During 16 to 18 November, local authorities from cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America gathered in Montpellier to participate in the Urban Food Policies International Meeting. FAO, through its Food for the Cities Programme, partnered with CIRAD, SupAgro Montpellier and the UNESCO Chair “World Food Systems” to organize the meeting.

This meeting presented  ̶  through concrete examples shared by policymakers and technical managers from urban local authorities  ̶  three elements that cities can take into consideration when building more sustainable food systems and ensuring food security for both urban and rural dwellers.

• Markets and logistics: Markets are key to the flow of food into the city and its distribution throughout. They are drivers for improving food security and increasing the sustainability of food systems. Local authorities have significant impacts on food distribution systems,by improving infrastructures, regulating activities, or organizing and facilitating logistics.
• Public and out-of-home catering services: While local authorities do not directly manage catering services, they have a role to play in their organization and regulation. For example, authorities can intervene by ensuring access to quality food, creating incentives through public contracts to produce different types of food, improving the quality of jobs, educating consumers and reducing waste and pollution.
• New types of linkages between urban and rural areas: Due to the geographic, economic and cognitive divide occurring between urban and rural populations, there is a need to seek new types of linkages between urban and rural areas that are more balanced and mutually benefiting. It can include urban food supply relocalization, urban investment in rural areas, and provision of urban services to local farmers, as well as partnerships or contractual agreements between urban and rural areas.

Lusaka, Kitwe and Dakar share their experiences in building more sustainable food systems

Our local project partners from Lusaka, Kitwe and Dakar participated in the meeting and had the opportunity to share their city’s experience in improving market infrastructures and catering services, which contribute to more sustainable food systems. Interviews were conducted that provided a quick overview of their city region food system. They addressed the main challenges being faced regarding their city’s food system, the current situation and the way forward.

• Lusaka City Council. Mangiza Chirwa Shongo, Chief Development Officer, presented the concept of “self-built markets” implemented in Lusaka. Managed by local authorities and owned by the sellers, this concept has improved farmers' access to markets, increased and stabilized their incomes, and enhanced urban dwellers’ access to goods.

• Kitwe City Council. Shilla Chabalengula Songolo, Deputy Director of Development Planning, presented the different measures taken by the Kitwe City Council to improve market infrastructure and logistics. She highlighted the decentralization policy occurring in Zambia, which allows more inclusive food chains, the regulation of the informal street vendor sector, and city planning initiatives to improving and building infrastructure.

• Ville de Dakar. Mbodj Ndeye Ndack Pouye, Micro-Gardening Programme Coordinator and Chief of Sustainable Development Planning, presented the micro-garden project launched in Dakar and explained how it helps improve food security through the supply of public canteens.

A first dialogue between the pilot cities

Representatives of three of the project cities of the Food for the Cities Programme attended the meeting and shared their experiences regarding the recently launched project. The cities of Colombo, Medellin and Quito  ̶  although representatives could not attend the meeting  ̶  were still able to share their experiences. This first meeting of the pilot cities' stakeholders enabled the evaluation of each of their city region food system assessments and stakeholder analysis. They were able to share knowledge and lessons learned on the delimitation of their city regions, and providing inputs on the way forward.