor Agencies, FAO wishes to support City and Local Authorities in Developing Countries and Countries in Transition to enhance urban food security, make food supply and distribution systems more efficient and improve rural -urban linkages. The achievements will greatly support local development initiatives under the FAO Special Programme for Food Security.
Such a cooperative action will improve consumers’ access to food. Cities will thus become less vulnerable, more sustainable and just and, therefore, better places in which to live.
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MEDELLÍN DECLARATION III Congress of The Americas Considering that our countries are entering a new Millennium being confronted with the challenge of reaching food security through efficient and low-cost food supply and distribution systems which can contribute to improved health conditions, quality of life and the environment [the Representatives of American Municipalities and Healthy Communities] DECLARE ... The need to increase access of all consumers, and low-income consumers in particular, to healthy food through participatory and intersectorial programmes designed to strengthen the efficiency of private systems for the supply and distribution of low-cost food and employment creation. ... |
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BARCELONA DECLARATION XXXIV IULA World Congress We, the Mayors, City Leaders and Representatives of City and Local Governments from all the countries in the World, gathered in Barcelona, Spain, on the 24th March 1999 with the occasion of the XXXIVth Congress of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), APPROVE the following declaration in conformity with the theme of the Congress: “Local Governments United in a World Mission”. ... (23) Recognize the importance to ensure access to food by low-income constituencies in developing countries as a main objective of local development policies and pro-grammes, following the recommendations of the World Food Summit, held in Rome in 1996. ... |
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“The task of feeding the world’s cities adequately
constitutes an increasingly pressing challenge, requiring the coordinated
interaction of food producers, transporters, market operators and a myriad of
retail sellers. It also requires constant improvements in the quality of
transport and distribution systems. Not least, it involves a shared
understanding among city officials and national and international development
agencies of the common problems and the potential solutions faced when seeking
to feed cities on a sustainable basis.” |
Jacques Diouf
Director-General of FAO
(The State of Food and Agriculture 1998)
