FAO and RUAF define a sustainable and resilient CRFS as follows. Sustainable and resilient CRFS are envisioned to make affordable, nutritious, and fairly-traded foods from local and regional producers more easily available to all consumers in the city region from rich to poor, rural to urban.  Access to markets and support for alternative markets (e.g. community-supported agriculture, farmers’ markets, cooperatives, local guarantee schemes, etc.) become available to smallholders and other small-scale producers from urban, peri-urban and rural areas, not just large ones. Shorter value chains, and more broadly efficient and functioning agricultural value chains that link hinterland producers to urban market systems, can contribute to sustainable diets, generate employment and stabilize livelihoods in the localized distribution, processing and manufacture of food and fibre products.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture are promoted, not only for food production, but also as strategies to enhance social inclusion, community building, city greening and adaptation to climate change. Food loss and waste is prevented, reduced and managed along food supply chains in the city region, including the recovery and redistribution of safe and nutritious food for human consumption in both urban and rural areas. Ecosystem and natural resources management is promoted, as is agro-ecological diversity, and urban ecology and ecosystems are protected. The ecological footprint of the urban food system is minimised from production to consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions in food transport, processing, packaging and waste management are reduced. Improved governance ensures transparency and participation in the food system. Private sector has a role to play in building more sustainable and resilient CRFS, but it is also understands that public goods will not be delivered by market forces alone and that greater transparency and public participation in the food system are required

Source: RUAF