EGM on SDG 2: Jane Battersby Statement

Jane Battersby

Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town

 

Session 10: Prosperity

As we reflect on progress towards SDG2 it is important that we reflect on both progress towards the targets themselves, but also the connective tissue that helps us get to those targets. There are two broad gaps in framing that need to be addressed to help us accelerate progress towards the achievement of SDG2.

The first is the reality of where food insecure people are located, and what needs to be done to alleviate food security in context. Food insecurity and hunger are framed as predominantly rural issues, but 76% of people in the world who are food insecure live in urban and peri-urban areas.

The second is a gap in how food systems are framed in the SDGs. Today we talk of food systems as being “from farm to fork and everything in between”, but if you look at the SDG2 targets it is essentially “from farm to fork and nothing in between.” By paying attention to the connective tissue we can better achieve both the food security and nutrition outcomes and the productivity outcomes.

Addressing both gaps requires working across SDGs to help us think more generatively about the linkages within SDG2.

The urban and peri-urban gap

In the context of the burden of food insecurity increasingly concentrating in urban and peri-urban areas it is essential to link SDG2 with SDG11. Our research in urban Africa has demonstrated that food insecurity and poor diet choice are not shaped just by food affordability, but urban conditions that shape access and utilization. Poor quality housing, poor access to safe water, sanitation, waste management and reliable energy supply all profoundly shape households’ ability to safety store and cook foods.

Additionally urban planning - or an absence of urban planning - which places the poor in peripheral spaces in urban areas with poor access to public transport creates conditions of time poverty which further shape food practices. In these contexts a slow cooked, notionally affordable meal of maize meal and beans becomes inaccessible, and street foods (often obesogenic) or highly processed, easy to store, quick to cook meals make logical sense. And so, SDG 11.1 and 11.2 are critical determinants of urban food security and diets.

SDG Target 11.1: By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums

SDG Target 11.2:  By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.

These are important targets that can be leveraged to enhance food security and nutrition.

Additionally in the quest for promoting more localised food systems, SDG Target 11.a (Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri- urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning) is an important target in terms of enabling more territorial food systems to thrive.

Food security policy needs to be informed by urban condition and lived experience at the same time as working to improve urban and peri-urban environments.

So, what is required is Multi-sectorial and multi level governance approaches to address food insecurity. It is also necessary to include civil society and food system actors in decision making (recognising that small scale and informal are also part of private sector) – so need for multi-actor governance if we are going to shift the needle on SDG2 in the urban and peri-urban context.

From farm to fork and everything in between

Moving onto thinking about how to connect farm and fork. In most LMICs the informal sector and small-scale actors play a crucial role in connecting the dots – particularly for small scale producers and low-income residents, but these are rarely acknowledged.

While SDG8 seeks to formalise the informal it is important to acknowledge the role and function of these actors. The reality in global South is that informal sector is and will remain a vital component of food systems, particularly the food systems of the poor

Historically, states have repressed or at best ignored the informal sector, but they are the transporters and logistics operators, the processsors, the retailers, and the waste managers that are best attuned to meet the food needs of food insecure populations. What is required is recognition of the value of the sector (which may require different data collection – as current ILO categorisations make it hard to identify food system workers beyond those involved in primary production)  and of how they operate.

One of the biggest concerns around informal sector is food safety – which is not mentioned at all in SDGs, but as the food safety folk say, “if its not safe, its not food”, but the solution is not in enforcing food safety regulation on operators per se, but in shaping the conditions under which they operate. This involves developing an enabling environment, such as in situ upgrading of market sites to include access to water, sanitation, storage and waste management.

It is also important to reflect on where infrastructure investment goes and the kind of food system activities supported. The kinds of transport infrastructure being built in many African countries is designed to enable large scale food imports and experts, but not to connect small scale producers to local markets. Inequitable transport infrastructure  undermines businesses and increases food loss and waste.

More pro-active engagement with informal and small scale food system actors can address food security, food safety, food loss and waste in Target 12.3.

Conclusions

So how do we start to join the dots?

1. Food insecurity in urban and peri-urban areas present challenges and opportunities for SDG 2 – this requires a shift in framing, a commitment to multilevel and multi sectoral governance (and multiactor). However food is generally not viewed as a local government mandate or competence. This requires a shift in the understanding of mandates by national and local governments. The City of Cape Town, South Africa, has undertaken a mapping of mandates and programmes – looking at what the City if already doing under existing mandates that is impacting the food system and food security. This mandate mapping exercise of food intersections with local government mandates uncovered over 40 activities across 9 departments including health, environmental health, economic development, spatial planning and waste management, amongst others. The challenge is therefore not a lack of mandate, but the need for devolved funding, and the development of context appropriate methods and metrics to address food insecurity.
2. There is a need to from a production-centred to an agrifood systems approach. A wider focus will help to achieve SDG2 targets more than siloed approaches. This may require some big shifts in how we collect data on food system employment. On FSCI the livelihood groups having battle on identifying non-agricultural food system employment due to ILO and other categorizations.
3. There is a need to recognize the informal sector in agrifood systems as a relevant actor and not a problem. A shift in political framing should be informed by data on the contribution of the sector and an understanding of how it operates. Progress is being made here, the African Union is currently drafting guidelines on how to engage informal sector actors to improve food safety.
4. To achieve all of the above it is necessary to broaden the governance frame to be more inclusive of multi-level processes (in which local and sub-national governments are not simply viewed as implementers, but as framers), multi-sectoral (recognising the interaction of food systems and other systems) and multi-actor (recognising the role of civil society and the private sector – including the informal sector – in decision-making processes)
5. Strengthen multilevel governance, considering both formal and informal sectors