Proceedings of the regional seminar

“Food into Cities” CollectionAC/37-01E

F o o da n dA g r i c u l t u r eO r g a n i z a t i o no ft h eU n i t e dN a t i o n s

AFMA

Feeding Asian Cities

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in thispublication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on thepart of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsconcerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of itsauthorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in thisinformation product for educational or other non-commercial purposesare authorized without any prior written permission from the copyrightholders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction ofmaterial in this information product for resale or other commercialpurposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders.Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief,Publishing and Multimedia Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delleTerme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to: copyright@fao.org

Gisèle Yasmeen received a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in1996. Her dissertation, entitled «Bangkok’s Foodscape», focused onprepared food distribution systems in Bangkok with references to otherAsian cities. She has worked as a lecturer, researcher and consultant forthe past seven years on urban food supply and distribution systemsincluding two years studying the impact of the economic crisis on small-scale food retailing in Thailand and the Philippines. Gisèle Yasmeenauthored a report for the International Development Research Centre’sSouth Asia Regional Office on urban agriculture in India. She is an associateof Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD).

FAO’s initiative for “Food Supply and Distribution to Cities”E-mail: sada@fao.org

“Food into Cities” CollectionE-mail: sadaseries@fao.org

The text of this guide can be freely downloaded from the Web site:

HTTP://WWW.FAO.ORG/AG/AGS/AGSM/SADA/PAGES/AC/AC3701E.HTM

Front and back cover photos: Retail market prices, Bangkok, Thailand.

Editorial revision: Olivio Argenti, FAOLayout and desktop publishing: Emanuela Parrucci and Franklin Soler

© FAO, 2001

Marketing and Rural Finance Service (AGSM)Agricultural Support Systems Division (AGS)

Agriculture Department (AG)FAO

B Y

Gisèle Yasmeen

“Food into Cities” Collection, AC/37-01EFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsRome, 2001

Feeding Asian Cities

Proceedings of the regional seminar

organized by:

The Regional Network of Local Authoritiesfor the Management of Human Settlements (CityNet)and the Association of Food Marketing Agencies inAsia and the Pacific (AFMA), with the technical support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Bangkok, Thailand, November 27-28, 2000

1 Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 NEED FOR THE SEMINAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 STRUCTURE OF THE DOCUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Seminar Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Agenda for Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4 Overview: the Challenge of Feeding Asian Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94.1 CONTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94.2 FOOD CONSUMPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4.2.1 General food demand issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.2.2 Urban-rural consumption contrasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.2.3 The diversity of urban food purchasing habits . . . . . . . . . . . . 144.2.4 Problems and prospects facing

the Asian urban food consumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154.3 FOOD SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION TO CITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4.3.1 Important general issues: resources, health and environment . . 164.3.2 Food supply to cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174.3.3 Urban Food distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.4 MANAGEMENT OF WASTE FROM THE URBAN FOOD SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244.5 ASIAN CITIES NEED FSD POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMMES . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.5.1 Why develop FSD policies, strategies and programmes? . . . . . . 254.5.2 Roles and needs of cities and local authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . 264.5.3 The roles and responsibilities of other institutions . . . . . . . . . . 274.5.4 The nature of an effective FSD policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274.5.5 Measuring success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4.6 TECHNICAL COOPERATION AMONG CITY AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES . . . . . . . . . . 28

5 Key Paper 1 - Feeding Asian Cities: Food Production and Processing Issues . 35

6 Key Paper 2 - Feeding Asian Cities: Urban Food Distribution Issues . . . . . . 47

7 Key Paper 3 - Urban Food Supply and Distribution Policies and Programmes 55

8 Key Paper 4 - Cooperation and Partnerships between Cities for Urban FoodSecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

9 Seminar Conclusions and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

10 Priority Areas for North-South and South-South Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

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Table of Contents

11 Report of Discussions during Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91GENERAL WORKSHOP FINDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91SPECIFIC WORKSHOP FINDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Workshop A1 Response to urbanization of food production in rural,

periurban and urban areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Workshop A2 Strengthening rural-urban linkages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Workshop A3 Extension services for feeding the cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Workshop A4 Water management issues in food production

for feeding Asian cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Workshop A5 The supply of livestock products to Asian cities . . . . . . . . . . 93Workshop A6 Urban and periurban aquaculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Workshop B1 Wholesale market development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Workshop B2 Retail outlet development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Workshop B3 Municipal policies for the informal food sector . . . . . . . . . . . 95Workshop B4 Fish marketing in Asian cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Workshop B5 Street foods in Asia: food safety and nutritional issues . . . . . . 96Workshop C1 Promoting private investments in FSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Workshop C2 FSD into planning at regional, metropolitan

and urban levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Workshop C3 CLAs and food security: role and needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Workshop C4 Food security and nutritional well-being

among the urban poor in Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Workshop C5 Small and medium enterprises in food processing

and distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Workshop C6 The environmental impact of FSD activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

12 “Food into Cities” Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

13 “Food into Cities” Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Annexes1 SEMINAR AGENDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 LIST OF WORKSHOPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113 SUMMARY OF SPEECHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

- Opening Address – H.E. Samak Sundaravej, Bangkok Governor . . . . 113- Welcome Address – Dr R.B. Singh, Assistant Director General

and Regional Representative FAO-RAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113- Achieving Local Partnerships for Feeding Asian Cities –

Dr Vincent Rotgé, Asia Urbs Secretariat, Brussels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114- Stakes of North-South Cooperation – Mr Henry Chabert,

Deputy Mayor, Lyon, France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154 PARTICIPANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175 OBSERVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256 PAPERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277 TECHNICAL COMMITTEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

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List of FiguresFigure 4.1: Population growth in Asian cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Figure 4.2: Food demand increase in Asian cities: 2000 - 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Figure 7.1: Relation between policy goals and objectives: an example . . . . . . . . 59Figure 7.2: Some of the policies, programmes and initiatives required

to improve urban food security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Figure 7.3: FSD programmes at regional, metropolitan, urban and local levels . . 62Figure 7.4: An urban programme arranged by subprogrammes and action plans . 63

List of TablesTable 4.1: Selected Asian cities and fish consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Table 4.2: Estimated increase in the number of 10 tonne truckloads needed

to feed selected Asian cities by 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Table 8.1: Key points for successful North-South and South-South cooperation . . 72Table 10.1: Examples of concrete North-South and South-South cooperation

between city and local authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

List of Photographs (all photographs by courtesy of O. Argenti)Front cover: Cereal stand in retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. vii: “Sunday” market, Islamabad, Pakistanp. 1: Retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 5: Retail market, Northern Area, Pakistanp. 7: Fruits and vegetable wholesale market traders, Lahore, Pakistanp. 9: Fruit and vegetable wholesale market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 11: Retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 13: Searching food among market waste, Lahore, Pakistanp. 15: Retailers in a wholesale market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 17: Food production, Northern Areas, Pakistanp. 21: Tomato retailer, Damascus, Syriap. 23: Retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 25: Washing animal skins in slaughterhouse, Lahore, Pakistanp. 27: Fruit and vegetable retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 29: Wholesale market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 33: Spice retailing, “Sunday Market”, Islamabad, Pakistanp. 35: Food retailers, Bangkok, Thailandp. 37: Drainage facilities in retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 39: Street food vendor, Hanoi, Vietnamp. 41: Onion retailer, Bangkok, Thailandp. 43: Fruit and vegetable retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 47: The central souk, Damascus, Syriap. 49: Dry fish marketing, Colombo, Sri Lankap. 51: Transporting onions in a retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 53: Fruit and vegetable retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 55: Food street vendors, Vietnamp. 57: The central souk, Damascus, Syriap. 61: Producers’ market area in wholesale market, Amman, Jordanp. 62: “Sunday” market, Islamabad, Pakistan p. 62: Fruit and vegetable retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 62: Street market, Hanoi, Vietnamp. 62: “Sunday” market, Islamabad, Pakistanp. 63: Fruit and vegetable retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 63: Fruit retailing, Colombo, Sri Lankap. 63: Wholesale market, Bangkok, Thailand

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p. 65: Wholesale market, Amman, Jordanp. 67: Fruit production in Northern Areas, Pakistanp. 69: Wholesale market, Amman, Jordanp. 71: Retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 73: Retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 75: Retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 77: Street food in retail market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 79: Apple sector wholesale market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 81: Vegetable area in wholesale market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 83: Retail market, Bangkok, Thailandp. 85: Fruit and vegetable retail market, Bangkok, Pakistanp. 87: Food retailer shop, Amman, Jordanp. 89: Meat marketing, Lahore, Pakistanp. 91: Fruit and vegetable market, Lahore, Pakistanp. 93: Fruit plantation, Humza Valley, Pakistanp. 95: Fish marketing, Bangkok, Thailandp. 97: Retailer selling breazd in street, Beyrut, Lebanonp. 99: Vegetable retail market, Amman, Jordanp. 101: Fruit and sugar cane markets, Lahore, Pakistanp. 103: Fruit production in Norther Areas, Pakistanp. 105: Cereal wholesaler, Lahore, Pakistan

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank Olivio Argenti (FAO-AGSM) for his extensive feed-back on draft versions of these proceedings. Renata Clarke (FAO-ESN) and AlastairHicks (FAO-RAP) provided useful wording suggestions for the section on food pro-cessing and Thierry Facon (FAO-RAP) clarified the report for the workshop on waterissues. Bernadia Tjandradewi’s (CityNet) help was indispensable with the sections onNorth-South, South-South technical cooperation. Keith Taverner provided technicalassistance. Cyndia Pilkington’s professional and fastidious editing, relentless proof-reading and help with summaries was essential for the preparation and finalization ofthese proceedings.

AFMA Association of Food Marketing Agencies in Asia and the Pacific

AMO Agricultural Marketing Organization

BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

CityNet Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human

Settlements

CLA(s) City/cities and local authority/authorities

CSO(s) Civil society organization(s)

DTCs Developing and transitional countries

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FLFP Female labour force participation

FSD Food supply and distribution

FSDS(s) Food supply and distribution system(s)

GIS Geographic Information System(s)

GNP Gross national product

GDP Gross domestic product

ICLEI International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives

IDWG Interdepartmental working group

IFS Informal food sector

IULA International Union of Local Authorities

MSME(s) Micro, small and medium enterprise(s)

NGO(s) Non-governmental organization(s)

TCCT Technical cooperation among countries in transition

TCDC Technical cooperation among developing countries

UNCHS United Nations Centre for Human Settlements

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UTO United Towns Organization

WUWM World Union of Wholesale Markets

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

Seminar Organizers

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)Marketing and Rural Finance ServiceAgricultural Support Systems DivisionAgriculture DepartmentViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, Italy

Tel: (+39) 06 5705 5119Fax: (+39) 06 5705 6850 – 5705 4961E-mail: sada@fao.orgWebsite of FAO: http://www.fao.orgWebsite of FAO’s Initiative for “Food Supply and Distribution to Cities”:http://www.fao.org/ag/sada.htm

Regional Network of Local Authorities for theManagement of Human Settlements (CityNet)5-F International Organizations Centre1-1-1 Minato-Mirai - Nishi-kuYokohama 220-0012, Japan

Tel.: (+81) 45 223 2161Fax: (+81) 45 223 2162E-mail: CityNet@po.iijnet.or.jpWebsite: http://www.CityNet-ap.org/en/index.html

Association of Food Marketing Agencies (AFMA)Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit RoadBangkok - 10200, Thailand

Tel.: (+66) 2 281 7844 (ext.: 350/1/2)Fax: (+66) 2 629 1203 - 280 0445E-mail: afma@asiaaccess.net.th

Section 1

1) Foreword2) Seminar Declaration3) Agenda for Action4) Overview: the Challenge

of Feeding Asian Cities

This report summarizes the discussions,conclusions and recommendations of aregional seminar on “Feeding AsianCities” held in Bangkok from 27 to 30November 2000. The seminar, organizedby the Regional Network of LocalAuthorities for the Management ofHuman Settlements (CityNet) and theAssociation of Food Marketing Agenciesin Asia and the Pacific (AFMA) wasconvened with the technical support ofthe Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO).

The seminar had three objectives:1. to identify major food security chal-

lenges in feeding Asian cities andthe role that city and local authori-ties (CLAs) can play in meetingthose challenges1;

2. to prepare an action plan for thenext ten years to strengthen thecapacity of CLAs in enhancing urbanfood security;

3. to facilitate North-South and South-South collaboration and technicalassistance partnerships among CLAsto address specific food supply anddistribution constraints.

Approximately 100 participants from 27countries attended the seminar. Mostwere Asian nationals, with strong repre-sentation from mayors and municipalofficials. Other participants includedrepresentatives from government at var-ious levels, international organizations,civil society and academia. The formatof the seminar consisted of a limitednumber of keynote addresses and ple-nary sessions with emphasis on smallergroup discussions taking place in work-

shops addressing specific issues. Theseminar was directed specifically atCLAs and the role they can play inreducing urban food insecurity.

1.1 Need for the seminar

Asian cities are growing rapidly. Many,including Bangkok, Delhi, Jakarta andShanghai, can be classified as “mega-urban” regions with populations inexcess of 10 million inhabitants. Thegrowth of these large cities is accompa-nied by an increase in the number ofurban households living in poverty. Inmegacities such as Mumbai, it is esti-mated that 50 percent of the populationlives in slums due to the growing inci-dence of urban poverty and the highcost of living.

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Though the necessities of life such ashousing and transportation have a firmplace in the local policy agenda inAsian cities, food issues have yet to beemphasised. The inhabitants of Asia’sgrowing cities need to have access togood quality and affordable food. Theextent of urban food insecurity andpossible interventions to alleviate it isnot sufficiently appreciated by centraland local government institutions or bythe international community. There is aneed, addressed in part by this regionalseminar, to raise awareness amongurban decision makers2.

City and local authorities have anincreasing range of responsibilities relat-ed to food supply and distribution(FSD). Examples of FSD responsibilitiesat the municipal level include: formula-tion of policies related to food trading;the levying of taxes and fees; the plan-ning, construction and management ofpublic markets, slaughterhouses andother infrastructure and the regulationof the urban land market. There are anumber of constraints faced by CLAs inthe execution of these responsibilities.Problems include lack of awareness,information and technical skills as wellas financial resources. These problemsoften lead to bad investment decisions,clashes with central government poli-cies and confrontations with the privatesector. The increasing global nature ofcommerce and communications pre-sents opportunities for highly neededcooperation between cities on FSD.Technical and financial cooperationbetween cities on FSD sets the stage fora sharing of information, resources andsolutions by cities of the North andSouth as well as among Asian citiesthemselves and on a South-South basis.International cooperation in the area ofFSD should also incorporate the agen-das of other stakeholders. AlthoughCLAs play a key part in food supplyand distribution systems, they must alsocollaborate with central governmentagencies, the private sector and civil

society to accomplish mutually agreedupon goals.

The importance of this seminar is clear.What is of utmost urgency is the needfor follow-up to disseminate the resultsof the seminar and spur the establish-ment of effective policies and practicesat the local level. There is also a needto establish more firmly North-Southand South-South cooperation amongCLAs and between these authorities andvarious international agencies. Theopportunities to share experiences andexpertise on an international level maybe considered one of the potential ben-efits associated with living in a globalized world.

1.2 Structure of the document

These proceedings consist of a narrativesummary of the seminar papers andworkshop reports presented inBangkok. The Bangkok declaration bymayors, city executives, planners andmunicipal officers and the related agen-da for action are the concrete outcomesof the seminar and represent a success-ful galvanizing of leadership by the par-ticipants from CLAs. The technicaloverview that follows is based on theseminar papers listed in the annexes.

The document then presents the semi-nar’s four key papers and subsequentlymoves onto the seminar conclusionsand recommendations, as well as astatement on North-South and South-South cooperation. The annexes containsupplementary documents.

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Bibliography

Argenti, O. (ed.) 1998. Actes du sémi-naire sous-régional FAO-ISRA:“Approvisionnement et distributionalimentaires des villes de l’Afriquefrancophone”. Dakar, Sénégal, 14-17Avril 1997. Food into CitiesCollection (AC/00-97F), Rome: FAO.

Argenti, O. 2000. Food for the Cities:Food Supply and Distribution Policiesto Reduce Food Insecurity. Food intoCities Collection (DT/43-00E) Rome: FAO.

Wilhelm, L. 1997. Food Supply andDistribution to Francophone AfricanCities. Food into Cities Collection(DT/31-97E), Rome: FAO.

1 “Food security depends upon availableincome, consumers’ food habits and thecosts faced by urban consumers in access-ing food in hygienic conditions” (Argenti, 2000).

2 A similar event for Francophone Africancities was organized by FAO and theSenegalese Institute of Agricultural Research(ISRA) in Dakar in 1997 (cf. Argenti, 1998;Wilhelm, 1997).

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We, the mayors, city managers, plannersand representatives of city and localauthorities, participating in the regionalseminar on “Feeding Asian Cities” orga-nized by the Regional Network of LocalAuthorities for the Management ofHuman Settlements (CityNet), theAssociation of Food Marketing Agenciesin Asia and the Pacific (AFMA) and theFood and Agriculture Organization ofthe United Nations (FAO), held on 27 to30 November 2000 in Bangkok,Thailand, recognise that:

• access to healthy and nutritious foodwill be an increasingly importantissue in Asian cities as they continueto rapidly urbanize and increase inpopulation, especially to address theneeds of the urban poor;

• City and local authorities (CLAs) canplay a key role in enhancing accessto food especially in the context ofcontinuing urbanization and decen-tralization;

• cities need sound food supply anddistribution (FSD) policies, strategiesand programmes, spanning urban,periurban and rural areas, formulat-ed in collaboration with all con-cerned stakeholders;

• the traditional focus of CLAs onensuring safe food and provision ofmarket infrastructure is too narrowand often ad-hoc;

• there is a lack of awareness at themunicipal level of food securityissues for formulating appropriatemunicipal policies and programmes;

• FSD involves many actors butresponsibilities are fragmented anduncoordinated among the variousnational, state/provincial and localpublic and private organizationsconcerned;

• many Asian CLAs lack the necessaryautonomy, mandates, legal frame-works and competence to effectivelyaddress FSD issues including theirinterface with other priority urbanconcerns; and

• the value of partnerships and net-working with and among stakehold-ers at the national, regional andinternational levels offer significantpotential to improve informationflow and technology transfer.

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Seminar Declaration

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We further acknowledge the need to:

• develop better awareness, under-standing and appreciation amongmunicipal, state, provincial andnational decision makers to integrate urban food security withsustainable social, economic andenvironmental development;

• take advantage of forthcoming inter-national conferences such asIstanbul+5 and Rio+10 to promoteintegration of FSD issues intonational and local plans of action3;

• expand the mandates, functions andresponsibilities of CLAs to moreeffectively perform their role inenhancing food security;

• establish and strengthen informationsharing, exchange and disseminationmechanisms on urban food security,using information technology wherepossible and ensuring that suchinformation reaches Asian CLAs;

• rationalize institutional arrangementsbetween levels as well as sectors inlocal governments in order toachieve more effective coordinationof food-related policies and pro-grammes;

• foster partnerships between govern-ment, the business sector and civilsociety organizations to improve theeffectiveness and efficiency of FSD;

• seek access for Asian CLAs to tech-nical assistance and financial sup-port in order to enhance their abilityto effectively address the issues ofurban food insecurity;

• develop, intensify and broaden theexchange and dissemination ofinformation, knowledge and experi-ence among CLAs, regional andinternational networks and externalsupport agencies, academic andresearch institutes and other part-ners;

• promote stronger and more mean-ingful North-South and South-Southcooperation for accessing knowl-edge, capacity building services,technology and financing based onequality and mutual benefit; and

• prepare an action plan to achievethe goals and objectives of this dec-laration.

3 Istanbul+5 is a follow-up to the UNCHSHabitat II forum, which took place inIstanbul in 1996. It is scheduled for June2001 in New York City. Rio+10 refers to theWorld Summit on Sustainable Developmentthat will take place in September 2002 inJohannesburg, ten years after the UnitedNations Conference on Environment andDevelopment, which took place in Rio deJaneiro in 1992.

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Preamble

Given the rapid rate of urbanization inAsia, the importance of efficient foodsupply and distribution systems (FSDSs)should be recognised by all stakehold-ers as a means of adequately feedingcities and an important determinant offood security for the urban poor.

Furthermore, the pressure put on landand water by the urbanization processputs urban and periurban food produc-tion increasingly at risk. This situationrequires increased attention to maintainsuitable land for food production.

Actions by central governments

Central governments should:• clarify the role of the various levels

of government, including overcom-ing their sectoral interests (agricul-ture, trade, environment and localgovernment). Recognise their inter-dependence with other concernedsectors and their respective FSDrole;

• ensure that legal, regulatory andpolicy frameworks include food con-trol and environmental standards4;

• build capacity of city and localauthorities (CLAs) through technicaland financial support, including pro-viding access to and facilities for thedissemination of information andprovide means for close coordina-tion between the various stakehold-ers.

Actions by City and Local Authorities

City and local authorities should:• formulate and implement sound

urban FSD policies and programmesspanning urban, periurban and ruralareas;

• ensure that urban planning, manage-ment and policy instruments showthe importance of FSDS activities(such as reserving production areas,facilitating water management sys-tems, identifying land for majorinfrastructure and solid waste sani-tary landfill sites);

• carry out or make sure that appro-priate studies and surveys are avail-able to obtain a better understand-ing of the existing functioning ofFSDSs;

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• ensure full participation of all stake-holders (producers, traders, trans-porters and consumers) in the plan-ning, implementation and manage-ment of FSDS activities;

• recognise the role and facilitate theoperation of FSDS stakeholder orga-nizations;

• recognise the potential for privatesector involvement and financing inthe provision of FSDS infrastructureand services (such as market con-struction, management, cleaning,etc.) by encouraging public and pri-vate partnerships;

• recognise the importance of theinformal sector (such as street foodvendors and night markets) withinFSDSs and accept the sector’s social,cultural and economic importance,particularly for the urban poor;

• establish a coordinating mechanism(focal point, committee or unit) tocomprehensively address FSDSissues, especially those affecting theurban poor;

• ensure that management and finan-cial autonomy and responsibility aregiven to the various FSDS facilityoperators (such as wholesale marketmanagement boards) especially forthe maintenance of facilities;

• make provision for and enforce foodsafety, environmental and hygieneregulations.

Actions by the private sector

The private sector should:• create appropriate stakeholder asso-

ciations (street vendors, markettraders, urban producers, truckers,consumers, women’s groups, etc.),chambers of commerce and NGOsto enable an effective dialogue withgovernment and CLAs;

• consider entering into partnershipswith local authorities for facilitatinginvestments in required infrastruc-ture and services for FSDSs;

• take responsibility for the environ-mental costs of their operations.

The role of international organizations and donor agencies

International organizations and donoragencies should:• recognise the growing importance of

FSDSs in urban areas and recognisethe systems as deserving prioritysupport and funding;

• recognise that FSDSs are cross cut-ting activities that increasinglyrequire an inter-sectoral perspectiveto address food for cities and urbanplanning issues;

• provide support to enhance interna-tional information diffusion andtechnical assistance on good FSDSpractices.

4 Financial instruments must also be esta-blished to support local government in ful-filling their role and responsibilities relatedto FSDS development.

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Why is feeding cities – particularlyAsian cities – an urgent issue? This tech-nical overview will provide backgroundinformation on urbanization trends,with particular reference to the Asianregion, and their importance to urbanfood supply and distribution systems(FSDSs). It will then outline the impactof rapid urban development in Asia onfood consumption patterns in cities.Following this is an exposé on specificissues related to FSDSs, from periurbanfood production to wholesale markets.The final sections concentrate on food-related waste management, the need forfood supply and distribution (FSD) poli-cies and programmes in Asian cities andNorth-South, South-South technicalcooperation among various city andlocal authorities (CLAs).

4.1 Context

It is clear that feeding the world’s grow-ing urban population, particularly in theSouth, is a matter of utmost urgency.

There are no simple solutions. Policyand implementation measures to dealwith feeding city dwellers have to touchon concerns ranging from agriculturalproductivity through post-harvest tech-nologies, marketing and distribution tofood safety and the adequacy of con-sumer incomes. These concerns gobeyond the geographical jurisdictions ofCLAs to the national level and, ultimate-ly, the global scale. FSD concerns arealso closely related to larger socio-eco-nomic, political and cultural spheresand therefore ought to be thought of intandem with policy making in a variety

of areas. There are many challenges.There are also many opportunities forstakeholders to work together to feedthe world’s cities efficiently and equi-tably.

There are three main reasons whyFSDSs and food security for the poorought to be viewed through the urbanlens.

The world is urbanizing at a rapidpace. The United Nations estimates thatby 2005, more than half the earth’spopulation will live in areas defined as“urban” though definitions of what is“urban” vary from country to country.Some urban growth can be explainedby natural increase but much of it stemsfrom rural-urban migration due to the

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Overview:the Challenge ofFeeding Asian Cities4

lack of viable livelihoods in the coun-tryside and more available opportunitiesin cities. City dwellers need water, foodand a means of disposing food-relatedwaste in addition to the traditionallyrecognised needs of housing, jobs,transportation and education.

Poverty in cities is rapidly expanding.Many of the world’s poor are migratingto cities in search of income-earningopportunities. The urban poor oftensuffer from malnutrition, mostly due tolack of purchasing power and highfood prices. Urban poverty and therelated issue of urban food security aretherefore of prime concern to localauthorities and other stakeholders.

The loss of agricultural land is a directconsequence of urbanization. Citiestend to be located in agriculturally pro-ductive regions. Hence, urban sprawlleads to gradual encroachment on peri-urban farmland. At the same time, thegrowth of cities makes demands on theremaining agricultural land in more dis-tant rural areas. This demand may be

difficult to fill due to poor productivity,transportation and storage problemsand the fact that farming is becoming aless economically viable occupation inmany parts of the world.

Rapid urbanization, rising urban pover-ty, and associated food insecurity, andthe loss of agriculturally productive landare therefore of particular concern inAsian cities. Asia is the world’s mostpopulated region. It is the home ofmore than half of humanity. By 2015, itis estimated that 16 of the world’s 26cities with populations of 10 million ormore inhabitants will be in Asia. East,Southeast and South Asia are alreadythe homes of some of the world’slargest urban agglomerations. The Asianurban population is growing at a rapidrate. The number of urbanites in Chinaincreases by 15 million annually where-as India contributes approximately halfthis figure (FAO, 2000b). As indicated inFigure 4.1, Dhaka, Delhi, Karachi, Seouland Beijing all have populations inexcess of 10 million inhabitants, andShanghai exceeds 15 million.

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Pop

ula

tio

n (

’000

s)

Population in 2000Projected population in 2010

2520

1510

50

2520

1510

50

Dha

ka Del

hi

Kara

chi

Jaka

rta

Band

ung

K. L

umpu

r

M. M

anila

Bang

kok

Seou

l

H. C

. Min

h

Shan

ghai

Beiji

ng

Figure 4.1: Population growth in Asian cities (’000s)

Source: UNCHS, 1996.

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However, Asian cities also exhibit high-ly different socio-economic, geographi-cal and political features and have verydiverse concerns and experiences. Thepolitical, economic and cultural make-up of West Asian cities such as Ammanis quite distinct from that of, for exam-ple, Manila or Seoul. There are, how-ever, similarities in the FSDSs in ostensi-bly different Asian cities that can becompared and contrasted for the sakeof technical cooperation.

Twenty to forty percent of the urbanpopulation in Asia is defined as poor(FAO, 2000b). At the same time, rapideconomic growth in some Asian citieshas led to the formation of a new mid-dle class, which drives up the cost ofliving in the metropolis. The increasedcost of living exists even after the dev-astation of the 1997 Asian economiccrisis. Examples of the gap betweenrich and poor are easily found inBangalore and Bangkok where the dif-ferences between income groups arestark. This disparity affects the price offood and consumption patterns as shallbe explained in the next section.

In all aspects of food supply, distribu-tion, consumption and management offood waste, food safety and environ-mental health are overarching concerns.The risks of food contamination areeven more evident in hot and humidclimatic zones such as those of mon-soon Asia, which make ideal breedinggrounds for water and food-borne bac-teria.

4.2 Food consumption

Rapid urbanization naturally results inan increased demand for food and forcertain types of food in particular. Thissection will outline the dynamic natureof urban food consumption patterns,specifically with reference to Asiancities.

4.2.1 General food demand issues

Figure 4.2 provides estimates of increas-es in food required to feed Asian citiesin the next ten years5. The FAO esti-mates that the demand for cereals willincrease by more than 11 million tonnesin the next ten years which representsalmost half (49 percent) of the totalincrease for raw foodstuffs. The figurefor cereals is followed by a combinedincrease of almost 8 million tonnes offruits and vegetables with the remainingfood demand being attributable to rootsand tubers (2.2 million tonnes) followedby meats (1.9 million tonnes).

Alltogether, this represents a totalincrease of more than 23 million tonnesof food. This food must be grown,stored, processed and distributed tointermediate and final consumers.Infrastructure in most Asian cities, par-ticularly the poorer economies, is seri-ously lacking in the ability to cope withthe increased demand.

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City

Percent ofcity

populationin national

total

National animal protein consumption per capita National percapita

consumptionof fish

(kgs/year)

totalgrams/day

thereof fishgrams/day

percent offish in total

animal proteinconsumption

Bangkok 10 22.9 9.6 41.9 32.5Beijing 1 23.1 5.4 23.1 22.2Colombo 3 11.9 6.1 51.6 18.1Dhaka 5 5 .9 2 .8 48.0 9.5J a k a r t a 4

0 . 3

11.5 5.9 51.4 17.4

New Delhi 9.7 1.3 13.7 4.3K . Lumpu r 6

43.115.3 35.4 55.0

Man i l a 1225.2

12.5 49.4 33.4

Seoul 100 56.3 9.3 16.6 31.9Singapore 9 55.2 26.0 47.1 70.9Tokyo 2

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35.2 15.8 44.9 51.1

Asia 18.8 4.9 26.2 17.2

World 26.4 4.5 16.4 16.3

Meat

8%Roots and Tubers

9%Fruits

16%Vegetables

18%Cereals

49%

Figure 4.2: Food demand increase in Asian cities: 2000 - 2010

Source: FAO, 2000a.

Table 4.1: Selected Asian cities and fish consumption

Source: Ruckes, 2000: pp. 1-2.

Likewise, as Table 4.1 indicates below,Asians eat more fish per capita than theworld’s average. Current estimates arethat 17.2 kilograms per person per yearare consumed in the region. This rate ofconsumption is predicted to increase,and the decline in the world’s wild fishstocks is certain to present a challengewhen attempting to meet this demand.Future consumption will likely be metlargely through aquaculture.

Animal products that will be required toa greater extent in the next ten yearsinclude meat, eggs and dairy products.In Asian cities, the demand for animalproducts is steadily increasing. Eggs arein high demand in all Asian citieswhereas the consumption of other ani-mal products varies by region withSouth Asia leading the way as far asdairy products are concerned and meatand fish becoming more sought after inEast and Southeast Asia6. Other Asianintra-regional food consumption differ-ences include less fresh fruit and veg-etable consumption in South Asia com-pared to East and Southeast Asia aswell the greater predisposition, or lackthereof, to consume certain types ofmeat such as pork and beef (see Inoue& Titapiwatanakun, 2000).

4.2.2 Urban-rural consumption contrasts

Urban food consumption habits them-selves are complex and varied (seeAragrande & Argenti, 2001: ChapterTwo). With the exception of farmers onthe periurban fringe, most city dwellersdo not consume food that they havegrown or raised themselves. In otherwords, notwithstanding the importanceof urban and periurban food produc-tion, most urbanites must obtain thefood they need through a transaction,usually involving cash. There are sever-al factors associated with urban house-hold food consumption patterns thatdistinguish themselves from the patternsgenerally found in rural areas.

“According to FAO estimates, thesehouseholds spend 60 to 80 percent oftheir budget on food, 30 percent morethan rural households” (Argenti, 2000:p. ii).

Food security for the urban poor isclosely related to their purchasingpower, or their ability to earn an ade-quate income for themselves and theirfamilies. Hence, viable livelihoods forthe urban poor ought to be seen as afood security issue.

A fundamental issue that ties into thefood security of the urban poor isaccess to clean, safe water. This aspectof food security if often taken for grant-ed by the middle class.

The vulnerable urban groups are: theunemployed, new migrants, singlemothers with dependent children, pen-sioners, disabled or old people lackingfamily support, indigenous people, eth-nic minorities, formal sector workerswith declining or unstable incomes andthose dependent on “crowded” informalsector activities (Argenti, 2000: p. 5).

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4.2.3 The diversity of urban food purchasing habits

Cities are the homes of a variety offood types and purchasing habits thatinvolve a myriad of retail institutions.Distinctive types of consumer behav-iours are related to factors such as dis-posable income, commuting patterns,female participation in remunerativeactivities outside the home, political fac-tors, access to land for food productionand cultural habits to name a few.These factors are described in detailbelow.

Disposable income is one of the mostdecisive factors when it comes toexplaining food-purchasing habits. Theavailability of disposable incomeincreases the options available to con-sumers. Wealthy Asian urbanites canbetter afford to frequent Western-stylesupermarkets, shopping centres and therecently established “box stores” thatsell food and other household items inbulk in cities such as Bangkok and

Manila. The middle and upper classes,and/or their domestic employees, alsopatronise traditional markets and streetstalls. The urban poor are limited intheir choice of locations to purchasefood. The poor spend more of theirincome on food, often because theycannot afford to buy in large quantities,and they also spend more time andenergy procuring foodstuffs. Therestricted incomes of poor city dwellerspartially explain the appearance of insti-tutions such as the Filipino sari-saristore, which sells dry goods, includingfoodstuffs, in very small quantities,often on credit.

Commuting patterns also condition con-sumers’ eating habits. More and moreAsian urbanites are now earning theirincomes far from home. The distancebetween home and workplace affectsurbanites’ ability to eat at home, partic-ularly at lunch, thereby stimulatingdemand for inexpensive food for thenoonday meal. Traffic congestion alsocomplicates eating supper at home.Vehicular traffic issues combined withwomen’s changing role fuel the demandFe

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Box 4.1: “Fair price shops”in Delhi, India

The majority of Delhi’s population getsmonthly supplies of wheat, rice andsugar through Fair Price Shops rununder the supervision of the localadministration. These Shops, numberingtens of thousands, are supplied by thewarehouses of the Delhi State Food andCivil Supplies Corporation, which inturn obtains its supplies from three orfour big warehouses of the FoodCorporation of India. These shops sellto more than 2.5 million cardholders atfixed, subsidised prices. Because ofbureaucratic controls in procurementand distribution of these commodities,the standard of service, quality mainte-nance and consumer satisfaction levelsremain low. Since prices are lower thanthe market prices, these Fair PriceShops are thronged by urban poor, lowsalaried staff, etc. (edited version ofJakhanwal, 2000: p. 3).

Box 4.2: Food consumption in Hanoi,Vietnam

Food consumption patterns havechanged in Hanoi over the last decades.The past diet based on staple food(rice, corn and tubers), vegetable andbeans has shifted to a diet with moremeat, fish, eggs, milk, fats/oil, sweetsand soft drinks as well as canned andprocessed food. Home-prepared mealshave been gradually replaced by restau-rant and street foods. Even in somemeals served at home, processed foodssuch as sausages, instant noodles andrice noodles are commonly used. Foodhabits have also recently incorporatedindustrial processed foods. The increas-ing demand for high quality cookedfood in Hanoi has favoured the growthof “supper markets” serving full mealsthough even these are insufficient tomeet market demand (Quang &Argenti, 1999: p. 1).

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for take-out and convenience foods aswell as restaurants and other retailingestablishments such as street foods.

Female labour-force participation(FLFP) directly affects the nature offood consumption. As women tend tobe responsible for much food-relatedwork at the household level, includingshopping, cooking and cleaning, theirparticipation in remunerated activitiesstimulates the demand for value-addedfoodstuffs that save labour. SoutheastAsia, where most countries exhibit highlevels of FLFP even during women’schildbearing years, is the home of well-developed “traditional fast foods” suchas take-out, catering enterprises andstreet foods.

Political factors such as governmentschemes like food-subsidies and otherfood-related social welfare initiatives,affect the purchasing ability of poorerconsumers. Subsidies are more typicalof socialist economies such as Vietnamand China. Food subsidies are likely todiminish in the future due to the liberal-ization of most centrally plannedeconomies.

Access to land for periurban agricultureand urban gardening affects the extentto which households can produce theirown food, be it fruits and vegetables,eggs and dairy-products or meat fromlivestock. Urban agglomerations of theSouth are characterized by the presenceof a variety of food production activi-ties.

Finally, cultural habits have an overar-ching influence on many of the factorsalready discussed here and also condi-tion the types of foodstuffs consumed,in what context and by whom.Examples of the cultural dimension offood consumption habits include theeating habits of urban middle-classyouth and the appeal for western fastfood and foreign foodways.

All of these examples are disproportion-ately found in urban areas where cul-tural innovations are highly visible com-pared to those found in rural areas.

4.2.4 Problems and prospects facingthe Asian urban food consumer

There are three broad concerns facingthe Asian urban consumer. The firstrelates to the rising cost of food, partic-ularly for the urban poor. The secondinvolves food safety and nutrition, andthe third deals with the need for agreater variety and quality of processedor value-added products to fill thedemand for labour-saving foodstuffs.Well-organized consumers’ associationscan play an important role in bringingall three of these concerns to the atten-tion of government and the private sec-tor.

The rising cost of food in Asian cities isdirectly related to inefficient food sup-ply and distribution mechanisms andrelated inadequacies in distributioninfrastructure. Poor linkages betweenrural areas and cities result in a highrate of food spoilage, resulting in a con-stricted food supply and higher foodcosts.

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Improvements in distribution and theintroduction of post-harvest technolo-gies can contribute to a significantreduction in food prices in the opinionof many experts.

Food safety and nutrition concernsrevolve around the hygiene of raw andprocessed foods whether these are soldin public markets, on the street or inrestaurants. Threats to consumer healthinclude lack of clean water for thewashing of fruits and vegetables, conta-mination of foodstuffs by dust and air-borne pollutants, poor hygiene, improp-er storage, deteriorating urban environ-ments and, finally, the threat of commu-nicable diseases being spread via thefood system (eg. typhoid).

Finally, there is a need for good qualityand affordable convenience and labour-saving processed foods given the pres-ence of both women and men in thepaid labour force.

4.3 Food supply and distribution tocities

Food supply and distribution systems tocities are complex combinations ofactivities, functions and relations (pro-duction, handling, storage, transport,processing, packaging, wholesaling,retailing, etc.) enabling cities to meettheir food requirements. These are per-formed by a variety of economicagents. These players include: produc-ers, assemblers, importers, distributors,wholesalers, retailers, processors, shop-keepers, street vendors, serviceproviders (eg. credit, storage, porterage,information and extension services).Indirectly related agents include pack-aging suppliers, public institutions (eg.city and local governments, public foodmarketing boards, Ministries ofAgriculture and Transport) and privateassociations (eg. traders, transporters,shopkeepers and consumers)(Aragrande & Argenti, 2001: p. 7).

4.3.1 Important general issues:resources, health and environment

There are a number of general, yetimportant, issues related to FSDSs tocities, some of which could not easilybe slotted into the topics discussed inindividual workshops during the semi-nar. First, the rapid deterioration ofurban environments in the cities of theSouth, including many Asian urbanareas is a growing concern. Worseningair quality, for example, can result inthe contamination with heavy metalsand other chemical residues of foodgrown and distributed in and aroundcities.

Second, the resources needed for theproduction of food and for humannourishment more generally, particular-ly water, are becoming scarcer both interms of availability and in terms ofquality. Water is needed for agriculturalproduction, industrial activities relatedto food processing as well as for cook-ing, drinking water and sanitation.Fortunately monsoon Asia, the areastretching from Southeast Asia to south-ern India and Sri Lanka, receives suffi-cient rainfall most of the time. However,certain parts of this region, such asMindanao, have experienced drought,and sustainable watershed managementis emerging as a key challenge to manyurban areas, particularly in light ofglobal climate change7. General accessto potable water and basic sanitation isstill a concern for most of Asia’s urban-ites. Other resources important to urbanfood security are land, labour and energy.

There are several environmental andhealth problems associated with theimproper use of agricultural inputs, par-ticularly chemical fertilisers and pesti-cides. Food and agricultural workers areparticularly susceptible to poisoningdue to prolonged exposure to thesechemicals. Asian urban consumers alsoshow an increasing concern for the

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impacts such chemicals may have ontheir health.

On a more general level, there arenumerous external factors that influencethe FSDS in a given region. Theseinclude the economic, social and politi-cal landscape of the jurisdiction con-cerned; legal, institutional and regulato-ry frameworks and other location spe-cific characteristics. These factors mustbe taken into consideration whenanalysing the FSDS to any given urbanregion as they have direct or indirectimpacts on the functioning of the city.

4.3.2 Food supply to cities

The “food supply to cities” subsystemincludes all the activities that arerequired to produce food and bring itto cities. The discussion can be dividedinto domestic production of food(including urban food production)imports from abroad as well as rural-and periurban-urban linkages (process-ing, storage, assembly, handling, pack-aging, transport, etc.) (Aragrande &Argenti, 2001: p. 7).

Growing quantities of food must beproduced and transported to cities tomeet increasing demand. Asian urban-ites require cereals as a staple (normallyrice or wheat), supplemented by otherculturally and nutritionally prescribedfood items such as vegetables, pulses,fruit, meat, fish, eggs and dairy prod-ucts. Much of the food that suppliescities must be produced in urban andperiurban areas as well as strictly ruralenvironments to meet the swellingdemand of Asia’s growing share ofurbanites. Producing, processing andmarketing domestically grown foodrequire efficient rural-urban linkages inthe form of infrastructure, handling,packaging and storage. These linkageswill be discussed with respect to thevarious sub-aspects of food supply tocities outlined in the paragraphs thatfollow as well as the subsequent sectionon food processing.

Some food required to feed Asia’sgrowing number of urbanites is import-ed from abroad depending on the localand national availability of foodstuffsand pricing issues. Food importing, if itis to be done efficiently, requires stateof the art logistics, associated servicesand infrastructure such as ports, storagefacilities and transport infrastructure,specifically rail, water and road trans-port as well as appropriately enforcedregulations. Among Asian cities, thecity-state of Singapore is the classicexample of an “entrepôt economy” thatimports and distributes products fromaround the world in a highly effectivemanner.

The following sections profile the chal-lenge of supplying Asian cities withfood and highlight some of the con-cerns surrounding various sub-issues.

4.3.2.1 Rural, periurban and urbanfood production

Most of the food required to feed Asia’sgrowing cities will be produced in whatis defined as “rural” areas. In light ofthe preceding discussion of the rise infood consumption predicted for Asiancities in the next ten years, rural areas

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and the world’s compromised oceanswill be expected to produce more food.Access to resources required for anincrease in production is sorely lacking.These resources include land, water,credit, technology and other inputs.Food production in rural Asia is predict-ed to decline over the next decade ifentitlements such as land, expertise andresources are not equitably distributed,especially to Asia’s farmers and fishingcommunities.

Food production also takes place in andaround Asian cities and consists of hor-ticulture, animal husbandry and aqua-culture. Horticulture often takes theform of market gardens on the urbanperiphery, which grow highly perish-able fruits and vegetables such as toma-toes. Urbanites also cultivate food inkitchen gardens and in unused plots ofland. This informal type of agriculture isparticularly important for the food secu-rity of the urban poor. Animal hus-bandry takes many different forms inAsian urban agglomerations rangingfrom the widespread presence of cattlein Indian cities to “pig fattening” as animportant livelihood for women in theurban Philippines. Aquaculture is anextremely well established practice inparts of Asia where fish is a mainstay ofthe diet [for example, Southeast Asia,Bangladesh and the Indian states ofWest Bengal and Orissa].

All of the activities named above can begrouped under the general rubric of“urban and periurban food production”.Food produced as a result of theseactivities accounts for a significant pro-portion of the food supply to Asiancities.

Numerous horticultural and aquaculturalmethods can and do make use ofwastewater and recycled municipalsolid waste, often in the form of com-post. Promoting these activitiesimproves urban food supply and alsocontribute to urban waste management.

In Hanoi, it is estimated that 80 percentof fresh vegetables, 50 percent of pork,poultry and fresh water fish, as well as40 percent of eggs, originate from urbanand periurban areas. In Shanghai, 60percent of vegetables, more than half ofthe pork and poultry, and more than 90percent of milk and eggs originate fromurban and periurban areas. InBangkok, cabbage and onions originatefrom the Chiang Mai area, located morethan 200 kilometres away, while theleafy vegetables like Chinese mustard,spinach or lettuce, originate from peri-urban areas (Moustier, 2000).

4.3.2.2 Rural-urban linkages

A number of intermediary steps need tobe considered when attempting to max-imise efficiency in the transportation offood produced in rural areas to reachretailing points in cities. Attention mustbe paid to the quality and quantity offacilities related to:• food assembly: particularly rural

assembly markets where producerscan gather their products and meet aplurality of potential buyers;

• produce preparation and food han-dling: including the cleaning, sortingand grading of food items;

• packaging: to facilitate handling, pro-mote hygiene and subdivide intosaleable units;

• storage: such as granaries and coldstorage and refrigeration facilities,which are often insufficient, badlymanaged or too expensive;

• rural-urban transport: increased con-sumption of food in cities leads tofood delivery vehicles, particularlytrucks, entering cities and circulatingwithin the urban area. In Shanghai,for example, it is estimated that by2010 more than 350 000 additionalten tonne truckloads will be requiredto deliver food to that megacityalone. By the same year, 313 400such truckloads are predicted to beentering Mumbai. These vehiclesrequire proper infrastructure, such asroads, well-located wholesale and

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retail markets, efficient docking facili-ties and adequate storage facilities.Table 4.2 indicates the estimatednumber of increased ten tonne truck-loads that will be required by a num-ber of Asian cities by the year 2010.

Disregarding the importance of rural-urban linkages can result in significantrates of food spoilage. “Food lossesbetween the production and retailstages are estimated to range from 10 to30 percent and are caused by a combi-nation of on-farm, transport, distributionand spoilage problems which aregreater in urban than rural areas” (FAO, 1998: pp. 3-4).

In India alone, 30 to 40 percent ofannual vegetable production goes rotten(Bhogle, 2000). “According to theMinistry of Food and Civil Supplies, 10percent of India’s total food grain pro-duction, that is 20 million tonnes, is lost

to rodents and insects because of badand inadequate storage facilities” (Roy, 2000: pp: 67-68).

Improving food processing and distribu-tion to reduce post-harvest losses canresult in significant cost savings for foodconsumers.

Private and public investments need tobe made in Asia over the next ten yearsto improve the current state of rural-urban food linkages, particularly interms of improving transportation systems and networks. Poor linkages,especially inadequate roads, result in agreat deal of food being spoiled beforemaking it to market. Improving trans-portation infrastructure takes time andis expensive, often requiring interna-tional financing in the case of poorAsian countries. Hence, there is a needto recognise the importance of foodprocessing.

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Asian cities Additional trucks

58 200104 000302 700313 400205 00021 500

196 50032 000

83 500

18 300205 000217 00017 800

115 000163 400

29 90085 700

359 700

86 900

BandungBangkokBeijingBombayDhakaDavaoDelhiHanoiHo Chi MinhHong KongJ a k a r t aKarach iK. LumpurLahoreMetro ManilaPusanSeoulShangha iYangon

Table 4.2: Estimated additional ten tonne truckloads needed to feedselected Asian cities by 2010

Source: FAO data elaborated by Argenti (2001). Base year: 2000.

4.3.2.3 Food processing

Food processing is a “downstream”activity leading to value-added transfor-mation of raw foodstuffs through a vari-ety of operations such as peeling, cut-ting, milling, grinding, as well as pick-ling, fermentation, dehydration andother methods of conservation8. It alsoultimately includes cooking as one ofthe final forms of processing beforeconsumption. Processing also indirectlyincludes packaging and other suchactivities linked to the processing offood.

Some food processing activities still takeplace in the home though the historicaltrend has been toward the industrializa-tion of these activities so that they areperformed by enterprises of varioussizes: micro, small, medium or large.Food processing is important to consid-er for three main reasons.

First, as previously discussed, given thehigh post harvest losses in poor coun-tries that lack adequate transport infra-structure, simple post harvest technolo-gies must be adopted in order to avoidfood spoilage.

The second reason food processingought to be considered a central aspectof feeding Asian cities is the fact thatdemographic change is leading to arapid increase in demand for value-added food products. Urban lifestyles,particularly the large-scale entry ofwomen into the paid labour force, leavelittle time for home-based food process-ing and cooking. Whereas it used to becommon for families to prepare theirown preserves, bring sacks of grain tothe mill for grinding and cook mostfood at home, the trend is now towardthe purchasing of labour saving “conve-nience” items.

Third, the demand for value-addedfoods represents significant income gen-erating opportunities. Food can be andoften is processed by a variety of micro,small and medium enterprises. Women,who traditionally possess cooking andother food-related skills, are in a goodposition to undertake business activitiesrelated to food processing and, inSoutheast Asia for example, traditionallypredominate as food processing entre-preneurs. Food microentrepreneurs canbenefit, however, from training in thearea of food handling and businessmanagement to enhance food safetyand income-generation respectively.

There are a number of other concernsand challenges related to food process-ing in general. Many of them are aggra-vated when they take place in a con-centrated manner in and around cities.Like food production and distribution,the processing of food requires ade-quate assembly, packaging and trans-portation of foodstuffs from their pointof manufacture through to the finalplace of consumption. Likewise, there isa need for small-scale food processingindustries to easily access information,credit and marketing services.

The processing of food products of ani-mal origin is of concern not onlybecause of increasing demand but alsobecause of the risk of contamination

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Box 4.3: The magnitude of post harvest food losses

Total on-farm rice (paddy) losses inAsia were earlier estimated to be of themagnitude of 25 to 30 percent. Morerecent studies by FAO projects have putsuch losses at about half of that level.While not quite so dramatic as originalestimates, loss levels of 12 percent inIndia and Sri Lanka, 13 percent inBangladesh, 15 percent in Thailand and16 percent in Nepal nevertheless repre-sent a significant waste of food, labourand inputs. Even if it were possible toreduce such losses economically by justone quarter, the food saved in Asiacould amount to around 15 milliontonnes per annum. (Shepherd, 1996: p. 8).

associated with meat, fish, eggs anddairy. All these types of foods are par-ticularly susceptible to harmful bacteriaand viruses. Current concerns overBovine Spongiform Encephalopathy(BSE) linked to animal feeding prac-tices, has recently emerged as a majorfood safety problem in the beef indus-try. Other public health problems linkedto animal feed, such as dioxin contami-nation and the improper use of antimi-crobials have underlined the need tohave adequate controls throughout theentire animal production chain includ-ing consideration of animal feed.Hence, to safely supply the growingtaste of Asian urban consumers withmeat and animal products, there is aneed for adequate attention to allaspects of animal production and pro-cessing as well as hygienic distributionsystems.

There are significant veterinary, envi-ronmental and public health concernssurrounding intensive livestock rearing,particularly in and around cities. Thecurrent European “Foot and Mouth” dis-ease epidemic is a case in point. Asianurbanites are consuming greateramounts of meat, eggs and dairy prod-ucts as incomes rise so this matter willcertainly become more important in thenext ten years.

Slaughterhouses in many Asian citiesare insufficient and badly managed.Their poor state is a matter for immedi-ate concern as are the unnecessarilycruel practices followed in many ofthem. In addition, a significant propor-tion of the meat consumed in Asiancities is raised and butchered in infor-mal, unregulated home-based microen-terprises (Heinz, 2000).

As previously indicated, Asians con-sume a great deal of fish, seafood andrelated products. Fish and seafood,which are easily contaminated, presentspecial challenges for safe and hygienicprocessing. At the same time, East andSoutheast Asia are home to traditionalfish and seafood processing activitiesfor the fabrication of comestibles suchas fish sauce, fermented fish paste,surimi (fish paste) products such as fishballs and condiments such as fishflakes. These well-established cottageindustries can be developed as liveli-hoods for the urban and periurbanpoor.

4.3.3 Urban food distribution

This section provides an overview ofthe issues related to food distributionwithin Asian cities. The term urbanfood distribution here includes concernsrelated to intra-urban transport, whole-sale and retail markets and the range ofother food retailing activities in urbanareas including food shops of varioustypes and sizes, supermarkets and food-services ranging from the small-scalestreet food trade to the mainstreamrestaurant industry.

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4.3.3.1 Wholesale and retail food markets

Urgent concerns affecting wholesaleand retail markets are their location,design, maintenance and management.Wholesale markets continue to play acentral role in urban FSDSs in Asia,mostly because of the current Asianpreference for the purchasing of foodfrom small, neighbourhood retail mar-kets rather than supermarkets. This isno longer the case in many Westerncountries where “vertically integratedsystems of food distribution, from thefarm to the supermarket” tend to pre-dominate, with the exception ofSouthern Europe, where one can stillfind traditional wholesale and retailmarkets.

The above example from Hanoi pointsto the myriad challenges with respect towholesale market development in Asiancities. It highlights the need foradvanced planning, proper managementand services to market vendors such asstorage and docking bays. Conflictsover space around public markets andrising food prices are historicallysources of violence in cities.

There is a range of unanswered ques-tions about the future development andneed for wholesale markets in Asiancities. Among the most important arethe types and size needed, the techni-cal, financial and institutional factorsinvolved and, particularly in the case ofmeat and fish, hygiene concerns (seeTracey-White, 1991, 1997 and 1999).

Retail markets specialize in the sale ofraw foodstuffs such as fresh fruit andvegetables, meat, fish, eggs and dairyproducts. There are several inadequa-cies in Asian cities with respect to retailfood markets. Most of them also applyto wholesale markets.

Of the four wholesale markets in Hanoionly the Long Bien market was planned,whereas Cau Giay, Bac Qua, Nga Tu

So, Trung Hien crossroads developedspontaneously, operating along streetsin the early morning with no propermarket facilities and management. Theyare all now located in the inner city,which makes it very difficult for foodtrucks to reach markets as traffic jamsare the norm and parking space isinsufficient. Market and storage facili-ties are inadequate and poorly main-tained, although traders pay a fee. As aresult, food damage and losses are high,quality of food is reduced, especially forfresh foods. Consequently, consumerprices are higher than they need be(Quang & Argenti, 1999: p. 1).

These include:• locational issues: food markets are

often poorly located forcing low-income urbanites to travel long dis-tances at great expense to purchasefood on a daily basis because smallquantities are more easily affordable;

• design considerations: sometimespavement traders and weekly fairsare crowded whilst local marketsbuilt by Municipalities remain under-utilized or are abandoned. Gooddesign attracts and retains shoppers;

• congestion: markets tend to be inhigh traffic areas resulting in conflictsbetween vehicular and pedestriantraffic. Congested traffic in andaround markets can also contributeto air pollution problems. Many mar-kets were built years ago and arenow located in highly dense urbanareas adding further congestion.Unplanned markets, resulting fromthe insufficient number of formalmarkets, are ubiquitous and result inconflicts over land-use and trafficcongestion;

• hygiene: improvement is needed togive market vendors and their cus-tomers access to potable water, toiletfacilities and training on personalhygiene, food handling and wastedisposal; and

• waste management: markets generateconsiderable organic and packagingwaste, some of which can be

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recycled and composted. Other liq-uid and solid waste requires properwaste disposal mechanisms.

Improving food markets is particularlyimportant for the hygienic sale of meatand other animal products. The emer-gence of new food retailing outlets inAsian cities is already leading tochanges in the food distribution systemwhen it comes to animal products.

The traditional marketing system ofunrefrigerated meat and milk with aperiod of only a few hours between pro-duction and consumption will in manyplaces sooner or later become obsolete.This is due to necessary longer distribu-tion channels from slaughter/processingplants to consumers and introduction ofnew food marketing schemes throughsupermarkets, fast food restaurants, etc.(Heinz, 2000: p. 4).

4.3.3.2 Intra-urban transport

To get food from wholesale to retailmarkets and other retailing outlets,CLAs need to recognise the importanceof an efficiently designed and function-ing intra-urban transport system. Goodintra-urban transport involves easingtraffic congestion, particularly aroundmarkets, and providing proper storageand handling facilities, especially forperishables such as meat, fish, dairyproducts and eggs. A lack of attentionto intra-urban transport will result in ahost of future problems including:• chaotic markets and slaughterhouses;• greater market and traffic congestion;• increasing burdens on poor

consumers due to high food costsand distance from food markets;

• increasing “informal” activities; and• higher levels of food contamination

and pollution.

As many Asian cities already suffer fromthe problems outlined above, the needto improve intra-urban transportbecomes all the more urgent.

4.3.3.3 Other retail food outlets

It is at various retailing points thaturban consumers have the most directcontact with FSDSs. Food may be pur-chased in a relatively “raw”(unprocessed or semiprocessed) or“ready-to-eat” state in a variety of retailoutlets. These outlets include publicand private markets of various sizes asalready discussed above, western stylesupermarkets, itinerant food markets,shops, street food vendors and largereating or “food-service” establishmentssuch as restaurants.

The retailing of prepared food consistsof a variety of establishments in theAsian urban landscape. These rangefrom the well-known hawker stalls andother types of street foods throughmore formal eating establishments suchas canteens, cafeterias and restaurants.Street foods are defined by the FAO as“ready-to-eat foods and beverages pre-pared and/or sold by vendors andhawkers especially in the street andother similar public places” (FAO,1997). Street foods play an importantrole in provisioning the food needs ofthe urban poor as well as middle-classconsumers such as working mothers,youth and students (Tinker, 1997).

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Their affordability and “good value formoney” drive demand for street foodsas do cultural factors.

The street food business is a viablelivelihood for the urban poor and insome parts of Asia, such as SoutheastAsia, women visibly predominate in thetrade. In almost all cases throughout theworld, the preparation and sale of streetfoods is a family enterprise providingneeded income, particularly in times ofeconomic crisis where other jobs maynot be available.

Food safety, and the nutritional qualityof street foods, is frequently cited as apublic concern. Though foods that arecooked and sold immediately are rela-tively safe, high coliform counts areoften found in food that remainsexposed for long periods of time, par-ticularly in a hot humid climate. Hence,the safety of street foods must beimproved. As well, “poor food hygiene,fouling of the environment as well asobstruction of pedestrian and vehiculartraffic are widely cited as importantnegative facets of street food trade”(Clarke, 2000: p. 1).

In some Asian cities, such as Singapore,street food vendors have been largelyrelocated to “hawker centres” or foodcourts. This may be a possibility forother Asian cities. It is certain that pro-gressive and proactive municipal poli-cies to recognise the importance andsupport the needs of the “informal”food sector are a necessity throughoutthe region. This includes less visiblefood distribution microenterprises suchas catering operations.

Larger food-service establishments arealso susceptible to the food contamina-tion risks associated with street foods aswell as liquid and solid waste genera-tion. The growing number of “formal”canteens, cafeterias and restaurantswhere an increasing number of Asianurban consumers purchase meals mustalso be considered part of the urban

food distribution system. A final pointthat should be noted is the fact thatmore and more supermarkets and con-venience stores are beginning to sell“ready-to-eat” foods. This trend signalsthe need to look beyond street foodswhen it comes to assessing foodhygiene and also points to growingcompetition for street foods from othersectors.

All sectors of the FSDS, includinghouseholds, are responsible for the gen-eration of tremendous amounts ofwaste. How to manage this waste in asustainable manner is the subject of thefollowing section.

4.4 Management of waste fromfood markets and slaughterhouses

The management of waste from foodmarkets and slaughterhouses, poses oneof the greatest challenges.Slaughterhouse waste is related to ahost of hygiene, health and environ-mental problems thereby requiring safedisposal. “Growing quantities of wastefrom processing plants, markets andslaughterhouses together with dumpingof plastic packaging and waste burningboosts health risks and the pollution ofwater, soil and air” (Argenti, 2000: p. 4). These problems are compoundedby the lack of urban space for landfillsto dump solid waste9.

This section will profile three types offood waste where there are opportuni-ties for improvement of current disposalpractices in Asian cities, specifically:waste from slaughterhouses and foodmarkets, the composting of organichousehold kitchen waste and waste-water use for periurban aquaculture.

The issue of waste from slaughterhousesis a delicate problem of management,technology and information that hasserious repercussions for health andhygiene. There are growing quantitiesof waste from abattoirs in most Asian

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cities due to increased meat and poultryconsumption. Appropriate technologymust be acquired to process this highlyvolatile type of waste and the knowl-edge must be transferred to employeesfor the correct utilization of this tech-nology. Managing this particular type offood waste properly is clearly a ques-tion of public and environmentalhealth10.

Organic waste from food markets suchas vegetable and fruit scraps ought tobe viewed as a valuable resource dueto the ease with which they can becomposted if waste is properly handledbefore it leaves the markets. Properhandling is most importantly a questionof the separation of organic and inor-ganic waste at the source of disposal.

In the marshy periurban areas ofCalcutta and Dhaka, sewage-water fedaquaculture is a traditional, environ-mentally friendly practice that providesthe majority of the fish consumed bymillions of urban residents. The practiceis also reported in Vietnam. Wastewateraquaculture is a partial answer to thequestion of how to manage the vo-lumes of sewage from the megacities of Asia.

There are two main considerations nec-essary to address all of the aboveissues: first, the role of local authoritiesin wholesale and retail market planningand operations; and second, the promo-tion of private investments in FSD activ-ities and facilities, including markets.

4.5 Asian cities need FSD policies,strategies and programmes

The problems and constraints intro-duced in the previous sections of thisoverview will be aggravated by urban-ization if no concrete measures aretaken to address them. CLAs can andshould play a key role in addressingthem. Their role in improving FSDinvolves outlining an appropriate FSDpolicy, which is defined as:

… a set of goals, objectives, strategiesand programmes spanning regional,metropolitan, urban and local areas. Itis set within a precise timeframe and isformulated in close collaboration withall concerned stakeholders. It guides cityand local authorities in the use ofresources under their control andthrough private sector investment, toimprove access by urban households tostable supplies of good quality food,through efficient, hygienic, healthy andenvironmentally sound food supply anddistribution systems (Argenti, 2000: p. 12).

4.5.1 Why develop FSD policies,strategies and programmes?

Appropriate FSD policies must bedeveloped by CLAs for several reasons.First, national policies, when they evenexist, are often not tailored to meetlocal needs and conditions. Food issuesgenerally tend to be viewed as thepurview of central governments, ratherthan local authorities. Policies are there-fore often of a general nature and maylack the detail necessary to be relevantand effective for specific cities.

Second, CLAs are in close contact withthe local community and already man-age numerous key institutions in theFSDS such as markets and abattoirs andfood sector regulation mechanisms suchas inspection services. CLAs are alsoresponsible for infrastructure and insti-tutions indirectly related to the FSDSsuch as intra-urban transport andshould therefore be planning and man-aging their cities with the present andfuture needs of the FDS in mind.

Finally, given the trend of devolvingdecision making from the national tothe local level in many matters of eco-nomic planning, designing a technicallysound and feasible FSD policy enablesCLAs to undertake proactive partner-ships with a range of local stakeholders.These stakeholders include private sec-tor enterprises (including the “informal”sector), other government agencies atvarious levels and civil society.

4.5.2 Role and needs of cities andlocal authorities

Before developing an FSD policy, AsianCLAs need to understand their involve-ment in FSDSs. There are five principalrole that CLAs can play (Argenti, 2000:pp. 7-11):• promote supportive attitudes and

policies toward the various suppliersand distributors of food in theircities;

• stimulate private investment in thefood sector;

• intervene in FSD in terms of plan-ning, information collection and dis-semination and through the provisionof appropriate infrastructure, facili-ties, services and regulations;

• coordinate the various stakeholdersin the FSDS; and

• act as an intermediary between thecentral government and the local pri-vate food sector.

A smoothly functioning FSDS requiresappropriate and coordinated planningat municipal, metropolitan and regional

levels. A priority, therefore, is to sensi-tize urban and regional planners andmunicipal managers to the importanceof FSDSs and the nature of the foodsystem in their localities.

… a primary task planners have tocarry out is to understand how FSDSswork as far as production, transporta-tion and distribution are concerned, theinfrastructure and services needed, andthe most appropriate technical andfinancial alternatives. Moreover urbanmanagers need to identify the solutionshaving the greater potential for mobiliz-ing the resources available locally, whiledefining norms and standards thatmeet the capacities of both the publicand the private sector (Balbo, 2000: p. 1).

As well, it is important to ensure thatpositive attitudes toward the food sectorbe inculcated in mayors, municipal offi-cials and planners.

Approaches adopted for the develop-ment and implementation of an urbanFSD policy must be consultative, partici-patory, open-minded, alliance seekingand technically sound (Argenti, 2000: p. 18). Other principles include the fos-tering of competition, resistance tofleeting “fashions”11 and letting the pri-vate sector run activities that can bestbe managed by businesses.

There are several technical gaps thatneed to be filled before CLAs can suc-cessfully design and implement an FSDpolicy. These include lack of criticalinformation and technical expertise thatare necessary to play a meaningful role.Many of these lacunae can be over-come through training and well-designed collaborations with other cities(see the following section).

One of the major hurdles to CLAsdeveloping FSD policies relates to theirincreasing role in all spheres of localdevelopment in the face of dwindlingresources, particularly financing. All of

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the recommendations made in thisreport are therefore predicated on ade-quate monetary, human and institution-al resources being available to develop,implement and monitor FSD policies.

4.5.3 The role and responsibilities of other institutions

CLAs should be the lead institutions forthe formulation of urban FSD policies.Their role ought to be to coordinaterather than coerce other stakeholdersfrom various levels of government, theprivate sector (including “informal”enterprises) and civil society organiza-

tions in the formulation of an FSD poli-cy and its associated goals, objectivesand strategies. The example describedbelow of an attempt to formulate anFSD policy in Amman, Jordan under-scores the need to have CLAs as thelead institutions.

Once general goals, concrete objectivesand specific strategies have been agreedupon by all stakeholders, CLAs musttake the lead in designing programmesin the area of FSD that impact munici-pal, metropolitan and regional jurisdic-tions. These programmes, which shouldaddress food supply, distribution andrelated health and environmental con-cerns, consist of individual subpro-grammes. Each subprogramme, in turn,contains specific action plans withclearly identified results that can bemeasured in the immediate, short,medium and long term.

4.5.4 The nature of an effective FSDpolicy

An FSD policy needs to: 1) respondefficiently and equitably to expectedchanges in the amounts and sources offood required; 2) meet changing con-

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Box 4.4: FSD policy in Amman,Jordan

Local authorities in Amman have littleconcern for urban food security.Generally speaking, there is an inade-quate understanding of the importanceand impact of FSDSs on the socio-eco-nomic development of the city and itsenvironment. This leads to the problemof insufficient data concerning the foodsystem. Interventions to improve urbanFSDS should target municipal authori-ties and recognise the city as the leadorganization to coordinate a multistake-holder policy development process.Specific programmes for food microand small enterprises are urgentlyrequired. Records indicate that there aremore than 17 000 micro and smallenterprises operating in the food sectorin Amman. These economic activitiesplay an important role in feeding thecity and generating income for the fam-ilies that own and operate the businesses. Nevertheless, the legal andfinancial environment hinders, ratherthan enables, the creation of such foodenterprises. The absence of trainingprogrammes and poor lobbying powerof the food sector businesses results intheir needs not being addressed bylocal authorities. The creation of a “cen-tral unit for developing food micro andsmall enterprises” for the region ofGreater Amman is therefore deemednecessary (Awamleh 2000; Sunna,2000).

sumer preferences; 3) make food ofgood quality accessible to all city inhab-itants at accessible prices; and 4) reduceand possibly eliminate food-relatedhealth problems. These four areasshould be priorities for CLAs.

The goals of a comprehensive urbanFSD policy are threefold: economic, toimprove efficiency and lower costs;social, to enhance equity and foodsecurity; and health and environmentrelated, to reduce food borne illnessesand negative environmental impactsrelated to the urban food system. Anexample of a policy goal would be tobetter locate a city’s public markets.

Policy objectives refer to the concretemeasures that need to be undertaken toachieve policy goals. They are typicallyshort term and involve one or moreoperational units. To be effective, objec-tives should be attainable, feasible,credible, technically sound, consistentwith central government priorities andsocially as well as politically acceptable.An example of a policy objective withreference to the aforementioned policygoal of improving the location of publicmarkets would be to amend the land-use regulations of the city in questionto facilitate relocation of public marketsin the next three years.

Policy strategies point to the ways inwhich clearly defined objectives can beattained. To continue with the aboveexample, a relevant strategy to enablethe fulfilment of the objective to amenda city’s land-use plan might be to con-sult with and involve the stakeholderswho are likely to be opposed to such achange. This step would ensure thattheir needs are addressed and theirviews are included in the process ofchanging the land-use plan.

The goals, objectives and related strate-gies of an FSD policy proposed by aCLA must be complementary with relat-ed policies in the area of health, eco-nomic development and so on. Care

must be taken to forecast policy andprogramme conflicts to mitigate theirpotential negative impacts.

4.5.5 Measuring success

The outcome of a successful FSD policycan be measured by the presence of:• a stable supply of low-cost food par-

ticularly for low-income urban con-sumers through efficient distributionsystems, including informal marketsand street vendors;

• greater equity from lower food pricesthereby reducing social disruption,making supplies and prices more sta-ble and increasing employment andincome opportunities in the food sec-tor; and

• fewer food-related health problemsand minimization of the negativeimpact of FSD activities on the envi-ronment, such as traffic congestion,air pollution and noise around mar-ket areas (Balbo, 2000: p. 1).

Having benchmarks, such as the threeoutlined above, is important for gaugingthe impact of the implementation of anFSD policy in a given urban region.

4.6 Technical cooperation among City and Local Authorities

Technical cooperation among CLAs inthe area of FSDSs is relatively new.Nevertheless, this frontier field offerstremendous potential for the sharing ofexperiences, best practices, informationand technical know-how between citiesof the developing world (i.e. South-South cooperation) and between Asiancities and those of Western Europe orNorth America (i.e. North-South cooper-ation). The fact that well-establishedinternational networks of local authori-ties such as CityNet and theInternational Union of Local Authoritiesalready exist facilitates technical cooper-ation among CLAs with respect to FSD.Information and communication tech-nologies open the door technologicallyto the expedient and efficient sharing of

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experiences and information through,for instance, virtual databases and on-line networking and training resources.

There are a number of preliminarysteps that need to be undertaken toensure that technical cooperationamong CLAs takes place smoothly. Tohave effective cooperation and agree-ment, all actors involved should:• be fully committed;• develop a clear and achievable mis-

sion and goals;• identify the type of partnership

agreement;• develop an estimated timeline for

deliverables;• secure required resources; and• set clear expectations and provide

necessary staffing and training.

CLAs can cooperate on a North-Southor South-South basis to share anddevelop information, build awareness ofthe importance of FSDS issues anddevelop specific training packages intechnical areas such as urban and peri-urban land management, wholesalemarket operation and food enterprisedevelopment. CityNet and the EuropeanUnion’s “Asia Urbs” programme havealready undertaken steps to foster tech-nical cooperation among CLAs in thearea of FSD. The seminar workshopslisted several areas where Asian CLAsneed technical cooperation:• building greater awareness of FSD

through information disseminationand sensitization activities;

• strengthening the capacity of techni-cal staff of CLAs in the design andimplementation of technically soundurban FSD policies and programmes;

• improving urban planning and man-agement skills and tools for FSDthrough the targeted training ofurban planners.

CLAs can facilitate their cooperationwith one another by collaborating withexisting networks in the region likeCityNet and international organizationswith an expertise in FSD such as theFAO. Examples of the types of materials

and activities that can be produced tofacilitate information exchange andtraining include:• technical documentation in local lan-

guages such as booklets, guides andbrochures;

• CD-ROMs containing multimediainformation on, for example, “bestpractices” in FSD to cities;

• videos made to sensitize localauthorities to the importance ofFSDSs to cities;

• training courses, fellowships, studytours and workshops/seminars totrain representatives from CLAs andbuild sector specific regional net-works.

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Argenti, O. 2000. Food for the Cities:Food Supply and Distribution Policiesto Reduce Food Insecurity. Food intoCities Collection (DT/43-00E), Rome:FAO.

Awamleh, M. 2000. Proposed Structuresfor Food Micro and Small EnterpriseDevelopment. The City of Amman.Food into Cities Collection (EC/93-00E), Rome: FAO.

Balbo, M. 2000. Guide for UrbanPlanners and Managers. Food intoCities Collection (DT/44-01E), Rome:FAO.

Bhogle, S. 2000. PersonalCommunication. TechnologyInformatics Design Endeavour(TIDE). Bangalore, India.

Clarke, R. 2000. Street Foods for Asia,Food Safety and Traditional Aspects.Food into Cities Collection (EC/116-00E), Rome: FAO.

FAO, 1997. Street Foods. Report of anFAO Technical Meeting on StreetFoods, Calcutta, 6-9 November 1995.FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 63.Rome.

FAO, 1998. Feeding the Cities (excerptfrom: The State of Food andAgriculture: 1998). Food into CitiesCollection (DT/39-98E). Rome.

FAO, 2000a. Agriculture Towards 2015-30. Technical Interim Report. Rome.

FAO, 2000b. Seminar Addresses FeedingAsia’s Cities. FAO News HighlightsNovember 30. Rome.

Heinz, G. 2000. The Supply of LivestockProducts to Asian Cities. Food intoCities Collection (EC/117-00E), Rome:FAO.

Inoue, S. & Titapiwatanakun, B. 2000.Dietary Pattern Change in AsianCountries. Research on FoodConsumption Structure andMarketing System under EconomicFluctuations in Japan and OtherAsian Countries. Tokyo: NationalResearch Institute of AgriculturalEconomics.

Jakhanwal, S.P. 2000. A Case Study ofDelhi: Food Supply and Distributionin a Mega City. Food into CitiesCollection (EC/96-00E), Rome: FAO.

Moustier, P. 2000. The Response toUrbanisation of Food Production inRural, Periurban and Urban Areas.Food into Cities Collection (EC/118-00E), Rome: FAO.

Quang, C. & Argenti, O. 1999. FoodSupply and Distribution to Hanoi -Workshop Report. Food into CitiesCollection (AC/22-99E), Rome: FAO.

Roy,A. 2000. The Cost of Living.Frontline. February 18, pp. 67-68.

Ruckes, E. (2000). Fish Marketing inAsian Cities. Food into CitiesCollection (EC/119-00E), Rome: FAO.

Sawant, U. 1997. Slaughterhouse Waste:a Resource. Worm Digest. Issue No.15. Eugene, Oregon.

Schiere, H. 2000. Periurban LivestockSystems. Problems, Approaches andOpportunities: an FAO Report Basedon Case Studies, Literature andExpert Consultations. Food into CitiesCollection (DT/48-00E), Rome: FAO.

Seidler, E. 2000. Feeding Asian Cities:Urban Food Distribution Issues.Food into Cities Collection (DT/59-00E), Rome: FAO.

Shepherd,A. 1996. Food for Consumers:Marketing, Processing andDistribution. Food into CitiesCollection (DHS/01-00E), Rome: FAO.

Sunna, S. 2000. Feeding Asian Cities:Urban Food Distribution Issues. Food into Cities Collection (AC/35-00E), Rome: FAO.

Tinker, I. 1997. Street Foods: Urban Foodand Employment in DevelopingCountries. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Tjandradewi, B.I. & Dato’ Singh Chah, L.I.2000. Feeding Asian Cities:Cooperation and partnershipsBetween Cities for Urban FoodSecurity. Food into Cities Collection(DT/60-00E), Rome: FAO.

Tracey-White, J.D. 1991. WholesaleMarkets. Planning and DesignManual. Agricultural ServicesBulletin, No. 90, Rome: FAO.

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5 These figures are aggregates for variouscities in East, Southeast and South Asia(excluding West Asia).

6 Due to the lack of a pastoral tradition,much of the population in East andSoutheast Asia is traditionally lactose intol-erant. Nevertheless, many large food multi-nationals are aggressively marketing anddistributing dairy products in the cities ofthese two regions.

7 Bangalore, Bangkok and Cebu are promi-nent examples of Asian cities experiencingdifficulties supplying sufficient water fortheir populations. See the Inter-governmen-tal Panel on Climate Change workinggroup documentation for information onglobal warming and food security.

8 Canning is a common home-based foodprocessing activity but requires sound train-ing before being undertaken commercially.

9 Many would argue that landfills are an inef-ficient and outdated form of municipalsolid waste management.

10 For an explanation of the issues surround-ing the composting of slaughterhousewaste see Sawant (1997: pp. 18-19).

11 By “fashions”, Argenti is referring to deve-lopments that foster goals such as “modern-ization” or the preservation of traditionwhile losing sight of the primary objectiveof poverty-alleviation by stimulatingincome-generating opportunities and lower-ing the cost of living.

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Section 2

5) Key Paper 1: Feeding Asian Cities:Food Production andProcessing Issues

6) Key Paper 2: Feeding Asian Cities:Urban FoodDistribution Issues

7) Key Paper 3: Urban Food Supplyand DistributionPolicies andProgrammes

8) Key Paper 4: Cooperation andPartnershipsbetween Cities for Urban Food Security

This paper argues for a more active rolefor cities in shaping agricultural andfood policy. The arguments for astronger involvement of the citiesbeyond the mere regulation of the foodpurchase and food consumption processare based on recent changes in produc-er-consumer relations and the problemsarising from recent trends in urbaniza-tion in relation to agriculture. Thepaper deals with four major compo-nents. First, the driving forces of theagricultural transition process andurbanization are reviewed from an his-torical perspective. Second, the problemsarising from urban-rural relations inthe context of food supply are analysed.Third, the spatial dimension of land-usein urban areas including the differentforms of agriculture such as urban,periurban and rural agriculture andtheir implications for the urban envi-ronment are dealt with. Finally, a syn-thesis is provided to be used as a basisfor developing the type of policy inter-ventions often carried out by cityadministrators.

Introduction

The last century has experienced dra-matic urban expansion. The cities of thethird world have been growing at anunprecedented rate. The number ofpeople living in cities in developingcountries has at least quadrupled duringthe second part of the twentieth centu-ry. There has been a trend toward theformation of large metropolises orurban agglomerations12. There are nowover thirty urban agglomerations indeveloping countries, and most of those

are located in Asia. This developmentposes a tremendous challenge for theagricultural sector and the food supplyindustry. While there is a need to trans-port more food over larger distances, itis also necessary to respond to anincreasingly diversified consumerdemand in terms of product quality andfood safety standards.

This paper analyses the major issues offood production and processing in aworld characterized by a constantdecrease of public investments in agri-culture from an Asian perspective. Theempirical evidence provided refers toselected countries in South andSoutheast Asia.

The paper is organized around fourmajor themes:

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by Hermann Waibel and Erich Schmidt

Feeding Asian Cities:Food Production andProcessing Issues

Key Paper 1

5

1) an analysis of the driving forces ofthe transition process;

2) an illustration of the need to effi-ciently steer the process of urban-rural relations in the context of foodsupply;

3) an exploration of the spatial dimen-sion of land-use in urban areas, i.e.the description of the evolution ofagricultural systems in terms ofurban, periurban and rural agricul-ture and their implications for theurban environment; and

4) a synthesis, which may form a basisand rationale for government policyinterventions.

Driving forces

Urbanization is a by-product of eco-nomic development. The urban popula-tion is rising faster than overall popula-tion growth even in those Asian coun-tries with abundant land resources(UNDP, 1999: pp. 231-234).

As countries develop, urban areasaccount for an increasing share of thegross national product (GNP). Thegrowth sectors of an economy, particu-larly manufacturing (including food pro-cessing) and services, are generallylocated in cities where they benefitfrom agglomeration economies, amplemarkets for inputs and outputs andreadily available labour. These urbanagglomerations are also areas whereideas and knowledge are rapidly dif-fused. According to Shukla (1996) pro-ductivity rises with city size, eg. a typi-cal firm will see its productivity climbbetween 5 and 10 percent if city sizeand scale of local industry double.

Although the definition differs, mostcountries call settlements between 2 500and 25 000 people “urban areas”.Regardless of the criteria used, thenumber of people living in large citiesis on the rise (World Bank, 1999/2000).Very often, the majority of the urbanpopulation lives in the capital city (eg. Bangkok, Manila, and Jakarta).

The share of agriculture in grossdomestic product (GDP) is declining asa result of higher overall growth ratesin the manufacturing and service sec-tors. The income elasticity of demand,as a measure of responsiveness of con-sumers to changes in their income, ishigher for non-agricultural products. Itis generally lower and decreasing forfood products. Hence a dollar investedin industrial development is expected toyield higher returns than one investedin agriculture. For economic reasonsindustrialization takes place in urbanareas where the agglomeration of pro-duction factors such as labour andinfrastructure as well as the output ofmarkets generate economies of scale.The accumulation of a growing share ofthe population in urban agglomerationshas generated a political economywhere the agricultural sector becametaxed by the rest of the economy(Krueger et al., 1992). Overvaluedexchange rates and government admin-istered food prices were set belowworld market levels (Schiff & Valdés,1995) and have generated disincentivesfor farmers to produce more, to inno-vate, to adopt new technology and toinvest. The pressure that the urban pop-ulation can put on governments effec-tively has resulted in a cheap food poli-cy that invariably has brought about aconflict of interest between “urban” and“rural” (Lipton, 1977). While the impor-tance for coordinated complimentaryinvestments across sectors as a substi-tute for inefficient subsidies has beenaddressed in the context of the so-called big push strategies (Murphy etal., 1989), the specific role of agricul-ture was not mentioned.

By and large, development policy suf-fers from an urban bias that has anempirical as well as a theoretical base.Empirically, food production has out-paced population growth resulting indeclining food prices. On the theoreti-cal side, the root for a bias toward agri-culture is the Arthur Lewis DualEconomy Theory (Lewis, 1958).

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His model is based on the assumptionthat the major role of the agriculturalsector in a developing economy is tosupply surplus labour to a growingindustrial sector. This theory relies onthe perception that inefficiency and lowlabour productivity characterize agricul-ture. Investing in agriculture wasregarded as investment in poverty.Modernizing agriculture on the otherhand was assumed to require industrial-ization first. Only through the processof industrialization would the traditionalequity-based wage of a feudalistic agri-cultural society (Schäfer, 1983) bereplaced by an economic price forlabour, i.e. one based on supply anddemand in the labour market of theindustrial sector (Ranis & Fei, 1961).While the positive contribution of agri-culture in early phases of economicdevelopment was recognised, lowprices for agricultural products relativeto industrial products were believed tobe a necessary pre-condition for rapidindustrialization (Schäfer, 1983). Foodprices in countries where incomes arelow are “wage goods”, i.e. as peoplespend a large share of their income forfood, the price of food determines theirtrue earnings.

While the early industrialization strategyworked well in some countries it failedin others. To date, there are large differ-ences among Asian countries. The shareof agriculture in GDP has declined inall countries taken into consideration inthis paper (World Bank, 2000).However this decline does not corre-spond very clearly with the overallsocio-economic well being of a countryas expressed by the HumanDevelopment Index (UNDP, 1999).

It is now clear that the dual economymodel is too unspecific for designingpolicy recommendations (Bhadra &Brandao, 1993). A policy of protectinga growing manufacturing and serviceindustry on the one hand (infant indus-try-argument) while “taxing” agricultureon the other was not always effective in

reaching the dual purpose of “raisingconsumer income and enhancing agri-cultural productivity”. Government pro-grammes to compensate farmers for lowoutput prices through input subsidiesfor seeds, fertilizer and pesticides inseveral instances (eg. the Philippines,Indonesia) have failed to achieve foodsecurity and have resulted in significantnegative externalities. For example,Rola & Pingali (1993) established thatfarmers in Philippine rice productionexperience health costs at a ratio of 1:1to their expenditures on insecticides.

The reliance on external chemicalinputs and the promotion of monocul-ture has not only led to naturalresource degradation and environmentaldamage but has also contributed to anegative image of the farming commu-nity. Farmers are often blamed for pol-lution of water bodies, erosion and for-est encroachment. They are sometimes“misused” as an easy scapegoat for gov-ernmental policy failures. For example,farmers in the mountain areas ofNorthern Vietnam grow upland rice forhousehold food security under a swid-den agriculture system (Pemsl, 2000).These swidden agriculturalists are not

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only blamed for deforestation but arealso being accused as the cause for lowrice prices during a period of growingnational rice production (Pandey,2000).

Another lesson learned from the nowoutdated dual economy paradigm isthat food prices are an insufficient indi-cator of food security. Although foodprices are low to date, havingdecreased by 50 percent in real termsbetween 1960 and 1990 (McCalla,1998), there is no decline in absolutepoverty measured in income terms. Todate, an estimated 1.2 billion peoplelive on less than one US dollar per dayand almost three billion have less thantwo dollars a day (World Bank, 1999).Many of these people are unable tobenefit from lower food prices and theincrease in agricultural production. Sen(1981) showed that famines happendespite high aggregate food supply.Apparently the market is not able tosolve this problem. Hunger in a broaderdefinition, i.e. when including all kindsof social and biological disadvantagesassociated with inadequate food intake(Drèze & Sen, 1989) requires publicaction that goes beyond food produc-tion. The lessons learned from misguid-ed development interventions duringthe past provide some hint about howthe process of urban-rural relations inthe context of food supply and sustain-able development can be efficientlysteered.

Urban-rural relations

Identification of some of the misguideddevelopment interventions in the pastprovides a better understanding of thecomponents for an agri-environmentalframework that meets the requirementsof a “growing cities/growing food” sce-nario in the context of sustainabledevelopment. Such a framework isneeded as the supply and demand con-ditions for food have undergone signifi-cant changes in Asian countries.

On the supply side, the interaction ofrural and urban labour markets andrural and urban food production andprocessing needs to be addressed.Regarding labour markets and followingthe Schultz urban-industrial hypothesis(Schultz, 1953), the interaction betweenrural and urban labour markets ismarked by a regional disparity inincome. The demand for labour inurban (relative to rural) areas growsfaster than the supply. The effect ismagnified by the more rapid rural nat-ural increase in population.Disproportionality between supply anddemand in the short run raises urbanrelative to rural wages. As stated by(Katzmann, 1974: p. 687) “potentialmigrants from rural areas will weightheir lifetime gain in earnings against itseconomic and psychic costs. The farthera rural area is from the urban opportu-nities, the higher the costs of migratingand acquiring information about theseopportunities. Consequently at economic equilibrium conditions, ruralincome will increase with distance fromurban centres”.

On the other hand, physical distance isno longer a real constraint to informa-tion diffusion, and migration may occuron a seasonal or temporal scale only.After planting, farmers move to thecities to work in the construction ortourism industries and return to harvesttheir crops. The extent of this form ofmigration became transparent duringthe Asian financial crisis. A study by theWorld Bank (Feder, 2000) has shownthat small farmers, despite a lowerdegree of agricultural commercializa-tion, were more seriously affected bythe crisis because the share of non-farmincome on their total household incomeis higher than that of larger farms. Inconclusion, due to the relationshipbetween urban and rural labour mar-kets, economic development in urbanagglomerations is affected by migrationcosts on the one hand but, in turn, canalso significantly affect rural livelihood.

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Furthermore, migration decisions arebased on perceived costs and benefitswith a strong tendency to overestimatethe latter. One successful rural migrantvisiting his former village will attractnumerous others who have only a slightchance of achieving their desired levelof economic success in the city.

On the production side, agriculture ingeneral has become more intensive interms of external input use and morecommercialized on the output side. Inresponse to technological changes onthe production side and urban con-sumer demand for increasing amountsof only a few staple foods on the out-put side, agriculture has become lessdiversified relative to the time when themain purpose of farms was to producefood for the household itself. Today, inmany Asian countries, the once integrat-ed crop-livestock farm is just a memory.Technology input from the private andpublic sectors has been mainly concen-trated on rice, corn and wheat.Technology and price factors (as men-tioned in the previous section) havestimulated monoculture. The use ofhigh yielding varieties, fertilizer andchemical pesticides has created well-known negative side effects on theenvironment, farmers’ and consumers’health. Water for irrigation has beenpractically free of charge for farmers,contributing to its inefficient use. At thesame time dwindling water resourceshave led to increasing competitionbetween rural and urban water users.Consolidation and concentration ofagroindustry have accompanied devel-opments in the post-harvest sector overthe past decade on the urban fringe.These changes may have increasedtransaction costs for effectively sig-nalling changes in consumer prefer-ences to producers. Despite obviousinterconnections between urban-basedfactors and product markets and ruralfood production, there is still a lack ofcoordination between private and pub-

lic urban and rural planning and publicpolicy interventions largely due to thesector orientation of governmental policy.

There is also a connection betweenurban labour markets and agriculturalproduction. As migrants fail to find ade-quate employment in urban areas, theytend to produce their own food onwhatever land they can find. The phe-nomenon of urban agriculture in manycities of the developing world is a reali-ty although its magnitude in quantitativeterms is still undetermined. Some esti-mates place the number of people whoengage in some form of urban agricul-ture at around 800 million peopleworldwide (UNDP, 1996).

On the demand side changing con-sumer preferences induce modificationsto the food industry. In Southeast Asiathis is especially true for fruits and veg-etables (Isvilanonda, 1992; Jansen etal., 1996). The driving forces behindthese developments are changes ininput and output price, development ofphysical infrastructure, population

growth, increase in per capita income,and better informed consumers (Ali, 1998). In Thailand, for example,the share of vegetables as a percentageof total crop value increased from some20 percent in 1985 to 35 percent in1994 (Inoue & Titapiwatanakun, 1997:p. 1). Likewise the share of fruits andvegetables in total consumption expen-ditures increased from 19.0 to 24.3 per-cent whereas the share of rice and cere-als decreased (Ibid: p. 2). This valuechange is also accompanied by changesin quantity (Ali, 1998: p. 2; Ibid: p. 2).The growing demand for vegetables hasbeen accompanied by a rapid transfor-mation of the traditional chain market-ing system to a more diversified systemof retailing through discount stores,supermarkets and convenience stores.These changes have been accompaniedby adjustments in the whole distributionsystem, eg. central markets and large-scale trading. This adjustment has stim-ulated the growth and concentration ofthe food processing industry.Consumers have become aware ofpotential health hazards caused by overand misuse of pesticides especially invegetable production and of the envi-ronmental damage caused by indiscrim-inate use of chemicals. Although someof these perceptions may be the resultof wrong or biased information andpublic hysteria, they nevertheless influ-ence consumer decisions. As a result,city people gradually become interestedin agriculture and are a driving forcebehind the emergence of niche marketsespecially for “green products”.

In conclusion, rural relations in Asiancountries have become more complex.Despite the contraction of the agricul-tural sector as measured in its share ofGDP, food production affects humandevelopment in rural as well as inurban areas in a multifaceted way. Thisrural complexity poses a challenge toboth rural and urban planners to effec-tively coordinate public policy interven-tions. It becomes clear from exploringonly some of the urban-rural relations

that agriculture and food is too much ofa cross cutting issue to be left to agri-cultural experts alone whose paradigmuntil now has been made up of a ratherone-sided rural production philosophy.

Spatial dimensions of agriculture inurban agglomerations

When analysing urban-rural relationswith regard to agriculture, one sees thatfunctionally there can be no strict sepa-ration between rural and urban. Thesame is true for land-use. Applied tothe reality of developing countries, thevon Thünen location theory, developedsome 150 years ago for urban-rural rela-tions in Northern Germany, suggests agradient of agricultural systems relativeto their distance from urban centres(von Thünen, 1826). In economicterms, von Thünen-like models suggestthat land-use patterns and the marketprice of land are established by relativerental gradients for agricultural andnon-agricultural land-use. Under theconditions of a rather unbalanced urbanexpansion, as experienced in manyAsian cities, the conversion of land intodifferent uses does not proceed in con-centric circles around the market townas the original theoretical model sug-gests. Consequently, location drivenchanges in rural agricultural systems,periurban and even urban agriculturalsystems13 emerge among the gradientsin the periphery, the wedges and thecorridors of urban settlements (UNDP,1996).

As pointed out by de Zeeuw et al.,(2000), agriculture in urban agglomera-tions comprises various farming sys-tems. These systems range from subsis-tence production and processing at thehousehold level to fully commercializedagribusinesses comprised of specializedproduction, processing and distributionunits. These agricultural systems existwithin heterogeneous resource utiliza-tion situations, eg. under scarce as wellas abundant land and/or water resourceconditions. Urban agriculture normally

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has a niche function in terms of time(transitory), space (interstitial) as well asspecific social (eg. women and lowincome groups) and economic (eg.financial crisis, food shortage) condi-tions. It exists under a range of policyenvironments that can be prohibitive orsupportive to its existence and develop-ment. Contrary to the views of manyurban planners and developmentexperts, participants at a workshop inHavana, Cuba (Bakker et al., 2000) con-cluded that urban agriculture has to beseen as a permanent component of theurban system although some forms arebased on temporal use of vacant landsonly. From the perspective of urbanfood security, nutrition and health,urban agriculture can potentially makea significant contribution (Ruel et al.,1998). As women often have theresponsibility for food procurement forthe household there is a strong genderdimension. Furthermore, provisionsmade for agriculture in urban areas interms of land, other resources, process-ing facilities and institutions can be con-sidered as a kind of risk premium thatcity authorities pay as part of an insur-ance strategy to avoid food riots andother social disruptions (Waibel, 2000).Considering the social consequences ofthe financial crisis in Asia (Knowles et al., 1999) the social costs of a proac-tive city food security strategy are likelyto be lower than relying on a futurescenario of perfect market conditionsand government subsidies. Empiricalevidence for urban food production aspart of a coping strategy to deal withthe consequences of the financial crisiscan be found in Indonesia (Ibid: p. 49).There is also a need for urban process-ing facilities because demand for foodincreasingly means demand forprocessed food14.

As product prices increase and factorprices decrease with proximity to urbanmarkets, the availability of empty landclose to urban settlements and urbancentres raises the marginal value prod-uct of labour and hence attracts migra-

tion to such places. However, urbaniza-tion can increase the cost of agriculturalproduction near residential and manu-facturing areas in a number of ways.First, regulatory measures are oftenmore effectively implemented, enforcingfarmers to internalize some of the nega-tive externalities generated, eg. by theuse of chemical inputs. Second, usercosts of land may increase throughproperty taxes. Third, farmers’ costs canincrease due to vandalism and poachingin the sub-urban fringe (Bhadra &Brandao, 1993). Fourth, agriculturalproduction decisions can become dis-torted due to land speculation. Farmersmay delay complementary investments,eg. in machinery or drainage becausethey plan to sell their land and move tothe city, as observed in Dhaka (UN, 1987). By the same token, farmershave no incentive to apply resource-conserving “good agricultural practices”.The net effects of urbanization on agri-cultural land-use also depend on thetype of agricultural commodity pro-duced. For example, vegetable production may benefit from urbaniza-tion while livestock production may beadversely affected.

The application of location theory tourban areas has shown that urbaniza-

tion does not make agriculture disap-pear. City administrators and plannersneed to take into account the fact thatagricultural production occurs in anurban-rural continuum rather than inisolated, far away rural areas. It is there-fore important that effective and effi-cient policies are designed that exploitcomplementary forces between urbandevelopment and agriculture in the con-text of economic and social welfare.Within this context decision makersneed to be aware that the traditionalproducer-consumer relationship hasbeen substituted by a more diversifiedstructure that includes collectors, trans-porters, wholesalers and retailers.

Summary

An analysis of the effects of urbaniza-tion on agriculture has shown that gov-ernment intervention is needed to regu-late agricultural land. While it is beyonddoubt that cities will be the netimporters of food and other agriculturalraw materials, agriculture poses a chal-lenge not only for rural agriculturistsbut for city people as well. Our analysishas shown that:• City authorities can no longer afford

to leave the communication of thepreferences of urban consumers tomarket mechanisms alone. Theexample of the BangkokMetropolitan Administration enforc-ing pesticide residue checks for veg-etables coming in from the vegetableareas at the urban fringe of themetropolis is a response to somekind of institutional failure.

• The growing disconnection betweenfood production and food consump-tion and better information accesshas its costs. Consumers are morelikely to overreact in cases of report-ed food scandals and misuse of agri-cultural technology if they have littleknowledge of agricultural productionprocesses. Producer-consumer com-munication can be more effective ifconsumers are well informed andcan thus provide reliable signals to

producers and vice versa. Clearly,city authorities can play a role inimproving the information environ-ment by accepting agriculture andfood production as part of city lifeand by introducing institutions toimprove the situation.

• Agriculture is not and cannot berestricted to non-urban areas. Postharvest and agroindustry develop-ments in general are favoured byurbanization despite claims that itdoes alleviate rural poverty as in thecase of the starch industry inVietnam (Golletti & Samman, 1999).Agricultural crops, like certain typesof vegetables, are most profitablygrown at the urban fringe. Thedevelopment of technologies thattake into account natural resources,environment and human health is apriority research area. Local govern-ment policy can stimulate the devel-opment and adoption of sustainabletechnologies by creating a favourablepolicy framework that discouragesthe use of potentially harmful tech-nologies such as excessive use ofchemical pesticides. Likewise, gov-ernments can support agroindustryby avoiding unnecessary bureaucraticprocedures and taking into accountlocation theory aspects in land-useplanning.

• Urban migration will continue to takeplace despite increased efforts forrural development. Therefore, ruraldevelopment is not a substitute forthe engagement of city authorities inagriculture and food issues. Ratherthe complementary relationshipbetween urban and rural policiesneeds to be more effectively elabo-rated and exploited.

Clearly, from a city perspective govern-ment intervention is most needed in theland market. Here, economic incentivessuch as tax rebates or tax relief canprovide an incentive to maintain landfor agricultural purposes. Regulatoryinterventions such as agricultural zoningand the public purchase or private

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transfer of land development rights areother possibilities to reduce the proba-bility of food insecurity for the urbanpoor. For example, the revision of actu-al urban zoning by-laws and the inte-gration of urban agriculture in zoningplans indicating in which zones urbanagriculture is allowed can be imple-mented. Also, zones where certaintypes of farming will be prohibited dueto special conditions can be specified.Existing farming units especially in peri-urban areas can be included in citydevelopment plans as “green belts orgreen corridors” in order to avoiduncontrolled city growth and thedestruction of valuable soil. Bufferzones can be created and inner cityareas can be reserved. These areas canthen be given to community groups ona medium term lease for agriculturalpurposes (specific leaseholds). Suchperiurban and inner city green beltscould be given a community title toensure that such open spaces remain inthe public domain.

Finally, city authorities can reduce thenegative effects of land speculation byimproving the information environment(eg. by improving the dissemination ofpublic information on government pro-jects).

In conclusion, the issues around foodproduction and processing demand thatthe city’s role can no longer be limitedto just regulating the food purchase andconsumption process. Instead, cityauthorities must become activelyinvolved in the operation of the entirefood chain i.e. by introducing institu-tions that help to reduce transactioncosts. City governments, however,should not get involved in direct interventions on prices and quantitiesfavouring either producers or con-sumers. If the conflict between ruraland urban interests is going to beresolved for the benefit of farmers,processors and consumers, “urban” and“rural” have a lot to talk about.

The authors

Hermann Waibel is Professor ofProduction Economics, Institute ofEconomics, Faculty of HorticultureUniversity of Hannover, Germany.

Erich Schmidt is Professor of MarketResearch and Agricultural Policy,Institute of Economics, Faculty ofHorticulture University of Hannover,Germany.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledgethe helpful comments of F. Goletti(IFPRI), U. Sabel-Koschella (GTZ), O. Argenti (FAO), B. Hardeweg and D.Pemsl (Hannover University) and twoanonymous reviewers.

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World Bank. 1999. Entering the 21stCentury. World Development Report.Oxford University Press, p. 300.

World Bank. 2000. Attacking Poverty.World Development Report. OxfordUniversity Press, p. 332.

Zeeuw, de H., Gündel, S. & Waibel, H.2000. The Integration of Agriculturein Urban Policies. In: N. Bakker, M.Dubelling, S. Gündel, U. Sabel-Koschella & H. de Zeeuw, eds.Growing Cities, Growing Food.Urban Agriculture on the PolicyAgenda, pp. 163-183. Feldafing,Deutsche Stiftung für Entwicklung(DSE).

12 The World Development Report of1999/2000 (WDR, 2000) defines cities andurban areas as concentrations of non-agri-cultural workers and non-agricultural pro-duction sectors.

13 Despite numerous attempts to differentiatebetween periurban and urban agriculturethe distinction remains blurred although thedensity of urban settlements is an importantfactor.

14 Processing includes grading, packaging,transportation and storage.

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The world is increasingly becomingurbanized. Within the next five yearsthe number of people living in urbanareas will surpass that of people livingin rural areas. It is projected that overthe next twenty years 93 percent ofurban population growth will occur inthe cities in the developing world.Asian cities are currently growing at anaverage rate of 3 percent per year, com-pared to an overall population growthin Asia of 1.4 percent. However, theseaverages hide the fact that many citiesare actually growing at over ten percenteach year and that a large section of the‘new’ population, often resulting fromrural migration to the cities, is living inabsolute poverty and battling daily tomeet basic food needs.

As urban growth intensifies, increasingquantities of food are being transportedto cities from further afield. Unless time-ly improvements are made in food dis-tribution infrastructure i.e. market andtransport infrastructure and facilities,existing facilities will rapidly becomeover-stretched and inadequate to handlethe increased produce flows.

Congestion in and around markets leadsto increased produce losses and hightransport and marketing costs as well ashigher food prices, which the bulk ofthe city population can ill afford.The level of urban food security of aparticular city is materially affected bythe efficiency of the system supplyingand distributing food within the urbanarea. The efficiency of the food supplyand distribution system, in turn,

depends on the efficiency of operationof those participants making up the sys-tem. The system as a whole is influ-enced by the availability of supportingfacilities and infrastructure necessary forthem to operate efficiently. Access tofood, or the level of urban food securitycan be viewed from two perspectives.The first is physical access or the physi-cal availability of the food needed byurban consumers. The second is eco-nomic access or the ability of the popu-lation to purchase the food they needto lead healthy lives. Economic accessis in turn determined by the level ofpersonal income and the price of foodto be purchased. This paper, while rais-ing issues related to physical access,will particularly examine issues related

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by Edward Seidler

Feeding Asian Cities:Urban Food Distribution Issues

Key Paper 2

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to economic access as they relate to thefunctioning and efficiency of the urbanfood distribution system and its effecton food prices.

For food to reach the urban consumer itmust pass through many hands andoften through a number of channels.Numerous participants are involved in avariety of marketing, negotiation andorganizational activities. Each of theseparticipants has its own need for infra-structure, facilities services and legisla-tive and regulatory support. The tradi-tional sector comprises buyers of differ-ent types operating at different levelssuch as those buying at the farm gate,at local assembly and at retail marketsor wholesale markets and selling tosmall shops, market retailers and streetsellers or selling directly to consumers.The modern sector consists of large,often vertically integrated, distributorsand agroindustry supply networks aswell as national or international tradingcompanies.

Those agents involved in buying, trans-porting, storing, marketing and distrib-uting food to and within the cities areprivate businesses and individuals. Theinvolvement of the public sector in fooddistribution is generally on the declinein most areas of the world followingstructural adjustment and market liberal-ization but food agencies handling andselling staple food grains do remain sig-nificant in a number of Asian countries.The activities of national food agenciesoften have a large impact on the devel-opment of private food marketing sys-tems. This is particularly the case forstaple cereals such as rice and wheat asthe private sector is unable or unwillingto compete with state subsidised pricesfor grains, which are procured and dis-tributed through prescribed channels.The involvement of the public sector(central government, municipalities andlocal authorities) in many countries nowtends to focus on:

• the planning, provision, managementand maintenance of marketing infra-structure (roads, slaughterhouses,docks, assembly market facilities,public wholesale markets);

• the setting of market rules and regu-lations;

• regulating the location and conductof commercial activities; and

• the implementation of food qualityand health standards.

The capacity of municipal and localauthorities to adequately plan andimplement food marketing infrastructureand support services to cope with therapidly rising food needs of their popu-lations will materially affect the foodsecurity status of their populations.

What are the main components of thefood distribution system in urban areas?First, food comes into cities utilizing avariety of transport modes: headloads,bicycles, hand and animal drawn carts,small vehicles, large trucks, trains, andriver and seagoing vessels. All thesemodes need to be accommodated interms of facilities and access. Second,the food is usually consigned to one ora number of wholesale markets eitherspecialised markets for fruit and vegeta-bles or grains or mixed wholesale mar-kets or to specialised processing facili-ties such as mills, bakeries and slaugh-terhouses. Third, from the wholesalemarkets or processing plants, the foodis consigned to a variety of retail outletssuch as retail food markets, local foodshops, modern supermarkets, informaland formal street sellers and fast foodoutlets, street food sellers and restau-rants and various eating places. Thefunctioning of these food distributionchannels is governed to a great degreeby the action or inaction of municipalauthorities. The action (or inaction) ofthese authorities is often determined bythe knowledge that these authoritieshave of the role and functioning of FSDchannels, their importance and theirrequirements to function effectively andefficiently. Only then can the present

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and projected food needs of the urbanpopulation as a whole be met.

In most Asian cities the situation regard-ing the present performance and func-tioning of the various components ofthe food distribution system leavesmuch to be desired. Following this pre-sentation there will be a number ofworkshops dealing with specific topicsrelated to urban food distribution name-ly, wholesale markets, retail outlets,municipal policies for the informal foodsector, fish marketing, food safety andnutrition issues related to street foodsand waste utilization from markets andslaughterhouses. I will therefore notdwell on specific issues that will comeup in the workshops but will confinemyself to making some overall assess-ments.

Much of the food entering most Asiancities passes through wholesale marketsof one type or another. Many wholesalemarkets are congested as new marketsor the expansion of existing marketshas lagged behind the growth in urbanpopulations and the consequentincreased product flows. Because of thetime it often takes to plan and buildnew markets, these markets are oftencongested and inadequate to meet theneeds of the market users within thefirst few months of opening eg. Kalimatimarket in Kathmandu. Space and facili-ties available to handle the products areinsufficient, wastage and spoilage levelsare consequently high and conditionsfor produce handling are unsanitary.The increasing vehicle traffic cannot beadequately accommodated in terms ofaccess, arrival and departure and park-ing with the result that severe conges-tion and delays occur, transport costsare high and produce wastage isincreased. All this leads to higher trans-action and marketing costs and ulti-mately higher food costs that are passedon to the consumer. The managementof wholesale markets is another area ofconcern, causing or compounding theproblems just highlighted. In many

countries, wholesale market managersare inadequately trained in the efficientoperation and management of theirmarkets. Market supervisory boards andmunicipalities are often pre-occupiedwith short-term revenue generationobjectives and deprive the market andits management of sufficient funds tomaintain market facilities, let alone toimprove or expand them. The involve-ment of market users is often absent inmarket management decisions con-tributing to the prevailing poor andoften conflict-ridden management ofmarkets.

It is interesting to note here the specificsituation regarding wholesale marketdevelopment and operation in a num-ber of countries in the region. Hanoihas a population of some 5 million andof the five food wholesale markets inthe city only Long Bien market wasplanned. The four others developedspontaneously. The latter markets oper-ate along streets in the early morningwith minimal market management. Theyare all now located in or close to theinner city, which makes it very difficultfor food trucks to reach markets as traf-fic jams are the norm and parkingspace is insufficient. Market and storage

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facilities are inadequate and poorlymaintained, although traders pay a mar-ket fee. As a result, food damage andlosses are high (it is estimated that 15 to20 percent of fruit and vegetable prod-ucts are lost during transport and han-dling), quality of food is reduced, espe-cially for fresh foods, and consumerprices are higher than they need be.

The city of Colombo in Sri Lanka doesnot have dedicated wholesale marketsfor foodstuffs with the existing threemarkets for grains, fruits and vegetablesand fish conducting both wholesale andretail trading. Although originally estab-lished as wholesale markets the incor-poration of retail activities due to inade-quate planning of retail markets hasmeant that the markets are now severe-ly congested and the whole areaaround and inside the markets isseverely affected by traffic congestionduring the morning hours. Buyers fre-quently spend over two hours in themarket to purchase their requirements.Maintenance of heavily used facilities isdifficult and the inadequate drainagehas resulted in flooding and damage toroad surfaces and market structures.

Following the liberalization of horticul-ture marketing in China in the 1980sand the “commercialization” of the for-mer fruit and vegetable procurement,storage and marketing companies, alarge-scale expansion of wholesale mar-ket facilities occurred. These companieshad large open premises and storagefacilities but, after reform, handled amuch reduced throughput so manyturned their yards and open storagespaces into ad hoc wholesale marketsopen to private sector traders. In addi-tion many city authorities (eg. commer-cial and industrial bureaux) embarkedon the construction of a number ofwholesale markets to cater to theincreased number of private sectoroperators and farmers who were nowdirectly involved in produce marketing.These new markets handled fruits orvegetables, fish and also processed

products, each in specialised areas andwere mostly constructed on the out-skirts of the cities. As cities rapidlyexpanded and new ring roads werebuilt, notably around Beijing, the for-merly suburban wholesale marketsfound themselves within the enlargedcity and subject to increasing trafficcongestion and problems of access forboth farmers and buyers. The problemssubsequently led to the gradual declinein the number of large wholesale mar-kets as their locations, which were theirformer advantage, were now beingdeemed inappropriate. This exampleraises the importance of adequatelyplanning wholesale market develop-ment within a dynamic urban planningcontext, taking account of the projectedgrowth of the city, its road infrastruc-ture and the anticipated use of land sur-rounding markets. A minimum of tenyears is the context in which potentialmarket locations should be evaluated.

In most countries of the region the pro-vision of wholesale market facilities foragricultural products is seen as the soleresponsibility of city or local govern-ments. Thailand would seem to be anexception to this with large privatewholesale markets successfully operat-ing in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai.Serious consideration must now begiven to creating conditions that canpromote private investments in marketfacilities. These investments are neededdue to the increasing need for marketfacilities in the face of the growingquantities of products being consignedfrom rural areas (through assembly mar-kets) to the cities (urban wholesalemarkets) combined with increasingfinancial constraints faced by local andmunicipal authorities. Local authoritiesneed to consider making land availableand granting planning permission forprivate sector market development withpossibilities of joint ownership beingconsidered to provide the initial impe-tus to private sector investment in mar-ket facilities.

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In the more developed countries of theregion such as Korea and Malaysiasupermarket chains are rapidly develop-ing to meet the needs of more affluentconsumers. In these two countries thereis a gradual shift away from procure-ment through wholesale markets tocontract supplies from producers orproducer groups to central distributioncentres operated by these chains. Acontributing factor to this trend in othercountries is the congestion and relatedhigher costs and difficulties of procur-ing supplies through the existingwholesale markets.

The retail sector in most Asian cities isvery diverse, adapting to the needs ofthe clientèle to be served. The poorgenerally purchase their requirementsexclusively at local shops, street mar-kets, local fairs and from hawkers orlocal street sellers. The availability oflocal retail street markets, local shopsand street vendors in the ‘newer’ cityareas (be they new suburbs or shantytowns) is often limited due to localrestrictions on commercial activities orthe failure to provide for these servicesduring the initial planning of the newareas. How many high-density housingareas do not have any local shops or alocal market because the planners didnot consider that these needed to beplanned for and land was therefore notset aside? In these cases the poor haveto travel to the older centres to securetheir basic food needs and incur highercosts in doing so.

Many retail markets in urban areas arecongested, unhygienic and inadequateto cater satisfactorily to the numbers ofvendors selling in them. Many havearisen spontaneously along roadsides oron small vacant pieces of land. Facilitiesare simple and mostly inadequate withno drainage or waste disposal, no park-ing spaces for delivery vehicles and norunning water or hygiene facilities.Many markets have no managers andare not maintained, although localcouncils will often collect fees or levies.

In some cases, municipalities will con-struct retail markets such as inColombo, but they are often poorlydesigned and badly located. In order tosave land, markets have sometimesbeen built as two and three storeybuildings making access to selling areasdifficult for both vendors and sellersand leading to ‘dead’ areas in manymarkets. In consequence, pavementtraders and weekly fairs are crowdedwhile local markets built by the munici-pality remain under utilized or evenpartially abandoned. This situation is inevidence in a number of markets inColombo and its surrounding areas.

Middle and higher income consumers inmany Asian cities such as Bangkok,Beijing and Mumbai increasingly shopat conveniently located modern super-markets and can easily access their sup-plies. Because of bulk buying and pro-motions, prices are often lower than inthe traditional shops and markets.These people have transportation, canafford to buy the set quantitiesrequired, such as ten kg of rice or akilo of tomatoes, and are looking for awider range of commodities and higherquality products.

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With the expansion of cities more andmore consumers, especially lowerincome ones, have to commute largedistances to work from their homes.The need to commute has given rise toa strong demand for both raw and pre-pared street food that can form a signif-icant part of urban food consumption,sometimes representing over 30 percentof household food expenditure. Theavailability and cost of street food canhave a significant impact on nutritionalstatus both in terms of those who con-sume it and on the incomes accruing tothose, mostly women, who sell it.Facilities, such as the running water,electricity and garbage disposal neces-sary for the safe vending of streetfoods, are often non-existent or inade-quate. The lack of safe water suppliesfor food washing and preparation andfor washing hands and dishes is often asource of food borne infections and ill-nesses. In some cities the importance ofstreet foods as a low cost source ofnutritious food and as a source ofemployment is receiving increasedrecognition and specific areas or facili-ties are being provided for street foodsellers, such as in Thailand.

Most of what has been said aboverelates to problems confronting theexisting food distribution system, which,in many cases, is unable to cope withthe rapidly increasing urban population.If little or nothing is done to improvethe functioning of the urban food distri-bution system the result, in the not toodistant future, will be that urban fami-lies will face higher food costs arisingfrom increased marketing costs as aresult of greater congestion and higherfood losses. More alarmingly, one willsee increased malnutrition and higherdegrees of urban poverty together withthe related social and criminal conse-quences associated with food crises.

The situation elaborated above raisesserious concerns over the existing andfuture urban food situation confrontingcities in Asia. Now one must ask, “What

can city and local authorities do to meetthe challenges confronting their citiesand populations in terms of improvingurban food distribution and thereby theurban food security of their cities?”

Municipal and city authorities arerequired to:• recognise that they indeed have a

role to play in improving urban foodsecurity, identify and understand theexisting constraints facing urban fooddistribution in their cities and whatthey can do to alleviate these. Thisrecognition will necessitate that theyhave a good understanding of thefunctioning of the various food sup-ply and distribution systems provid-ing food to their cities as well as anappreciation of the role, functionsand performance of the participantsin the food distribution system andthe constraints they are facing;

• create mechanisms whereby they caninteract and dialogue with the privatesector over problems, plans and poli-cies eg. associations of traders, shop-keepers, market users, processors,street food sellers;

• recognise the importance of ensuringthat transport and marketing infra-structure are adequate both to meetthe existing and future needs of theirexpanding populations and createconditions whereby the publicand/or the private sector as appropri-ate or feasible, provide them.Increasing urbanization means moreinfrastructure, facilities and servicesare required and that these will bespread over a larger area;

• improve the operation of existingmarket facilities and plan for theestablishment of additional and betterfunctioning wholesale and retail mar-kets in appropriate locations andimprove the management of theseand the services provided;

• consult with the present users ofmarket facilities on the design andoperation of new facilities, theiroperating procedures and the expect-ed fee levels. If removal to a new

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market is envisaged, existing tradersshould agree to the changes and tothe space allocation process in thenew market;

• appreciate the value of and plan forthe expanded provision of low costfood distribution facilities cateringespecially to low income consumersi.e. retail markets, local farmer retailmarkets, temporary or itinerant mar-kets, pavement sales points;

• review regulations affecting foodwholesale and retailing activities withthe aim of reducing marketing costsand improving hygiene conditions inretail outlets;

• develop information, sensitizationand training programmes for traders,shopkeepers and street food sellers;

• create the conditions necessary (i.e.legal, financial, tax, joint venture) forthe greater involvement of the pri-vate sector in investment in foodmarketing and distribution facilities,recognising that municipalities areunable themselves to finance all therequired infrastructure and facilities;

• recognise and incorporate in cityurban development plans the needfor adequately sized and locatedfood distribution facilities (differentcategories of markets serving differ-ent functions) and adequate support-ing services (water, power, communi-cations, roads, etc.) to cater to thefuture food needs of the urban popu-lation.

The author

Edward Seidler is the Senior Officer,Marketing and Farm Supply, in FAO’sMarketing and Rural Finance Service,Agricultural Support Systems Division.He is an agricultural marketing special-ist with a B.Sc. (Economics) and M.Sc.(Agricultural Economics) from theUniversity of London. He started workas an agricultural marketing adviser inAfrica in 1970 and joined FAO in 1974.Following thirteen years in the field. In 1988, Mr Seidler assumed the post ofSenior Officer in charge of FAO’s mar-keting programme in headquarters andthe field. He has direct experience ofmarketing in Asia, Africa and theCaribbean having been involved innumerous marketing projects and stu-dies and is a specialist on marketingdevelopment and on horticulture mar-keting.

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Bibliography

Aragrande, M. & Argenti, O. 1999.Studying Food Supply andDistribution Systems to Cities inDeveloping Countries. Methodologicaland Operational Guide. Food intoCities Collection (DT/36-99E), Rome:FAO.

Argenti, O. 1999. Urban Food Securityand Food Marketing. A Challenge toCities and Local Authorities. Foodinto Cities Collection (DT/40-99E),Rome: FAO.

Argenti, O. 2000 Food for Cities. FoodSupply and Distribution Policies toReduce Urban Food Insecurity. ABriefing Guide for Mayors, CityExecutives and Planners inDeveloping Countries and Countriesin Transition. Food into CitiesCollection (DT/43-00E), Rome: FAO.

Balbo, M.,Visser, C. & Argenti, O. 2000.Food Supply and Distribution toCities in Developing Countries. AGuide for Urban Planners andManagers. Food into Cities Collection(DT/44-00E), Rome: FAO.

Cullinan, C. 2000. Law and Markets.Improving the Legal Environment forAgricultural Marketing. FAOAgricultural Services Bulletin No. 139,Rome: FAO.

Hugon, P. & Kervarec, F. Municipal Policies for the Informal Food Sector.Food into Cities Collection (DT/45-01E), Rome: FAO.

Tracey-White, J. 1991. Wholesale MarketsPlanning and Design Manual. FAOAgricultural Services Bulletin, No. 90,Rome: FAO.

Tracey-White, J. 1995. Retail MarketsPlanning Guide. FAO AgriculturalServices Bulletin, No. 121, Rome:FAO.

Tracey-White, J. 2000. MarketInfrastructure Planning. A Guide forDecision Makers. FAO AgriculturalServices Bulletin, No. 141, Rome:FAO.

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PART 1 – THE NEED FOR URBAN FSD POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES

Urban growth in most developing coun-tries is being accompanied by growth inthe absolute numbers of people livingclose to or below poverty lines, withsome cities (eg. Hanoi, Dhaka,Chittagong and Davao) facing povertyrates of 50 percent or more. Food inse-curity is thus increasingly becoming anurban problem. More and more urbanhouseholds are facing difficulties inaccessing adequate food supplies fortheir nutritional requirements.

Urban expansion in developing coun-tries has four major consequences forurban food security:

1. Demands for land for housing,industry and infrastructure competewith agricultural production withinand around cities. Suitable produc-tive lands are thus likely to be lost.More food will have to be producedin areas presently under cultivation(if higher yields are possible), grownon new lands (which are likely tobe at a greater distance and lessproductive) and/or imported.

2. Increasing quantities of food mustbe brought to cities and distributedwithin the urban area. This putsadditional pressure on existing fooddistribution systems, which, in manydeveloping countries, are character-ized by high food losses and waste,market imperfections, unnecessarilyhigh marketing margins, inadequateservices and poor performance.

3. More transport facilities will beneeded for bringing produce fromproduction to wholesale areas andthen on to retail markets. Thismovement will result in increasingtraffic congestion and pollution.Higher transportation costs, a maincomponent of food prices, will con-tribute to increasing food prices forthe urban poor.

4. The demand for processed and con-venience foods will increase, raisingfurther food quality and safety issuesin terms of the utilization of inputs(particularly water) and hygienicconditions and practices all alongthe food chain.

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Urban Food Supply and Distribution Policies and Programmes

Key Paper 3

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As a result, the overall cost of supply-ing, distributing and accessing food islikely to increase. Urban consumers willpay higher prices for their food. Thisincrease will be accompanied by anincrease in the number of food insecureurban households, especially poorhouseholds in areas not served withadequate food distribution facilities.To deal with the growing FSD problemsaccompanying the growth of cities, theestablishment of a well functioning foodsupply and distribution system (FSDS) isessential. An FSDS needs to: 1) respondefficiently and equitably to expectedchanges in the amounts and sources offood required; 2) meet changing con-sumer preferences; 3) make food ofgood quality accessible to all city inhab-itants at accessible prices; and, 4) elimi-nate food-related health problems.These four areas should be priorities forcity and local authorities (CLAs).There is, however, a general feeling ofdissatisfaction with FSDSs to many citiesin developing countries. Such systemsare usually described as inefficient anddisorderly. Major reforms in the foodsector have been introduced in manycountries as part of overall economicreform, yet there is little evidence ofmajor improvements in basic infrastruc-ture, services, laws and regulations andmanagement of FSD activities.There is a general consensus that CLAscan play a proactive and leading role indeveloping efficient FSDSs. This role isfacilitated by the fact that the develop-ment, operation and management offood markets and the regulation of foodproduction and trade at the urban levelare already key functions of localauthorities. They are in closer contactwith the local community than are cen-tral government institutions and cantherefore develop collaborative partner-ships with the private sector. The may-ors, city executives and representativesof city and local governments at the34th World Congress of theInternational Union of Local Authoritieshave confirmed this collaborative role.Their declaration is reported below:

Barcelona Declaration

“... reaching food security throughefficient and low-cost food supplyand distribution systems... cancontribute to improved health con-ditions, quality of life and theenvironment (in cities)”.

DECLARATION BY THE MAYORS,CITY EXECUTIVES AND REPRESENTATIVES

OF CITY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

AT THE 34TH WORLD CONGRESS OF THE

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Barcelona, Spain,20–24 March 1999

An integrated and comprehensive urbanFSD policy at the city level is requireddue to the fact that:• Food supply and distribution aspects

are not usually taken into account inthe preparation of the socio-econom-ic development plans for most coun-tries at the national, regional orurban level.

• National food security policies maynot adequately respond to localneeds and conditions.

• The responsibility for food distribu-tion is shared by a multiplicity ofpublic and private institutions with-out mechanisms for coordination andcooperation. This situation has lednot only to conflict and unnecessaryduplication of efforts but also to thecomplete neglect of the effectivedevelopment of FSDSs.

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What is an urban FSD policy?

While the development of rural areas ismainly the responsibility of the centralgovernment (usually the Ministry ofAgriculture), many aspects of FSDS fallunder the responsibility of the CLAs. Toimprove access to food in a sustainablemanner necessitates an understandingof urban food needs and FSD con-straints and a concerted approach tosolutions as well as the sharing of insti-tutional responsibilities. The formulationand implementation of an FSD policywill help in achieving the above objec-tives.

An urban FSD policy is “a set of goals,objectives, strategies and programmes,set within a specified time frame andformulated in close collaboration withall concerned stakeholders. It guidesCLAs in the use of resources under theircontrol and through private sectorinvestment, to improve access by urbanhouseholds to stable supplies of goodquality food, through efficient, hygienic,healthy and environmentally-soundFSDSs”.

Policy goals

The goals of FSD policies are usuallythreefold:

ECONOMIC: To promote efficient FSD systems so asto achieve stable supplies of lower foodprices to low income urban consumersand food production incentives throughequitable and efficient marketing oppor-tunities for farmers.

SOCIAL:To minimize food insecurity in poorurban households to achieve improvedequity and increased consumption fromlower food prices; reduced social dis-ruption, because supplies and prices aremore stable; increased employment andincome opportunities in the food sector.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL:To eliminate food-related health prob-lems and minimize the negative impactof FSD activities on the environment,through:• better hygiene conditions in the food

chain;• better located food market and pro-

cessing infrastructure to reduce trafficcongestion, air pollution and vehiclenoise by cutting the number and dis-tance of FSD journeys;

• better market and slaughterhousewaste disposal and use to reducehygienic risk;

• adequate facilities (eg. toilets, wateraccess, drainage systems in marketsto reduce the incidence of food cont-amination);

• better consideration during planningof the ecological conditions of thecity;

• and finally, environmentally friendlyand sustainable food production sys-tems.

Overall, policy goals should be clear,credible and reflect the vision of bothcitizens and policy makers.

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Policy objectives

Policy objectives represent what a cityneeds to achieve in order to attain poli-cy goals. Objectives should be attain-able, feasible, credible, technicallysound, consistent with central govern-ment priorities and socially as well aspolitically acceptable.

The relation between policy goals andobjectives is explained in Figure 7.1.

Policies strategies

FSD strategies indicate the ways inwhich policy objectives and goals canbe achieved. Such strategies must beseen in the context of policies, strate-gies and customs governing differentaspects of economic and social life (eg.structural adjustment, economic liberal-ization and decentralization and reli-gious and ethnic rules) which affect theFSD environment.

Complementarity between policies

A well functioning FSDS facilitatesaccess to food but does not, in itself,ensure that those without the means tobuy food can obtain it. Access to foodfor the urban poor requires publicaction to generate incomes throughemployment creation or to distributefood (eg. food subsidies and foodstamps). Nutrition, hygiene and healtheducation are also important for themost vulnerable consumers. ThereforeFSD policy supports and should be sup-ported by other policies, programmesand initiatives, as shown in Figure 7.2.

Conflicts between policies

Conflicts may arise between generalmacro-economic policies and specificFSD policies. It will thus be necessaryto assess the impact of national policieson the development of FSDSs in variousareas. For example, do inflation-controlmeasures and public sector budgetaryrequirements hinder private investments

in FSD? Similarly, are measures to dis-mantle state-run food distribution chainslikely to create private oligopolies? Arethere discriminatory practices affectingcredit access for small food producersand traders? Are budget allocations toCLAs in line with increasing responsibi-lities, particularly for transport and market infrastructure development?Finally, are prospective reductions ingovernment budgets likely to limitretraining of staff required by changesin policy orientation and decentraliza-tion programmes?

Basic principles for formulation of FSDpolicies

In formulating FSD policies, the follow-ing four basic principles should beadhered to:

RIGHT APPROACH:Adoption of a consultative, participato-ry, open-minded, alliance seeking andtechnically sound approach. The privatesector should be involved in planningdecisions.

COMPETITION:Promote competition and reduce theinfluence of large intermediaries.

GO PRIVATE:Facilities and services, which can berun as businesses, are best left to theprivate sector.

NO TRENDS:Resist trends toward “modernization” or“preserving tradition” and encouragedevelopments which lower the cost ofliving and stimulate employment growthin the city.

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Possible concerned units:

Municipality: market infrastructure,transport, municipal police and

health departments.Ministries of: commerce, agriculture,

transport and health;police department.

Chambers of commerce andagriculture.

Associations: transporters, traders and consumers.

Possible concerned units:

Municipality: market infrastructure,health and city garbage collection

departments.Ministries of: health, commerce and

transport.Associations: market traders

and consumers.

To provide access for low-income urban households to stable supplies of low-cost, good-quality food within ten years. Enhanced food security can be achieved in part

through the development of more efficient, hygienic andenvironmentally-sound FSDS.

POLICY GOAL

Policy Objective 1

Increased consumer, trader andtransporter satisfaction with local

food market conditions within three years.

Policy Objective 2

Progressive reduction in thelevel of food contamination

through routine monitoring andsurveillance of urban markets.

Figure 7.1: Relation between policy goals and objectives: an example

Elements of FSD policies

An FSD policy has to cover the follow-ing issues and areas of concern:

Food supply to cities

Food supply to cities issues cover:• projections for urban food and water

needs;• development of efficient and sustain-

able production, fishing, processingand storage in rural, periurban andurban areas;

• infrastructure, facilities and servicesfor food assembly, handling, packag-ing and transport to cities;

• efficiency, transparency anddynamism of production and market-ing systems; effectiveness of services(information, extension, etc.) to pro-ducers, processors and traders;

• food import logistics and procedures;• promotion of private sector organiza-

tions and private investment;• planning, development and manage-

ment of slaughterhouses;• legislation and regulations.

Urban food distribution

Urban food distribution issues cover:• planning, development and manage-

ment of wholesale and retail marketsand food shops;

• planning and organization of specificlow-cost food distribution arrange-ments;

• street food and informal activities;• modern distribution;• intra-urban transport; services to

urban market users;• promotion of market trader, shop-

keeper and consumer associationsand organizations;

• promotion of private investment inurban markets and shops;

• efficiency, transparency anddynamism of urban food distributionsystems;

• legislation and regulations.

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IncomeGeneration

FamilyWelfare

Food Aidand

Food-for-Work

Healthand

Nutrition

Food Supplyand

Distribution

NationalFood and

AgriculturePolicies

Urban FoodSecurity

Figure 7.2: Some of the policies, programmes and initiativesrequired to improve urban food security

Health and the environment

Health issues cover:• general nutrition concerns;• food safety problems and contamina-

tion due to incorrect use of fertilisers,pesticides and wastewater;

• lack of hygiene in FSD activities;• management of pollutants;• legislation and regulations.

Environmental issues include:• management of waste from markets

and slaughterhouses;• air, water and soil pollution caused

by FSD activities;• forest depletion because of fuelwood

use;• legislation and regulations.

FSD programmes

Once solutions, policies and strategieshave been agreed upon among allstakeholders, regional, metropolitan,urban and local programmes for sup-plying and distributing food within acity must be designed.

Programmes are sets of coherent andlogically structured interventions andexpected results achieved within a timeframework and with well-identifiedimplementation responsibilities. Theirspecific objectives are linked to theachievement of FSD policy goals andobjectives in the urban area as well asthe periurban and rural areas uponwhich the city depends for its food sup-ply (through which the food consumedin the city moves).

FSD programmes are prepared atregional, metropolitan, urban and locallevels. Examples of some programmeinterventions at the four levels areshown in Figure 7.3.

Programmes must be designed to facili-tate action in the:• immediate term (less than six

months);• short term (from six months to three

years);• medium term (from three to six

years);• long term (over six years).

Each programme should address foodsupply, urban food distribution andhealth and environmental issues in theform of subprogrammes, each contain-ing specific action plans addressingwell-defined aspects of FSD. Actionplans should comprise clearly identifiedexpected results and related interven-tions as shown in Figure 7.4.Although interventions in distinct areasare usually undertaken by differentinstitutions, an approach based on anagreed upon vision of the city will facil-itate the assignment of institutionalresponsibilities.

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Figure 7.3: FSD programmes at regional, metropolitan, urban andlocal levels

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1. Infrastructure improved in five urban markets;2. hygiene and safety standards defined and

enforced;3. effective market management.

1. Four new open retail markets established;2. food traders and street vendors trained;3. appropriate regulations approved and enforced;4. consumers informed about fair trading practices

and food hygiene.

URBAN FOOD DISTRIBUTIONSUB-PROGRAMME

URBAN PROGRAMME

Urban markets improvementAction plan

Expected results in six years:

Food retail outlets in low-income districtsAction plan

Expected results in four years:

1. Training programmes and materials prepared;2. municipal technical staff trained;3. decision-makers sensitized.

Institution strengthening onfood supply and distribution

Action plan

Expected results in two years:

Figure 7.4: An urban programme arranged by subprogrammes andaction plans

PART 2 – CHALLENGES INVOLVED IN FSD POLICY FORMULATION: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CITY

OF GREATER AMMAN, JORDAN

Jordan is a small country of five millionpeople with an average per capitaincome of approximately US$1 500 peryear. The country witnessed rapid andunplanned urbanization caused by anumber of political events in the region.First, the influx of Palestinian refugeesin 1948, followed by displaced personsfrom the West Bank of Jordan in 1967,over 360 000 returnees from the gulfcountries in 1991 and 1992 as a resultof the gulf war and of the continuedemigration of rural poor into the cities.The population of the city of Ammanhas increased from about 800 000 peo-ple in 1980 to around 1.7 million in theyear 2000. Its area increased from 50km2 in 1950 to around 640 km2 in theyear 2000.

The rapid urbanization process hasbecome a major concern for govern-ment institutions and local authoritiesdue to its impact on already overtaxedsocial and economic services.Particularly affected are food distribu-tion systems, which have a directimpact on the welfare and health of thepopulation.

Cognisant of such impacts and of theneed to take appropriate concertedaction in this respect, the governmentof Jordan decided to undertake a studyof the FSDS for basic food supplies tothe city of Greater Amman. This led tothe preparation of an FSD policy andassociated programmes to address pre-sent and envisaged constraints. Thegovernment obtained technical assis-tance from the FAO.

Steps undertaken in the preparationof the FSDS study and the formula-tion of FSD policy and programmesfor the city of Greater Amman

The Agricultural Marketing Organization(AMO) was the lead national agency.An Inter-institutional Project SupportCommittee, composed of public andprivate institutions concerned with FSD,was established. This committee wasresponsible for ensuring effective col-laboration between the concernednational institutions and facilitating allrequired information and data.

A team of national experts was set upthat included: a marketing planningeconomist, an urban planner, a micro-enterprise development specialist, afood system economist, a food tradelegislation and regulation specialist andan urban market development special-ist.

A number of workshops were orga-nized to involve and raise the aware-ness of policy makers and of the seniorand middle management staff of con-cerned local authorities and institutionson FSDS constraints. The topics were:• Food markets planning and

management workshop.• Micro and small enterprise

development within the context ofFSD to the city of Greater Amman.

• Legislation and regulations governing FSD to the city of GreaterAmman.

• FSD policy and programmes.

Various documents on urban FSD issueswere adapted to an Arabic-speakingaudience. A case study of FSD to thecity of Greater Amman was preparedand discussed with public and privateinstitutions. Following this, proposalsfor an FSD policy over the next tenyears and a programme for short andmedium term interventions were pre-pared and discussed with nationalauthorities.

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Difficulties encountered in formulat-ing FSD policies, strategies and programmes

The first difficulty encountered inAmman with respect to formulating FSDpolicies, strategies and programmesconcerns the involvement of the projectcounterpart authority. The AMO is acentral government institution mainlyresponsible for the marketing of freshfruit and vegetables. It does not havean overall view of Amman’s present orfuture food needs or of FSD structuresand problems (other than those relatedto fruit and vegetable marketing). Thecontribution of various AMO depart-ments to the analysis of the presentFSD constraints was limited. It wouldhave been more appropriate to selectthe municipality as the executingagency because of its direct involve-ment in FSD matters.

The second set of difficulties was relat-ed to the inadequate concern by localauthorities for FSD issues. In spite of itsdeclared interest in ensuring accessibili-ty of all its inhabitants, especially thepoor, to good quality food at acceptableprices, and in improving the FSDS, themunicipality of Amman considers foodsecurity a national issue and therefore acentral government responsibility. Verylow priority is assigned to urban foodsecurity. The study team could not getany information on programmes themunicipality intends to carry out toreduce the number of food insecureurban households.

The inadequate understanding of FSDSissues by concerned authorities furthercomplicated the municipality’s lack ofinvolvement in the Amman project. Theinterventions of the municipality ofAmman in the FSDS (constructing, oper-ating and managing market places) aremainly considered as a source ofincome to the municipality. Many func-tions of the city authorities have eitherdirect or indirect impacts on FSDS. Mostcity executives, however, are not aware

of the impact of an efficient FSDS onthe healthy development of the city andof the potential economic, social andenvironmental benefits accruing from awell functioning FSDS.

The experience of Amman underscoresthe importance of the direct support andinvolvement of policy makers. Theinvolvement of executives, at policyand decision making levels, in the activ-ities of the project was very limited.Most of those involved were technicaland middle management staff with littlesay in policy formulation and imple-mentation.

The Amman project suffered from theproblem of insufficient data. There wasa lack of detailed information neededfor the analysis of FSDS, the identifica-tion of constraints and the formulationof an effective FSD policy. Whiledetailed information (eg. trends inmigratory flows, urban poverty, foodconsumption and food consumptionpatterns, investment in FSD activities,etc.) is available at the national level, it is often unavailable at the local level.

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Finally, the Amman experience empha-sises the need for an effective interdisci-plinary approach and technical leader-ship in the formulation of FSD policies,strategies and programmes. It was diffi-cult to integrate the individual disci-plines of the five specialists entrustedwith the preparation of the case studyto ensure the required interdisciplinaryapproach. This was due to the follow-ing:1. Members of the team were not

recruited at the same time due todifficulties in identifying qualifiedexperts.

2. Insufficient time was devoted to dis-cussions among team members.

3. The members of the team main-tained separate approaches to FSDproblem identification and analysis.

The difficulties faced in the formulationof an FSD policy for the city of Ammanmay be very different from those thatmay be faced in other cities; yet ourexperience suggest the following:

• Municipalities, rather than any othercentral government agency, shouldtake the leading role in formulatingFSD policy, programmes and actionplans. The establishment of an FSDpolicy unit at the municipality with aspecial mandate for formulating andmonitoring FSD policy and develop-ment programmes, in collaborationwith other concerned public and pri-vate institutions, may be necessary.

• The full understanding, support andactive participation of CLAs, at thehighest possible level, in all activitiesrelated to the formulation of FSDpolicy and development programmesmust be ensured.

• All relevant public institutions musteffectively participate in the activitiesof the project (workshops, studygroups, data gathering and analysis,review of recommendations of teamof experts, etc.).

• The contribution of concerned pri-vate sector stakeholders (associationsof food producers, traders, proces-sors, street vendors, transporters,consumers, etc.) in the formulationof FSD policy must be ensured. InAmman, most FSD constraints, andrelated solutions, were identified byprivate stakeholders during sensitiza-tion workshops.

• An interdisciplinary team of special-ists is required. The team should becomposed of a town planner, a foodsystems economist, a marketing spe-cialist, a socio-economist, a specialistin small and micro enterprise devel-opment in food distribution and alegal advisor. Other disciplines orspecialized expertise may also berequired depending on local condi-tions. The team should be briefed onthe adequate interdisciplinaryapproach to be followed.

• A special effort should be madetoward early identification of therequired data and information andtheir sources. Commitment shouldalso be made by relevant institutionsto make that data readily available.

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The author

Sami Sunna (Agric. Eng., GrignonCollege of Agriculture, France andPh.D. Plant Ecology, University ofMontpellier, France) is an agriculturalplanning and development expert. Hiswork experience includes over thirtyyears of government service in a num-ber of key positions in Jordan includingthe post of Undersecretary of theMinistry of Agriculture (1989-1991). DrSunna worked as Director of the JointESCWA/FAO Agriculture Division duringthe period 1991-1995 and later asRegional Advisor in agriculture at theEconomic and Social Commission forWest Asia. He has over fourteen publi-cations in the area of agricultural policyand development of which three studiesare on issues related to FSD policiesand programmes. Dr Sunna is theGeneral Manager of a consulting firm,The Middle East for Management ofAgricultural Resources andEnvironment. He was appointed asNational Team Leader for the FAO pro-ject TCP/JOR/8923 Urban Food Securityfor the City of Greater Amman.

15 Part 1 was prepared freely using the text ofthe following publication: O. Argenti, Foodfor the Cities. Food Supply and DistributionPolicies to Reduce Urban Food Insecurity. ABriefing Guide for Mayors, City Executivesand Urban Planners in DevelopingCountries and Countries in Transition.Food into Cities Collection (DT/43-00E),FAO: Rome.

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The challenges of urban food security inAsia

It is estimated that by the year 2030,nearly five billion people (61 percent)of the world’s 8.1 billion people will beliving in cities. Also, 16 of the world’s25 largest urban areas will be in Asia.This growth has left a large proportionof the world’s urban population inpoverty with threats to their food secu-rity. In the developing world, 790 mil-lion people do not have enough foodto eat, according to the 1995 to 1997estimates, and this number is growing.

Threats to food security result whenpeople cannot afford an adequate foodintake because of high food prices orprices that are not compatible with theirpurchasing power. Many low-incomehouseholds often have to incur addi-tional expenses in obtaining food,mainly because they tend to live awayfrom established urban markets, wherefood prices tend to be lower. Foodprices tend to be higher than necessarybecause of numerous constraints andinefficiencies affecting food supply anddistribution systems (FSDSs) to cities.Specific problems outlined include:• lack of suitable land, safe water and

adequate inputs necessary to periur-ban agriculture (which represents asignificant production source of foodin certain cities);

• inadequate transport infrastructureand costly transport services;

• insufficient and badly managed mar-kets and lack of hygienic conditions(or the presence of pollutants atmajor points in the food chain,resulting in food contamination andhealth problems).

As cities grow, the demand for land forhousing, industry and infrastructurecompete with the demand for land foragricultural production. Thus food sup-plies are likely to originate from greaterdistances.

By improving their food production anddistribution systems, city and localauthorities can greatly improve thehealth of their citizens, generate addi-tional employment and income opportu-nities and in the end, contribute to alle-viating poverty not only among urbanconsumers, but also among food pro-ducers.

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by Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi and Dato’ Lakhbir Singh Chahl

Cooperation and Partnershipsbetween Cities forUrban Food Security

Key Paper 4

8

Many Asian city managers do not suffi-ciently realize how much the dailyactivities of their institutions can influ-ence the food security of their con-stituencies. Local governments in theAsia Pacific region rarely take food sup-ply and distribution (FSD) aspects intoaccount in their planning. Those whodo often lack the necessary understand-ing and skills for effectively developingefficient FSD activities, almost all ofwhich are carried out by the privatesector. City and local authorities areincreasingly recognised as importantlocal development actors and need tobe regarded as direct partners in foodsecurity and development activities. It isnecessary to address ways to increasetheir skills and understanding.

The growing importance of cities andurban areas

The world we are living in is changingrapidly. People work and live different-ly. As technology progresses quickly,improved communication and trans-portation, and the removal of economicand physical borders, have providedboundless opportunities for develop-ment.

With national borders becoming lessimportant and there is increasing crossborder cooperation, globalization isreshaping the regions where urbanareas are located. Globalization, praisedas a giant wave that can either capsizenations or carry them forward, hasapparently offered many opportunitiesto developing nations, regions andlocalities (World Bank, 1999). In turn,governments that are responsible forcreating and promoting national wealthhave responded differently to the glob-alization trend. Experience shows thatwhere development trends were wellunderstood and managed, there hasbeen a greater level of achievement ofsocietal goals.

Many countries are facing the demandfor self-determination and are experi-

encing the decentralization processes.As a consequence, national govern-ments are transferring a number of theireconomic and administrative powers tolocal governments. Power transfer tolocal authorities has offered bothimmense opportunities and challenges.With the emergence of mobile capitalinvestments, world-wide economicopportunities and international institu-tions, city governments have found itincreasingly difficult to integrate theseopportunities into their urban develop-ment processes. At the same time, theseglobal economic forces have transcend-ed national boundaries and frameworks.

The fact is that cities are becomingimportant components of the globalnetwork. For achieving a sustainablelevel of growth, cities should have aspecific strategy for development. Inthis regard, the World Bank agenda forcity development strategies advocatesthat cities be liveable, competitive, wellgoverned and managed and bankable(World Bank, 2000).

With this background, city leaders havethe complex task of finding innovativeways of generating a good quality oflife in their cities by profiting from theopportunities that are offered. Kearns &Paddison (2000) identify four distinctchanges related to city development:1. Cities are trying hard to ‘sell’ them-

selves for investments not only fromdevelopmental budgets, but alsofrom private and internationalsources.

2. As a part of inter-city competition,cites are attempting to develop theirlocal, distinctive cultures to attractbusiness investment.

3. Cities have viewed national govern-ments as less able to help them andless relevant to their fortunes.

Cities have oriented themselves towardthe international arena through crossborder cooperation and trans-frontiernetworking.

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With this set of changes, new relation-ships among agencies, institutions andorganizations are being created. Theserelationships are important factors inforging links among cities of differentcountries and have helped to generateinter-city exchange in different fields.International and UN organizations havecontributed significantly to achievingcooperation among local bodies, high-lighting networking and informationand technology transfer as effectivetools to cope with changing situations.

In addition to such efforts, local govern-ments themselves have gathered togeth-er and worked more closely by creatingtheir own networks. Some of theminclude CityNet, International Union ofLocal Authorities (IULA), InternationalCouncil for Local EnvironmentalInitiatives (ICLEI), Metropolis, UnitedTowns Organization (UTO) and so on.These efforts have resulted in a highdegree of cooperation and transfer ofknowledge and information on a varietyof good urban practices.

These networking initiatives have to belooked at from the perspective of atechnological evolution, which has radi-cally changed the way that people workand communicate. More than everbefore, information can be accessed aswell as shared quickly and cheaply.Virtual libraries, laboratories, and orga-nizations have provided inexpensiveand easy access to dissemination ofknowledge. Virtual networking isincreasingly recognised as a tool inpeer-to-peer learning and in theupgrading of knowledge and informa-tion. The importance of technology andnetworking is being increasingly recog-nised by cities for sharing ideas, docu-menting good practices, communicatingwith local stakeholders, encouragingbetter local participation and gover-nance and influencing a change inbehaviour, especially toward sustainability and sound local environmental practice.

Importance of North-South and South-South16 cooperation

North-South and South-South coopera-tion among local governments has to belooked at from the perspective ofdecentralization and local autonomy.The twin processes of decentralizationand local autonomy have brought localgovernments to the fore, placing highexpectations on them in terms of lead-ership and creativity in solving localproblems of development. Cities in Asiaand the Pacific region are facingincreasing pressure in their efforts tointernationalize. This pressure is mostmanifest in the need to attract foreigninvestment, entice the human resourcesand skilled persons to absorb theinvestment and create the quality of lifeand living environment desired by resi-dents. Some cities are circumventingnational and regional governments togo global on their own, much like amultinational company, by identifyingand fostering financial and humanresources.

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In order for cities to be competitive andattractive, they will have to foster andpartner with a range of stakeholdersworking at different levels of gover-nance (local, regional, national andinternational) in order to raise theresources and meet the challenges ofglobalization (and simultaneously ofdecentralization).

The key problem faced by cities is alack of capacity within the local govern-ments to handle the pressures andneeds of decentralization and localautonomy. This weak internal capacityforces cities to look outside themselvesto fill the gaps in capacity andresources for effective urban develop-ment and management. Partnering withother local and global stakeholders inmanaging the city has become a neces-sity for cities in this age of globaliza-tion. Cities have sought to privatizetheir urban infrastructure functions, toseek private sector participation indeveloping and managing urban ser-vices and to seek opinions and sugges-tions from the broader civil society(including NGOs and citizens groups)for better urban governance. Conceptsof participation and partnership havemoved beyond being just buzzwords tobecome a key component that underliesall urban policies and programmes.

But challenges remain due to the sheerdiversity of problems being faced byurban local governments and the mag-nitude of these problems. Local govern-ments (who form the bulk of CityNet’smembership) have begun to strengthenprocesses and programmes that usemore local resources to solve localproblems. Partnering with stakeholderswithin the city, and also with othersoutside the city and country, hasbecome a critical element that has seencurrency in urban management pro-grammes.

South-South and North-South coopera-tion needs to be seen through the per-spective of cities facing a myriad of

problems and challenges, and of theneed for support, partnership and par-ticipation from a number of stakehold-ers who can assist local governments inbetter managing cities. Thus, terms suchas partnership, cooperation and knowl-edge sharing have come to be part ofthe vocabularies of local governments.

Research carried out by UNDP hasfound that some of the improvementsto poor communities in the South havecome about through their links with theNorth (UNDP, 2000). It is also notedthat municipalities in the South havegained through cooperation with theirpartners, by sharing knowledge andexperience to address needs in manage-ment and administration. The areasinclude financial management, tax col-lection, environmental management andurban planning. Many links have alsoproved effective in addressing localconcerns for greater civil awareness andgood governance.

Some examples of successful North-South cooperation initiated amongCityNet member cities are:• Lille, France and Hue, Vietnam on

heritage conservation;• Lyon, France and Ho Chi Minh City,

Vietnam on town planning andmanagement;

• Yokohama, Japan, and Bangkok,Thailand on flood control measures.

North-South cooperation not only bene-fits Southern partners. Northern partnersare also able to learn from Southernpartners. For example, as a result ofToronto’s links with São Paulo, Brazil,Toronto developed a programme toprovide quality food at affordable pricesto low income communities (Gilbert et al., 1996). The Toronto programmeensured that community organizationswere strengthened and social interac-tion increased through potluck suppers.In the long run, the health of the fami-lies served improved.

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South-South cooperation holds particu-lar promise for various reasons: cooper-ation works well when the socio-eco-nomic conditions of partners are similar;there is great potential for transferabilityand adaptability of ideas and knowl-edge between partners and the focus ison long-term planning and implementa-tion.

A typical example of this process isCityNet’s Technical Cooperation amongcities in Developing Countries (TCDC)programme. The TCDC programme is avital force for initiating, designing, orga-nizing and promoting cooperationamong developing countries so thatthey can create, acquire, adapt, transferand pool knowledge and experience fortheir mutual benefit and for achievingthe national and collective self-relianceessential for their social and economicdevelopment.

CityNet, whose secretariat is located inYokohama, has facilitated more than 30transfers of best and/or good practicesamong local governments and otherorganizations, mostly in the Asia-Pacificregion. A transfer implies identificationand awareness of the solutions, match-ing the demand with supply of experi-ence and expertise and taking a seriesof steps to help bring about the desiredchange (CityNet et al., 1998). To helpvarious stakeholders, CityNet, UNDPand UNCHS have developed guidelinesin the form of a practical manual forfostering South-South cooperation bytransferring effective practices.

Examples of successful South-Southcooperation include the transfer of bestpractices from Olongapo (Philippines)on integrated solid waste managementto Tansen (Nepal) and Guntur (India).Through the network of municipalities,cities benefit not only through a one-to-one approach, but also through a one-to-many approach.

Another example of success is FAO’sprogramme for the use of experts fortechnical cooperation among develop-ing countries and countries in transition,the TCDC/TCCT Experts Programme17.FAO has been strenuously promotingtechnical cooperation among develop-ing countries for a number of years, butthis initiative provides an innovativemechanism by which to promote coop-eration and ensure that technical coop-eration targets those most in need in anefficient and cost-effective manner.

The FAO’s TCDC/TCCT ExpertsProgramme enables developing coun-tries and countries in transition fromCentral and Eastern Europe to assisteach other through the provision ofexperts in a spirit of shared responsibili-ties and shared costs. The beneficiaryparty provides local board and lodging,the releasing party continues to paysalary and other home-based entitle-ments, while FAO provides internationaltravel, approved internal travel, medicalinsurance and a subsidy towards livingexpenses.

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A total of 125 countries have signedagreements on the programme and bythe end of June 1999, some 1 500TCDC/TCCT experts had participated inwide-ranging FAO priority programmesand projects to benefit member nations.Experts from the private sector andnon-governmental organizations havealso undertaken a number of assign-ments.

An analysis of the above examples ofNorth-South and South-South coopera-tion activities brings up a number ofkey ingredients for success. All partnersinvolved have to have a clear under-standing of cooperation and the dutiesand responsibilities that it will entail.Clear expectations will have to be iden-tified, communicated, nurtured and metby the parties involved. Having a goodunderstanding of cooperation principlesand apprehending the possible results,there is a clear need for commitmentbetween the partnering governments orentities. Community-wide participationof all stakeholders is also critical for thesuccess of the enterprise. This goes

hand in hand with reciprocity thatrecognises and respects the individualstrengths and experiences/expertise ofthe partners. The cooperating partnerswill have to recognise that third parties(especially NGOs, community basedgroups, etc.) need to be assigned a rolein filling the gaps within their own set-ups. The role of external organiza-tions such as CityNet is also consideredan important aspect to help in fosteringcooperation on a bilateral and multilat-eral basis by matching demand (forexpertise, for human resources, forexperiences sharing, etc.) with supply.The role for third parties and reciprocityensure complimentarity of resources,another critical element of good coop-eration efforts. Finally, as mentionedearlier, it is the similarity of socio-eco-nomic and cultural issues that will helpin ensuring success.

While the ingredients mentioned aboveare applicable to all types of coopera-tion efforts between cities, and amongcities and other entities, there are criti-cal differences in the importance placed

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Understanding for cooperation

Clear expectation

Commitment

Reciprocity

Community-wide participation

Role of third parties

Complementary of resources

Similar level of development,

geographical, cultural

economic and technological

condition

Key points North-Southcooperation

South-Southcooperation

Table 8.1: Key points for successful North-South and South-Southcooperation

Note 18 :�� Indicates higher importance� Indicates lower importance

on them with respect to North-Southand South-South cooperation activities.This is reflected in Table 8.1.

There are also, of course, several casesof unsuccessful efforts in North-Southand South-South cooperation, particular-ly where the key issues listed in Table8.1 were not adequately incorporated inthe programme or plan. For instance,lack of understanding of the importanceof partnerships in which Northern partners tend to dictate what the Southshould do and do not pay sufficientattention to their Southern partner’sideas or suggestions on how to solvelocal problems. Other reasons includethe high expectation and dependencyof Southern partners on their Northerncounterparts.

Operationalizing North-South and South-South cooperation

1. Possible areas of cooperation

There are many ways in which North-South and South-South cooperation canprove useful to both urban dwellers,who are consumers of agricultural prod-ucts, and the rural populations, who arethe main food producers and the con-sumers of urban services. The ultimategoals of such initiatives would be toestablish a real symbiosis between citiesand their rural hinterland. Possibledecentralized cooperation initiatives canbe broadly divided in several cate-gories, which are given below as exam-ples.

Strengthening linkages between urbanand rural areas

This could be brought about throughimproving the delivery of agriculturalproducts to urban markets through thebuilding of cold storage facilities andthe provision of relevant vehicles tofarmers via integrated policies includinga credit component (provision of softloans to farmers) and the establishmentof cooperatives.

Improving the quality and increasingthe supply of agricultural products

• Raising the quality of agriculturalproducts and also encouraging agri-cultural diversification in rural areasin order to match the demand forfood in cities both in qualitative andquantitative terms;

• improving the delivery of inputs,credit, information and expertise,partly through training packages, torural dwellers;

• optimizing the use of organic wasteproduced by urban activities in a sus-tainable and environmentally friendlyway.

Enforcing appropriate land tenure andland adjustment policies

• Controlling the conversion of agricul-tural land into urban land in order tokeep the supply of food commensu-rate with the urban and nationaldemand for food;

• enforcing land adjustment policieswhen the process of fragmentation ofagricultural fields makes them toosmall to be operated – this is espe-cially true in periurban areas.

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Increasing trade links between urbanand rural areas

Access can be achieved through theextension of feeder and main roadslinking rural areas and urban markets aswell as through improving rural mar-kets, which very often serve as outletsto larger urban markets. Additional ini-tiatives geared to strengthening relatedcapacity building in rural areas are alsoneeded: eg. encouraging the building ofcooperatives, providing training and softloans, etc. Special schemes focusing onwomen, who are often very active intrade in an Asian context, are stronglydesirable: eg. the creation of women’scorners in Bangladesh union towns’markets.

Ensuring that the mix of rural andurban land-uses inside metropolitanareas remain sustainable

With the geographical expansion ofmetropolises, rural and urban land-usesare becoming increasingly mixed. Thisis true in less developed countries ofAsia, but it is also true in places likeJapan where forms of urban agriculturecontinue to be practiced. In some cases,the pollution of water used for irriga-tion purposes creates environmentalproblems and jeopardises the continua-tion of agricultural activities within citiesand in their peripheries. Animal hus-bandry is also a cause for concern insome Asian urban areas.

2. Bringing partners together

North-South and South-South coopera-tion could usefully take place in thefields provided above as examples.Some initiatives have been already con-ducted.

For example, the experience gained bysome Japanese cities in land-use plan-ning techniques addressing situations inwhich agricultural and urban land-usesare highly mixed could be usefullyshared with other Asian cities of the

South. This experience sharing wouldbe especially useful with regard to con-flict resolution in farming communitiesat the edge of large cities and to thesupply of water for agricultural activitieswithin metropolitan areas or at theperiphery of urban centres.

With regard to land-use policies, citiesin the South could also learn a lot fromefficient policies and support technolo-gies developed in the North, using geo-graphical information systems (GIS) forinstance. Some European cities, in asso-ciation with local agricultural researchinstitutions or professional schools,have already shown their interest inworking in close collaboration withSoutheast Asian towns in the area ofurban management to address problemsraised, and opportunities offered, byurban agriculture19.

Also, many small service towns in theNorth catering to the urban hinterlandhave developed an expertise in thedelivery, storage and marketing of agri-cultural goods, which could be usefullyshared with cities and towns in theSouth.

Conclusions and reflections

North-South and South-South coopera-tion efforts have been used to fill thegaps of financial, technical and humanresources that are occurring withincities. Sharing experiences and expertiseamong southern cities has had particu-lar benefits for the partnering cities thatgo beyond mere aid or financial invest-ment.

However, effective implementation ofsuch cooperative efforts has not beeneasy. The partnering entities have faceda number of difficulties, limitations andconstraints. Key among these are ade-quate and timely information, a thor-ough knowledge of the needs and pri-orities of the partnering entities, theprocess of finding and accessingrequired/relevant experiences, and

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expertise and funds to facilitate cooper-ative efforts.

These difficulties and barriers are notinsurmountable. Cities have to recog-nise that there is a clear need for themto articulate their successes and theirdisappointments and to offer each otherexpertise in the cooperative effort. Theywill have to understand the expecta-tions and limitations of the partneringentity and attempt to find a middleground in overcoming difficulties.Communication and understanding areindeed at the core of a successful part-nership.

Central governments, on the otherhand, also have an important role toplay in terms of creating an enablingenvironment where cities can seek,identify and foster partners for coopera-tion. Of particular importance are thepriorities that central governments placeon the cooperative efforts of city gov-ernments and the funding, legislativeand administrative support that they canprovide.

The role of international organizationsand networks is critical in generating aninventory of resources, expertise andknowledge on cooperative processes.The organizations can not only docu-ment and disseminate information, theycan also assist in providing the neces-sary expertise in fostering the coopera-tive effort itself. Highlighting the keyingredients of success of existing coop-erative activities helps in avoiding pit-falls and ensures that the aims andobjectives of any cooperative activityare met.

A better understanding of the need forNorth-South and South-South coopera-tion has to be generated. Such coopera-tive activities will have to move beyondjust piece-meal projects or initiatives.

They will have to be mainstreamed intourban development and managementpractices. Efforts will have to be madein making these cooperative activitiesan integral part of urban policies andprogrammes.

In conclusion, opportunities offered byNorth-South and South-South decentral-ized cooperation for feeding Asian citiesare numerous and challenging. Thecrux is to identify channels to bringpotential partners together on the basisof mutual interests.

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The authors

Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi is theProgramme Manager of the RegionalNetwork of Local Authorities for theManagement of Human Settlements(CityNet) where she implements pro-jects for local government throughoutthe Asia Pacific. She worked for JICA inIndonesia and for the Agency for theAssessment and Application ofTechnology (BPP-Technology) ofIndonesia. Ms Tjandradewi has aMaster’s Degree in Public Policy fromthe National University of Singaporeand one in Atmospheric Physics andEnvironment from Nagoya University,Japan. She holds a B.Sc. from BogorAgricultural University, Indonesia.

Dato’ Lakhbir Singh Chahl is theSecretary-General of the RegionalNetwork of Local Authorities for theManagement of Human Settlements(CityNet). Dato’ Chahl worked for theMunicipal Council of Penang Island asMunicipal Secretary from 1981 to 1992.He was named Barrister-at-Law by theMiddle Temple, London, UnitedKingdom. He is stationed in Penang,Malaysia where he is working as anadvocate and solicitor.

Bibliography

CityNet, UNDP & UNCHS. 1998.Guidelines for Transferring EffectivePractices: a Practical Manual forSouth-South Cooperation. Thailand.

Gilbert, R., Stevenson, D., Girardet, H., &Stren, R. 1996. Making Cities Work:the Role of the Local Authorities in theUrban Environment. EarthscanPublications Ltd., UK.

Kearns,Ade, & Paddison. 2000. NewChallenges for Urban Governance.Urban Studies, Vol. 37, No. 5-6, pp.845-850

UNDP. 2000. The Challenges of Linking.http://magnet.undp.org/Docs/urban/c2cfin.pdf.

World Bank. 1999. World DevelopmentReport 1999/2000: Entering the 21st

Century. The World Bank.Washington, D.C. USAhttp://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/extme/032.htm

World Bank. 2000. Cities in Transition: AStrategic View of Urban and LocalGovernment Issues. The World Bank.Washington, D.C. USA

16 The terms “North” and “South” are used toindicate the group of countries beingindustrialized and developing, respectively.

17 For further details:http://www.fao.org/GENINFO/partner/en/TCDC-e.htm

18 The information is taken from CityNet’sexperience and UNDP’s findings.

19 Examples can be found in the Asia-Urbsprogramme of the European Commission.

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Section 3

9) Seminar Conclusions andRecommendations

10) Priority Areas for North-South and South-South Cooperation

11) Workshop Summaries12) “Food into Cities” Collection13) “Food into Cities” Network

Conclusions

Seminar participants acknowledged thatrapid urban growth in most Asian citiesis being accompanied by an increase inboth the number and the proportion ofpoor households living close to orbelow the poverty line. Participantsrecognised that food insecurity isincreasingly becoming an urban prob-lem and that specific policies and pro-grammes should be undertaken toimprove the food security and nutrition-al well-being of urban populations, andparticularly the poor. The establishmentof an efficient food supply and distribu-tion system (FSDS) that provides anadequate supply of good quality andsafe foods, is affordable and accessibleto all urban consumers and reduces oreliminates food-related health and envi-ronmental problems was consideredkey to improving food security in Asiancities. An adequate FSDS requires soundpolicies and strategies and developmentprogrammes spanning urban, periurbanand rural sectors. These policies andprogrammes should be formulated inclose collaboration with all concernedpublic and private stakeholders.

An adequate supply of good quality, safefoods must be made available andaffordable to all urban consumers,including the poor and disadvantaged.The food supply to urban populationsmust be adequate in quantity, qualityand variety to meet nutritional needs.

Work toward building awareness of theimportance of FSD issues was consid-ered essential among all levels of gov-

ernment and stakeholders. Information,sensitization and training play a signifi-cant role in furthering the ability to feedAsian cities.

Specific, relevant information on allaspects of providing an adequate foodsupply to urban populations is seriouslylacking. Such information is fundamen-tal for sound policy and planning devel-opment and for effective programmedesign and implementation. In addition,there is insufficient dissemination andexchange of existing information andknowledge among key players in thefood supply system and the broad pub-lic. Wide access to complete and con-sistent information will greatly enhanceand facilitate efforts to improve urbanfood security.

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Seminar Conclusions andRecommendations9

Information is particularly lacking in thefollowing areas:• food security and nutritional status of

the urban poor;• contribution of urban and periurban

areas in meeting urban food needs;• social, economic and environmental

implications of current trends in agri-culture, livestock production andaquaculture;

• differentiated water management sys-tems, integrated land and water man-agement methods and tools for urbanareas;

• fish wholesaling in selected cities andfish marketing in general;

• street food; and• scientifically sound and understand-

able information for the public onfood quality and safety as well ashealth and nutritional.

Effective coordination for timely actionand effective planning is significantlyhampered by the involvement of manydepartments and various levels of gov-ernment in many issues related to pro-duction, transport, processing, storageand distribution.

Environment and food safety issuesthroughout the food production to con-sumption chain require adequate atten-tion so as to ensure an appropriatelevel of consumer health and environ-mental protection. Emphasis should beplaced on preventative food safety man-agement and the provision of trainingon issues relevant to food safety.Appropriate food quality and safetystandards, codes of practice and otherguidelines should be established toassist industry to achieve food safetygoals. The required technical andadministrative food control infrastruc-ture should be developed to enableauthorities to ensure compliance withregulations by industry.

Waste management and related environ-mental impacts are key issues for foodproduction, processing and distribution.Negative effects of the rapid expansion

of cities can include contamination ofsoil and water leading to food safetyproblems. It can also lead to deteriora-tion of the surroundings of processingfacilities and market places as well asdegradation of living circumstancesfrom noise and air pollution. Anyattempt to improve the efficiency of thefood supply should be made simultane-ously with plans for waste management.

Improvement of infrastructure is neededfor transportation, water supply, stor-age, processing and marketing facilitiesto enhance the efficiency of FSD activi-ties and to address ongoing environ-mental degradation.

Recommendations

1. Stakeholder participation andcoordination

• Transparency must be emphasised inthe process of elaborating policiesand programmes related to variousaspects of the FSDS;

• mechanisms should be established tofacilitate interactive communicationamong all stakeholders; and

• efforts should be strengthened toensure effective collaboration andcoordination among concerneddepartments and various levels ofgovernment to assure more timelyand coordinated action and moreeffective planning. Where appropri-ate, focal points may be establishedto deal with complex issues.

2. Information and awareness

Given the lack of sufficient informationon all aspects of ensuring a safe andadequate food supply to urban popula-tions, it was recommended that:• all existing, relevant data be com-

piled, analysed and made widelyavailable;

• where critical gaps have been identi-fied, the necessary information becollected in a timely manner andmade available;

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• every effort be made to encourageand enhance information dissemina-tion and exchange within and amongcities at national and regional levels;

• a Knowledge Centre/Unit for UrbanFood Supply and Distribution beestablished, preferably within themunicipality, to provide relevantinformation for planning andresearch;

• an information campaign be devel-oped for the broad public, includingconsumers, food producers and deci-sion makers.

3. Food security and nutritional well-being among the urban poor

Given that the urban poor are particu-larly vulnerable to food insecurity andmalnutrition, it was recommended that:• basic services such as safe housing,

clean drinking water, drainage andsewage systems, health facilities aswell as income-earning opportunities,all of which affect nutritional well-being, be provided and improved inthe poor and slum areas;

• programmes to improve food securityand nutrition specifically targeted tothe poor and nutritionally vulnerablebe implemented, monitored andevaluated;

• food and nutrition education activi-ties be developed and implementedfor all segments of the urban popula-tion, including activities specificallytargeted to the poor and vulnerable;

• social safety nets be provided for themost vulnerable among the urbanpoor.

4. Information, sensitization, train-ing and capacity building

The seminar recognised the needs ofsenior policy makers for informationand sensitization and the needs of tech-nical and managerial staff of city andlocal authorities (CLAs) for training andcapacity building, particularly in the fol-lowing areas:

Information and sensitization• define the role of CLAs in urban food

security;• formulation of urban FSD policies,

strategies and development pro-grammes;

• making decisions for public invest-ments in FSD infrastructure and facil-ities;

• public health and environmentalimplications of FSD activities;

• promotion of private sector invest-ment in FSD activities;

• municipal policies for the informalfood sector.

Training and capacity building• the analysis of FSDS constraints and

sustainable solutions;• formulation of urban FSD policies,

strategies and development pro-grammes;

• urban planning and management forefficient FSD activities;

• planning and management of whole-sale and retail food markets;

• design of development programmesfor micro, small and medium enter-prises especially with reference to

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methodologies, spatial planning,hygiene, business skills and organiza-tional development;

• design, implementation and manage-ment of information and sensitizationprogrammes for food market traders,transporters, processors, consumersand producers;

• design, implementation and manage-ment of urban and periurban foodproduction development programmes(including livestock rearing andaquaculture);

• use and re-use of waste from foodmarkets and slaughterhouses;

• legislation and regulations for FSDactivities.

CLAs and central government authori-ties should collaborate in ensuringcapacity building in the following areas:• the administration of food control

activities, food inspection and foodanalysis in order to better enforcefood safety policies;

• post harvest technologies and goodfood-hygiene practices;

• urban-based extension services.

5. Physical infrastructure

Road improvement should be conduct-ed for enhancing production, process-ing and distribution of food commodi-ties:• physical facility improvement should

be carried out for the provision ofclean water for irrigation and munici-pal uses, based on responsive land-use plans;

• facilities for processing and market-ing, such as wholesale and retailmarkets, should be enhanced;

• basic services such as water, sanita-tion, sewage systems, safe housingand health facilities must be providedto all urban areas, including the poorand slum neighbourhoods.

6. Waste management and environmental protection

CLAs are usually responsible for theproper management of liquid and solidwaste from food market and slaughter-houses. Such waste can be used foragricultural production and livestockfeeding provided adequate care is takenin avoiding health and environmentalnegative implications. Central govern-ments are responsible for ensuring thatappropriate regulations are adopted andadequate capacity developed to ensuretheir enforcement. Awareness of theissue is necessary for all the sectors.

7. Legal issues

CLAs and central governments shouldlegally recognise the informal sector asa first step to addressing existing prob-lems and opportunities presented bythe sector:• national food legislation should be

reviewed and revised as appropriateto ensure that adequate provisionsexist to assure the safety of street-vended foods;

• institutional and legal frameworks forland and water resource managementshould be reformed towards decen-tralization as appropriate;

• food quality and safety standards,guidelines and codes of practiceshould be established for the han-dling of foods throughout the pro-duction-consumption chain;

• regulatory measures pertaining to theproduction of food from plant andanimal sources in urban and periur-ban areas should be adopted;

• legislation should be enacted andincentives provided to encourage theadoption of environmentally friendlypractices and policies in food pro-duction, distribution and processing.

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8. Enhancing private investment

• CLAs should adopt an enablingapproach to promoting privateinvestments in FSD infrastructure;

• CLAs should critically review andmodify existing legislation and regu-lations with a view to stimulating pri-vate investment;

• CLAs should make basic informationon city plans and projections for themedium and long terms to facilitateprivate investment in the FSD sector(infrastructure, services, businesses,etc.), making sure that investmentopportunities are correctly identifiedand justified;

• information on investment modalitiesshould be made available to the public;

• special approaches (group collateral,etc.) should be considered for financ-ing small and medium enterprises inthe food sector.

9. North-South and South-South partnerships

CLAs in different countries have exper-tise and experience in many aspects ofFSDS that can prove valuable to othercities. These should be shared througheffective partnerships based on a prop-er understanding of local conditions,attitudes and requirements in a spirit ofexchange rather than dependence.Various programmes by internationaland regional organizations such asCityNet, FAO and the EuropeanCommission exist to promote technicalassistance partnerships and projects.

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Technical cooperation among city andlocal authorities (CLAs), both North-South and South-South, needs to bedeveloped to better understand urbanfood security challenges and to addressspecific food supply and distribution(FSD) constraints. Cooperation can takevarious forms. Disseminating good prac-tices in addressing FSD constraints (eg.market management and ownership,market waste management, informalfood sector support and food microen-terprise development) should be thegoal for information, sensitization andtraining activities.

To have effective cooperation andagreement, all actors involved should:• be fully committed;• develop a clear and achievable mis-

sion and goals;• identify the type of partnership to be

agreed upon;• develop an estimated timeline for

deliverables;• secure required resources; and• set clear expectations and provide

necessary staffing and training.

To ensure transferability of knowledge,technology and lessons learnt, matchingthe needs and experience betweencities is essential. Matching mechanismsshould be developed and supported byinternational organizations (eg.: FAO,UNCHS, UNDP), national governmentsas well as world and regional associa-tions (eg.: the World Union ofWholesale Markets, CityNet, IULA).International organizations and associa-tions should also ensure that technicalcooperation between CLAs is sound,

meaningful and useful for all partiesconcerned and correctly addresses con-straints in a sustainable manner.Successful cooperation requires thatcare is taken to use experts who aretechnically competent, have adequatelanguage abilities, training skills and areknowledgeable of local conditions.

Funding is a major requirement for suc-cessful North-South and South-Southtechnical cooperation. Therefore, inter-ested parties must be prepared to makethe necessary investment and cost shar-ing should be considered when plan-ning the exchanges.

Examples of North-South and South-South cooperation among CLAs aredetailed in Table 10.1.

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Priority Areas forNorth-South and South-SouthCooperation10

Objectives of North-South andSouth-South technical cooperation

The following are specific objectives ofNorth-South and South-South technicalcooperation:• greater awareness among the policy

makers, city executives and seniorplanners of CLAs about food securitychallenges as well as present andfuture constraints affecting variouselements of the food supply and dis-tribution systems (FSDSs) of theircities – through information dissemi-nation and sensitization activities;

• strengthened capacity of technicalstaff of CLAs in the design andimplementation of technically soundurban FSD policies and programmesin developing countries throughtraining;

• improved urban planning and man-agement skills and tools for FSDthrough training targeted at urbanplanners;

• sustainable solutions for specific con-straints affecting local FSDSs throughinformation dissemination, sensitiza-tion and training programmes target-ing policy makers, city executives,senior planners and technical staff ofCLAs.

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Waste ManagementSolid waste management from markets and slaughterhouses

To be explored Muntinlupa

Water ManagementWater resource management and water pollution

Nancy (to be explored) Ho Chi Minh City

Food FinancingFood financing including micro-credit

To be explored Ulaanbaatar

Food Production and ProcessingFood/agricultural production To be explored Ulaanbaatar

Nutrition for children Makati (Healthy CitiesProgramme) (to be explored)

Kathmandu

Nutrition

Wholesale market development and design

Jakarta (Wholesale Market) Colombo

Retail markets and outlets into urban planning

Lyon Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City,Vientiane, Phnom Penh,

Informal food sector management and street vendors

Bangkok, Calcutta Colombo

Food packaging Japanese cities (to beexplored)

Muntinlupa

Areas forCapacity Building

ResourceCities/Institutions

BeneficiaryCities/Institutions

Food Distribution and Marketing

Table 10.1: Examples of concrete North-South and South-Southcooperation between city and local authorities

Note: Organizations such as FAO, regional networks such as CityNet and regional programmessuch as Asia Urbs may facilitate and/or coordinate North-South and South-South technicalcooperation among CLAs, through their specific modalities and to identify other potentialpartners for those cities needing capacity building support.

Main activities and instruments for technical cooperation

North-South and South-South coopera-tion can be undertaken through a vari-ety of activities and instruments that canbe grouped as follows:

1. Information dissemination andsensitization

Instruments: Technical documentation inlocal languages adapted to a targetreadership, videos, multimedia CD-ROMs, dissemination of good practicesin addressing FSD constraints, dissemi-nation of data from global and regionaldatabases, specific regional/sub-region-al/national workshops and study tours.

2. Training

Instruments: training material in locallanguages, trainers, videos, multimediaCD-ROMs, specific regional/sub-region-al/national training seminars, grants forattending training courses, dissemina-tion of good practices in addressingFSD constraints, fellowships and studytours, etc.

Topics for sensitisation and trainingactivities are:• analysis of constraints affecting

FSDSs in the context of urban expan-sion and increasing urban poverty;

• formulation of urban FSD policiesand programmes;

• integration of FSD into urban plan-ning and management;

• decision making in public infrastruc-ture investment;

• enhancement of private investmentin FSD;

• training producers, traders and shop-keepers;

• consumer information campaigns;• formulation of technical cooperation

projects.

3. Direct technical assistance

Instruments: equipment and technicalexperts and instructors (from CLAs,NGOs, equipment supplying compa-nies, etc.).

Specific areas for technical cooperation

Seminar participants recommended thefollowing priority areas and objectives20:

Urban and periurban food production

• Awareness and understanding byCLAs of the importance of, and risksassociated with, urban and periurbanfood production through informationdissemination and sensitization activi-ties;

• awareness and understanding byCLAs of best practices adopted bycities worldwide in making urbanand periurban food production moreprofitable and sustainable. Best prac-tices need to be identified, compiledand disseminated;

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• awareness and understanding byCLAs of safe production technology,nutrition and health for urban andperiurban food production, throughinformation and sensitization activi-ties;

• strengthened capacity of public insti-tutions and private sector organiza-tions involved in food production inthe design of programmes for thedevelopment of urban and periurbanfood production, promoting the safeuse of inputs, transfer of productionand processing technologies, market-ing and microfinance, etc. throughinformation, sensitization and train-ing;

• exchange of technologies for addedvalue food production in urban andperiurban areas, especially vegetablesand animal products, as well as post-harvest technologies, through directtechnical assistance.

Rural-urban linkages

• Awareness and understanding byCLAs of best practices adopted bycities world-wide in developing rural-urban linkages (packaging, transport,market information, etc.). Best prac-tices need to be identified, compiledand disseminated;

• strengthened capacity of public insti-tutions and private sector agents todevelop rural-urban linkages: assem-bly markets, food packaging andtransport, market information ser-vices, etc. – through information,sensitization and training.

Extension services

There are many cases of effective andefficient urban extension services indeveloping countries (eg. Cuba) work-ing to provide food to extremely poorinner-city neighbourhoods. Exchangesof technical assistance should bearranged for the development of theurban-based extension services.

Water management issues in food production

• Strengthened capacity for publicinstitutions and the private sector touse dedicated information systems,such as Geographic InformationSystems (GIS), and methodologiesdeveloped for land and water man-agement – through information, sen-sitization and training;

• awareness and understanding byCLAs of safe production technology,nutrition and health for urban andperiurban food production throughinformation and sensitization activi-ties.

Livestock production

• Planning of new abattoirs, cold stor-age, dairy processing plants, meatretail outlets, etc. – through directtechnical assistance and training ofurban planners. Such facilities needto be maintained and adequatelymanaged. Managers and operators ofabattoirs and meat and dairy process-ing plants must be trained. The train-ing must comprise improvements intechnology and product hygiene.Instructors from equipment-supplyingcompanies and study tours involvinglocal managers travelling abroad willbe required;

• upgrading sanitary control proce-dures and related equipment throughinformation dissemination, sensitiza-tion and training of managers, opera-tors and shopkeepers.

Aquaculture and fish marketing

Policy makers and planners need crite-ria and instruments to develop safeaquaculture activities in urban and peri-urban areas as well as safe fish process-ing and marketing activities in cities.This requires information, sensitizationand training as well as equipment anddirect technical assistance. NorthernCLAs can collaborate with internationalorganizations (such as FAO) and region-

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al networks (such as CityNet) to orga-nize specific regional, sub-regional andnational technical and sensitizationworkshops for the development ofaquaculture products and fish process-ing, marketing and distribution.

Wholesale market development

Public investments in wholesale marketsmust be adequately justified. Wholesalemarkets need to be properly located,designed, developed, maintained andmanaged. Old markets sites need to bedecongested. Case studies and evalua-tions of successes and failures in othercities should be disseminated and dis-cussion workshops held to help deci-sion makers. Planners need to betrained to properly integrate wholesalemarkets into urban plans. Wholesalemarkets require professional managerswho need to be trained and to visitmarkets in other cities. Market wasteneeds to be adequately managed so asnot to generate health hazards.

Retail outlet development

• Exchange information and experi-ences among CLAs on retail market-ing related issues, including streetvending and food safety aspects;

• train planners to properly integrateretail markets into urban plans, par-ticularly in newly urbanized areas.Retail markets require professionalmanagers who need to be trainedand encouraged to visit markets inother cities. Market waste must beadequately managed so as not togenerate health hazards;

• strengthen capacity of CLA staff indesigning and implementing informa-tion and training campaigns involv-ing shopkeepers, retail markettraders, street vendors, etc. throughtraining.

Street foods: food safety and nutritionalaspects

• Strengthen and update technicalknowledge and expertise on analyti-cal laboratory techniques and proce-dures to support regulatory activitiesin the street food sector;

• update regulatory frameworks andtheir implementation by local author-ities through sensitization activitiesand direct technical assistance;

• South-South partnerships are impor-tant in allowing municipal authoritiesin different countries to share experi-ences on results achieved with differ-ent approaches to street food regula-tion and control. A regional databaseon the street food sector should bedeveloped in collaboration with localuniversities.

Micro, small and medium enterprises infood processing and distribution

Asian CLAs need to design and imple-ment effective policy programmes forthe development of micro, small andmedium enterprises in food processingand distribution. The effective design ofthese programmes requires information,

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sensitization and training activities aswell as direct technical assistance.Training in areas such as participatorymethodologies, spatial planning,hygiene, business skills and organiza-tional development as well as microfi-nance for micro and small-scale foodentrepreneurs.

The environmental impact of FSD activities

There is a need to strengthen CLAs’understanding of the negative impactson the environment of FSD activitiesthrough information dissemination andsensitization. Criteria for environmentalmonitoring and impact assessmentadapted to local conditions arerequired. Important areas are: effectiveand sustainable management of liquidand solid waste, including hazardoussubstances, from markets and slaughter-houses; use of chemical inputs in foodproduction and use of water.

There is a need to provide expertise tosupport the development of a regionaldatabase on environmental conditionsand protective mechanisms in diverseregions.

20 Further specific needs and priorities forAsian CLAs and central governments agen-cies need to be identified through a ques-tionnaire.

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This section summarizes the results ofdeliberations in seventeen workshopsthat took place during the seminar.

The first six workshops concentrated onurban food production and processingactivities. The subsequent five work-shops focused on food distribution con-cerns whereas the remainder dealtlargely with FSD policies and pro-grammes. Certainly, there is overlapbetween production, processing, distrib-ution and policy areas of urban FSD butthis grouping enabled discussions toemphasise certain aspects of the FSDS.

The first section groups together thegeneral conclusions and recommenda-tions that tend to be repeated in mostof the full reports. The second sectionprovides specific conclusions and rec-ommendations as suggested by eachworkshop.

General workshop findings

1. The lack of awareness of FSDSs wasfrequently cited as a problem, and itwas recommended that CLAs needto be sensitized as to the importanceand workings of the urban food sys-tem.

2. As a result of this lack of awareness,poor quality or missing informationconcerning urban FSDSs is a recur-ring problem that needs to beredressed through appropriate datacollection and dissemination.

3. Food supply and distributiondepends on solid transportation,storage and communication infra-structure, which is frequently lackingor of sub-standard quality in Asiancities. Hence, a number of the work-shops suggested public and privateinvestment in infrastructure develop-ment and improvement.

4. Both CLAs and central governmentsoften overlook the participation ofall stakeholders when it comes toplanning and managing FSDSs. As aresult, many workshops identifiedthe need for a proactive, participato-ry mechanism as an importantaspect of improving urban FSD.

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Report of Discussionsduring Workshops11

Specific workshop findings

Workshop A1: Response to urbaniza-tion of food productionin rural, periurban andurban areas

The principal recommendations forlocal authorities were to provide land-use rights for the urban poor to enablethem to engage in urban and periurbanagriculture (UPA) while, at the sametime, assessing the feasibility of protect-ing agricultural land especially in peri-urban areas. Local authorities shouldpromote the recycling of organic wasteto provide valuable fertilisers (eg. com-post) for urban and periurban food pro-duction. Food processing technologiesought to be introduced and supportedto boost value-addition, and regulatorymeasures pertaining to UPA should bead hoc and flexible. Central govern-ments should set up institutional frame-works for the promotion of stakehold-ers’ organizations in the areas of pro-duction and marketing. These frame-works would enable the private sectorto play a role, particularly in the provi-sioning of needed microfinance, and asan investor in waste management, infra-structure and technology transfer.Central governments can and shouldcoordinate various authorities. Finally,international organizations and donorsshould play a role in building theawareness of central and local govern-ments of the importance of UPA.

Workshop A2: Strengthening rural-urban linkages

Given the number of weak market andinstitutional linkages between rural andurban areas, as well as several weakelements in legislative and governmen-tal frameworks, it is likely that severalexisting problems related to rural-urbanlinkages will exacerbate in the next tenyears if no action is taken. These prob-lems include increasing strain on therural-urban food chain; decrease in agri-

cultural productivity; reduced access ofpoor farmers to capital, technology andinformation; increased food losses andthe long-term loss of sustainablelifestyles. All of this results in the con-tinuing impoverishment of rural areasand an increasing cost of food for theurban consumer resulting in food inse-curity for the poor in Asia’s cities.Workshop participants recommendedthat CLAs, in addition to investing intransportation and storage infrastructure,work with the private sector to developfood wholesale markets in both produc-ing and consuming areas. There are,however, a number of needs to beaddressed prior to undertaking suchrecommendations. These needs includehaving a long-term policy perspectiveto build partnerships between rural andurban actors and instituting incentivesfor strengthening these linkages.

Workshop A3: Extension services forfeeding the cities

Without the support of urban-basedextension services, the likely outcomefor Asian cities will be reduced andincreasingly expensive food suppliesand greater environmental contamina-tion. The main solution to the problemas foreseen by the participants of theworkshop is the establishment of apublic urban-based extension service toprovide education, training, communi-cation and information to meet the foodneeds of cities. The public extensionservice, established by CLAs, must workin partnership with and support boththe private sector and NGOs carryingout extension-type functions. The strate-gy recommended by workshop partici-pants consists of three components.First, advocacy toward building aware-ness and national consensus among alllevels of government and stakeholdersconcerning the significant role of educa-tion, training and communication infeeding cities. Second, strategic plan-ning to identify relevant stakeholders,review existing policy and develop an

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action plan set up within a ten-yearframe with mission statement, visionstatement, guiding principles and strate-gic goals. Third, technical assistance atdifferent stages in the development of anew urban-based extension system frominternational experts from both devel-oping and developed countries.

Workshop A4: Water managementissues in food productionfor feeding Asian cities

Asian cities are facing severe watermanagement problems due to theirrapid growth. Present problems andconstraints include: poor water manage-ment generally; lack of efficiency in irri-gation and increased use of chemicalinputs; lack of linkages and coordina-tion between land-use planning andwater resources management; andunsustainable exploitation of waterresources are all resulting in pollutionand less water for cities. If rapid urbanpopulation growth is not checked,water scarcity will increase throughdegradation of water resources (deserti-fication, quality, etc.) and increaseddemand. Water and environmental poli-cies provide new opportunities for CLAsto secure sustainable, good qualitywater supplies21. CLAs should: createplanning cells for land-use and watermanagement; develop strategic plansfor urban development combining land-use and water management; implementextension programmes for water conser-vation and water quality preservation;enforce health and environmental regu-lations and standards and mobilizeresources for water service provision byencouraging private sector investment.Central governments should: 1. delineate the catchments for mega-

cities for surface and groundwaterand develop river basin managementorganizations;

2. reform institutional and legal frame-works for decentralization of landand water resource management; and

3. develop health and environmentalstandards for food production andprocessing. The private sector shouldinvest capital resources and know-how in urban water service provisionand environmental management.

Workshop A5: The supply of livestock products to Asian cities

In many large cities in Asia, city abat-toirs work to greater capacity than theyare designed for and are located tooclose to densely populated areas. Theydischarge wastes into rivers or in sur-rounding areas and create tremendousenvironmental pollution. In order toremedy the situation, the abattoirs mustbe closed and new ones, with efficientwaste treatment facilities, establishedoutside of residential areas. These newsystems will require not only financialinvestment, but the cooperation andconsent of end users (i.e. butcher asso-ciations). Technical assistance andcooperation will also be required totrain operators of abattoirs and meatand dairy processing plants; upgradesanitary control of livestock products

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and plan new abattoirs, city marketsand cold storage facilities. Local needsas well as the availability of skilled per-sonnel, spare parts and energy must beconsidered in the planning process.

Workshop A6: Urban and periurban aquaculture

Aquaculture is the fastest growing sec-tor of the world food economy. Rapidurbanization and industrialization inAsia can constrain urban and periurbanaquaculture. In these situations, the vol-ume of fish directed to poorer popula-tions will tend to decline, and a nega-tive impact will be felt on the foodsecurity of these populations. On theother hand, there are likely to be posi-tive indirect effects through the general-ly improved economic development ofthe production areas. Considering theconflict of resources it entails as well asits potential environmental and publichealth problems, it appears doubtfulthat urban aquaculture should be pro-moted. Experiences from Bangkok andDhaka seem to support this view. Theworkshop participants suggested thatsince it is not appropriate to make adistinction between rural and periurbanaquaculture, at future meetings concern-ing aquaculture in cities, CLAs and ruraldevelopers as well as aquaculture pro-ducers should be present. Associationsfor different types of aquaculture pro-ducers should also be created. Otherrecommendations include: gatheringand disseminating information on thesocial, economic and environmentalimpacts of current trends in aquacul-ture; improving the monitoring of waterquality in periurban areas; providingaquaculturalists with an enabling envi-ronment to prevent economic failure,environmental problems and other neg-ative outcomes; land-use planning inwhich water and its uses in aquacultureare considered should be enacted andimproved methodologies should beadopted to avoid pollution problemswith wastewater fed aquaculture.

Workshop B1: Wholesale market development

Given the rapid urban growth and inad-equate physical infrastructure in mostAsian cities as well as the traffic conges-tion and unsanitary trading practices atmany existing markets, it is necessary toestablish new wholesale markets inmany Asian cities. The workshopexplored the physical planning as wellas the technical, financial, institutionaland management issues that need to beconsidered when stakeholders areexpanding or redeveloping their whole-sale market systems. Recommendationsfor local authorities include: ensuremanagement and financial autonomy isgiven to market management boards,ensure that urban plans identify whole-sale markets as unique land-userequirements and fully involve traders,transporters and consumers in the mar-ket design process. Workshop partici-pants also recommended that centralgovernments ensure that there is closecoordination between the various stake-holders. The involvement of the WorldBank and Asian Development Bank wassuggested in financing wholesale mar-kets. These investments are also valu-able as cross cutting activities linked tofood for cities and urban planningissues.

Workshop B2: Retail outlet development

Workshop participants considered thatCLAs have a responsibility to ensurethat adequate retail outlets, functioningin a clean and safe environment, wereprovided for the benefit of their popula-tions. The key issues considered were:why CLAs should be involved in retailoutlets development, what CLAs shoulddo to improve and develop retail out-lets and improve their availability andoperation and what CLAs need to fulfiltheir retail outlet development responsi-bilities. Participants concluded thatbecause of rapidly increasing urbanpopulations and the need to accommo-date increasing food needs, CLAs must

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be involved in the upgrading anddevelopment of retail marketing facili-ties in order to improve food safety andhygiene standards for the general popu-lation. CLAs also need to improve phys-ical and economic access to basic foodby low income consumers, create jobs(especially in the informal sector), pro-vide environmental protection andimprovement, improve the commercialconditions and competition underwhich retailing takes place and improvemarket transparency, improve food sup-plies to cities and towns by creatingbetter access and recognise that retailmarket facilities can be importantsources of revenue for CLAs.

Workshop B3: Municipal policies for the informal food sector

The informal food sector (IFS) providescomestibles and income for many Asianurbanites. Problems include the lack ofrecognition of, information on, technicalcapacity to deal with and political willconcerning the IFS. Other constraintsrelate to the contradictory and disinte-grated policies and practices concerningthe IFS in Asian cities, the emergence ofconflicts over urban land-use and thelack of power of some CLAs to proac-tively engage this sector of the foodsystem. Recommendations thereforeinclude the need for CLAs to formallyrecognise the IFS through legislationand engage the sector using a participa-tory, consultative approach that pro-vides needed services on a fee basis.Other suggestions include creating amunicipal office on the IFS to coordi-nate data assembly, collection, policymaking and implementation. CLAs needto employ creative policies that pro-mote the IFS and deal with the sectoras an issue with national and regionalplanning implications. Central govern-ments ought to recognise the impor-tance of the IFS for the urban poor andperhaps create an “urban poor affairsoffice” to play a coordinating role forlocal interventions. At the same time,central governments should devolve

both political and fiscal power to thelocal level for the engagement of thissector and other urban poverty issues.Central governments should also play arole in consumer protection. Otherstakeholders, such as the private sector,civil society organizations (CSOs), acad-emics and consumers, should foster“win-win” solutions to share space,information and technical skills with theIFS.

Workshop B4: Fish marketing in Asian cities

Discussion in this workshop focused onhow fish supply to large urban popula-tions in Asia could be improved andwhat concrete actions could be recom-mended that would contribute to thisprocess. The experiences of Dhaka,Bangladesh and to some extentKathmandu, Nepal were the focus ofdiscussion. Participants concluded thatgeneral problems include: unsatisfactoryhygienic and sanitary conditions, lack oftransparency in the market place, lackof appropriate infrastructure, insufficientinformation and inefficient informationflows and lack of awareness of productsafety issues for consumers. There is

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also an apparent insufficiency in fishretailing arrangements, particularly tolow income consumers, and a lack ofconsumer sensitivity to health and sani-tation issues. Workshop participants rec-ommend that, while the capacity ofauthorities is often limited and alterna-tive strategies and partnerships shouldbe encouraged, CLAs and central gov-ernments should ensure: the availabilityand maintenance of technically ade-quate facilities for wholesale marketing,that low cost equipment and facilitiesare available for retailing to low incomeconsumers, the provision of appropriatesupport services and the sensitization ofstakeholders on hygiene and sanitaryaspects of fish marketing.

Workshop B5: Street foods in Asia:food safety and nutritional issues

Street foods are a source of inexpensivenutritious food, as well as income, formany Asian urbanites. Street foods tendto cater to a wide variety of consumersbecause they are ubiquitous and oftenserve a tasty, wide variety of traditional“fast food”. Problems with this sectorinclude a lack of legal recognition, poorsafety and hygiene leading to food con-tamination and waste disposal issues.There are also frequent disputes overurban space: specifically related to theobstruction of vehicular traffic.Challenges to overcome in the effort toaddress the above problems include alack of reliable information on the sec-tor, lack of regulation and the redress ofland-use management disputes.Suggestions for concrete actions by par-ticipants in this workshop include: cre-ating a focal point for all activities relat-ed to this sector; coordinated data col-lection; involvement of all stakeholdersin a transparent and accountable policymaking process; provision of training,physical facilities, food control infra-structure and other resources. Central governments ought to enactlaws and regulations for street foods,create national networking committees

on street food safety and provide ade-quate resources for the sector. The pri-vate sector can play an important roleby helping to form street vendor organi-zations and providing training to ven-dors. The private sector can also assistwith information gathering on streetfoods. Finally, international agenciescan and should facilitate informationexchange through the FAO’s RegionalCentre for Street Food Safety inCalcutta.

Workshop C1: Promoting privateinvestments in FSD

Demand for investment in FSD willincrease in large Asian cities because ofconsistent and increasing opportunitiesfor profit; growth in the number ofsupermarkets dealing directly with pro-ducers; increased demand for betterpreserved, cleaner packaged food;increasing technological demands andthe need for transportation over longerdistances. Some of the factors constrain-ing private sector investment includeinconsistent government policies andregulations making profits uncertain,lack of city planning information, poorroads, inability of processing facilities tomanage timing of deliveries, perceivedunwillingness of municipalities to giveup monopoly positions in providingand operating markets and incorrectinformation about certain foods. Theworkshop participants suggested thatnational governments (in concert withinternational organizations) set foodstandards and quality controls for foodhandling services and that local govern-ments implement and enforce them.Local governments should also establishregulations for wholesale market opera-tion and make basic city planning infor-mation available to facilitate investmentdecisions. Local authorities in ruralareas should provide assembly marketsas a public good. National governmentsshould provide legislation to protectproducers and consumers from monop-oly situations and ensure access to foodby the poor. Private sector organizations

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can ensure that members share informa-tion and have access to informationcontrolled by the public sector, lobbyfor legislation to change regulations andensure that banks have sufficient infor-mation to enable them to makeinformed investment decisions withintheir sector.

Workshop C2: FSD into planning atregional, metropolitanand urban levels

Workshop participants drew on theirexperiences of cities in the region toreach the joint conclusion that FSDSsvary dramatically from city to city. InDhaka, for example, there is a directlink between producers from the ruralareas around the city and urban con-sumers. Because of this link, the supplyof food matches the demand, includingthat of the urban poor. In other cities,for example in Kathmandu andColombo, the system is highly depen-dent on intermediaries making pricessignificantly higher than the costs ofproduction. In Malaysia, the FSDSs aremainly in the hands of the private sec-tor with the government playing only amarginal role. The workshop partici-pants came to the conclusion that apartnership between the public and pri-vate sectors in the functioning of urbanFSDSs in Asia not only has many bene-fits, in many cases it is the only accept-able alternative because of the limitedresources available to most CLAs.Participants concluded that central gov-ernments, international technical assis-tance and funding agencies, as well asdonors, should contribute to the capaci-ty building of governments in FSDSs.CLAs should adopt an informed strate-gic management approach to FSDSissues using consultations to enhancethe participation of different stakehold-ers, including consumers, in theprocess. CLAs should also identify andset aside, as soon as possible, appropri-ate lands for essential FSDS develop-ment. Central government agenciesshould help local governments improve

their capacities to deal with FSDSincluding designing a regulatory frame-work to facilitate the involvement of theprivate sector. International organiza-tions should promote the sharing ofinformation pertaining to FSDSs, andNorth-South and South-South coopera-tion would help to enhance the dissem-ination of good practices, technicalknow-how and communication instru-ments.

Workshop C3: CLAs and food security:role and needs

Workshop participants concluded thatproblems and constraints related tofood security and CLAs include: conver-sion of agricultural land for urban land-use; lack of coordination between agen-cies; weak capabilities in urban landmanagement and lack of appropriateforms of banking especially for theinformal food sector. Participants con-sidered that CLAs should therefore:strengthen capacities in urban landmanagement; establish vertical and hori-zontal coordinating mechanisms amongpublic agencies; expand their base ofdecision makers and promote partner-ships among CLAs, civil society and the

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private sector. In order for CLAs to playan effective role in FSDSs, they needtraining for political leaders and CLAstaff on food security issues and techni-cal assistance and information sharingaround policy formulation, planningand management of food securityissues. North-South and South-Southpartnerships can assist by providingdocumentation and dissemination ofgood practices and regional data onfood security in cities. These partner-ships could also assist in the sharing ofknowledge and experience among CLAsand the establishment of links withchambers of commerce, trade associa-tions and agricultural colleges, etc.

Workshop C4: Food security andnutritional well-beingamong the urban poorin Asia

The participants in this workshop con-cluded that the causes of food insecuri-ty among the urban poor in Asia haveto do with poverty itself thereforepointing to the link between nutritionalwell being and larger socio-economicconcerns. Children, the unemployedand female-headed households are par-ticularly at risk for food insecurity. Inaddition to understanding the copingstrategies of the urban poor, pro-grammes need to be targeted towardthe most vulnerable groups to ensurenutritional needs are met. Examplesinclude school lunch programmes,encouraging income-generating activi-ties and food subsidies for the destitute.The report for this workshop recom-mended that food security policies andprogrammes be ensconced within widerframeworks that enhance the welfare ofthe urban poor such as health services,national action plans and social securitymeasures.

Workshop C5: Small and mediumenterprises in food processing and distribution

Workshop participants identified severalconstraints and related recommenda-tions related to micro, small and me-dium enterprises (MSMEs) in food pro-cessing and distribution. The problemsinclude lack of recognition by govern-ment at various levels and relatedharassment of MSMEs in public places,poor financing and problems with mar-keting and distribution, an absence ofconstructive collaboration betweenMSMEs and other stakeholders and thelack of clear definitions of enterprisetypes for international cooperation.CLAs can help solve these problems bylegally recognising MSMEs, providingthem with access to services such asspace, water, and sanitation on a fee-paying basis and developing participa-tory multistakeholder planning frame-works that include MSMEs. The privatesector and CSOs can provide neededmicrofinancing. Microenterprises in par-ticular need to create associations forthe protection of their interests andmarketing of their products. Centralgovernments ought to adopt standard-ized definitions of enterprise types andadvocate cooperation between MSMEsand government departments (such asthe Ministry of Tourism) to organizeopportunities for the development andpromotion of these food enterprises. Aswomen and children play a key role infood MSMEs, governments at variouslevels and donors should recognisetheir importance and garner their parti-cipation in decision making.

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Workshop C6: The environmentalimpact of FSD activities

Participants in this workshop recom-mended the development of a “virtual”Knowledge Centre for Urban FoodSecurity and Distribution as a databankfor professionals involved in FSDS plan-ning or research. They also advocatedthe development of materials for theuse of the broader public to help peo-ple understand the current negativeeconomic and environmental impacts ofurban food security problems. Thegroup also suggested that city adminis-trators develop explicit lists of prioritiesfor city development that address theeconomic, social and environmentalaspects of food supply. Tools to assistthem in addressing those prioritiesshould be selected. Municipalitiesshould focus their efforts on providinggood markets and fair regulations withrespect to food distribution and shouldoversee the implementation of thoseregulations. Municipalities should alsoarrange for the collection of solid wasteand stimulate recycling. Workshop par-ticipants suggested these recommenda-tions could be achieved through work-shops, by providing resource materialfor planners and by encouraging studytours for professionals involved inFSDSs to other cities in the North andSouth. A Knowledge Centre wouldeffectively underpin all these efforts.Cooperation could be further stimulatedthrough CityNet and the regional urbanagriculture networks.

21 Combating these trends is largely outsidethe sphere of influence of CLAs and callsfor central/state government intervention tofoster more equitable growth between ruraland urban areas. Asian countries also needan appropriate framework for waterresource management and agricultural poli-cies aimed at achieving food security whileensuring an adequate water supply tourban areas. CLAs will have an obligation tomeet water use efficiency and water qualityobjectives as well as to negotiate their watersupplies resulting in higher water costs andinvestments.

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The “Food into Cities” Collection focus-es on issues related to food supply anddistribution (FSD) to urban areas indeveloping countries and countries intransition (DTCs), particularly:• the relationship between urban food

security, urban poverty and foodsupply and distribution systems(FSDSs);

• the consequences of the growth infood demand and urban expansionon FSD costs;

• the study of the efficiency anddynamism of FSDS in the context ofurban expansion and urban povertygrowth;

• policies, strategies and action plansto strengthen the efficiency anddynamism of FSDSs, at urban, periur-ban, and rural scales; and

• rural, periurban and urban food sup-ply responses to urbanization.

The collection is available to allresearchers and professionals, especiallythose in DTCs, as a means of makingtheir writings better known with theobjective of increasing appreciation ofthe challenges imposed by urbangrowth and urban poverty on urbanfood security.

The “Food into Cities” Collection pub-lishes articles, monographs, theses,reports, comparative and case studies,sectoral reviews, proceedings and con-tributions from conferences, seminarsand workshops. These publications areavailable on the Internet.

Previously published works may also beincluded.

Texts in English, French and Spanishare accepted. Texts in other languagesmay be accepted only if provided withan extensive executive summary inEnglish, French or Spanish.

For more information, contact:

Editor, “Food into Cities” CollectionAGSMFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, ItalyE-mail: sadaseries@fao.orgFax: (+39) 06 5705 6850 or 5705 4961http://www.fao.org/ag/sada.htm

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The informal “Food into Cities” Networkwas created in 1997 by the “FoodSupply and Distribution to Cities” pro-gramme of the FAO. This internationalnetwork links institutions and individualprofessionals concerned with food secu-rity in the urban areas of developingcountries and countries in transition(DTCs). The network is specifically ori-ented toward understanding:• the relationship between the food

security of urban areas and food sup-ply and distribution systems (FSDS);

• the consequences of increasing fooddemand and urban expansion onfood supply and marketing costs;

• the study of the efficiency anddynamism of FSDS in the context ofhigh levels of urbanization and urbanexpansion; and

• policies, strategies and programmesfor strengthening the efficiency anddynamism of FSDS in and amongurban, periurban and rural areasfrom both a national and regionalperspective.

The objectives of the network are topromote:• increased appreciation, in DTCs, of

the challenges that rapid rates ofurbanization and associated foodmarketing and distribution costsimpose on the food security of poorconsumers;

• greater diffusion, in DTCs, ofresearch, knowledge and experiencesconcerning urban food security andFSDS;

• increased dialogue, collaboration andadvice on the analysis of and inter-ventions concerning FSDS, in thecontext of increasing levels of urban-ization and the expansion of cities.

Membership has many advantages.Interested individuals and institutionsare urged to enquire about possibleregistration in the network by contact-ing:

Coordinator, “Food into Cities” NetworkAGSMFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, ItalyFax: (39) 06 5705 6850 or 5705 4961E-mail: sadanet@fao.org

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Annexes

1) Seminar Agenda2) List of Workshops3) Summary of Speeches4) Participants5) Observers6) Papers7) Technical Committee

Monday 27th November

07:30 – 08:30 Registration of participants

08:30 – 09:30 Opening Ceremony

09:45 – 10:00 Video: “Food andNutrition”

10:00 – 10:30 Seminar organization andstructure

10:30 – 11:15 Key Paper 1: Feeding theCities: Food Productionand Processing IssuesH. Waibel, GTZ

11:15 – 12:00 Key Paper 2: Feeding theCities: Urban FoodDistribution IssuesE. Seidler, FAO-AGSM

12:15 – 13:00 Key Paper 3: Urban FoodSupply and DistributionPolicies and ProgrammesS. Sunna, FAO Consultant

14:00 – 18:30

Workshop A1: The Response to Urbanization ofFood Production in Rural,Periurban and Urban AreasLeader: P. Moustier, CIRAD

Workshop A2: Strengthening Rural-UrbanLinkagesLeader: M. L. Augustin-Jean,Polytechnic of Hong Kong

Workshop A3: Extension Services for Feeding theCitiesLeader: B. Seiders, FAO-SDRE

Workshop A4: Water Management Issues inFood Production for Asian CitiesLeader: T. Facon, FAO-RAPG

Workshop A5: The Supply of Livestock Productsto Asian CitiesLeader: G. Heinz, FAO-AGA

Workshop A6: Urban and PeriurbanAquacultureLeader: M. Martinez, FAO-FIRI

Tuesday 28th November

08:00 – 08:30 Video: “MarketingExtension”

08:30 – 12:30

Workshop B1: Wholesale Markets DevelopmentLeader: J. Tracey White, FAOConsultant

Workshop B2: Retail Outlets DevelopmentLeader: E. Seidler, FAO-AGSM

Workshop B3: Municipal Policies for theInformal Food SectorLeader: G. Yasmeen, Universityof British Columbia, Canada

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Workshop B4: Fish Marketing in Asian CitiesLeader: E. Ruckes, FAO-FIIU

Workshop B5: Street Foods in Asia: Food Safetyand Nutritional IssuesLeader: R. Clarke, FAO-ESNS

14:00 – 18:30

Workshop C1: Promoting Private Investment inFood Supply and DistributionLeader: S. Sunna, FAO Consultant

Workshop C2: Food Supply and DistributionIssues into Planning at Regional,Metropolitan and Urban LevelsLeader: M. Balbo, UniversityInstitute of Architecture, Italy

Workshop C3: City and Local Authorities andUrban Food Security: Role andNeedsLeader: N. von Einsiedel,UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) UrbanManagement Programme forAsia, Bangkok

Workshop C4: Food Security and NutritionalWell-being among the UrbanPoor in AsiaLeader: V. Menza, FAO-ESNA

Workshop C5: Small and Medium EnterpriseDevelopment in Food Processingand DistributionLeader: G. Yasmeen, Universityof British Columbia, Canada

Workshop C6: The Environmental Impact ofFood Supply and DistributionActivitiesLeader: F. Moukoko-Ndoumbe,FAO-AGSP

Wednesday 29th November

08:00 – 08:30 Video: “Talaad Thai -Bangkok WholesaleMarket”

08:30 – 09:00 Key Paper 4: North-Southand South-SouthCooperation: the Challengefor Local Governments forFood SecurityL. S. Chahl, Secretary-General, CityNet

09:00 – 09:15 Achieving LocalPartnerships for FeedingAsian CitiesV. Rotgé, OperationsProject Manager, Asia Urbs,European Commission

09:15 – 09:30 North-South Partnerships“Stakes of North-SouthCooperation”H. Chabert, Deputy Mayor,Lyon, France

09:30 – 10:00 Questions and answersfrom the floor

10:15 – 12:30 Panel Discussion

Panel members:

• S. Mukherjee, Mayor, Calcutta, India;• H. Chabert, Deputy Mayor, Lyon, France;• N. Thavisin, Deputy Permanent Secretary,

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration,Thailand;

• S. Tanjung, President, Jakarta WholesaleMarket, Indonesia;

• O. Argenti, Co-Secretary IDWG “Food forCities” and Focal Point of FAO’s initiative“Food Supply and Distribution to Cities”,FAO;

• Y. Kioe Sheng, Chief, Human SettlementsSection, UNESCAP;

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• L. S. Chahl, Secretary-General, CityNet;• V. Rotgé, Operation Project Manager, Asia

Urbs, European Commission;• N. von Einsiedel, Regional Coordinator for

Asia and the Pacific, UNDP/UNCHS/WorldBank “Urban Management Programme” (moderator).

Questions and answers from the floor

14:00 – 18:00 Presentation of “WorkshopsConclusions andRecommendations”

Parallel activities:

Meeting of delegations from Cambodia, Laosand Vietnam with representatives of localauthorities from France to discuss specific part-nerships on food supply and distribution topics.

Thursday 30th November

08:00 – 12:30 Presentation of “WorkshopsConclusions andRecommendations” conti-nued

Parallel activities:

Working Group 1 (selected participants only):Priorities for North-South andSouth-South Cooperation andPartnerships for Urban FoodSecurity

Working Group 2 (selected participants only):Drafting the Agenda forAction

Working Group 3 (selected participants only):Drafting the SeminarProvisional Report

Working Group 4 (selected participants only):Drafting the Declaration ofMayors, City Executives andLocal GovernmentsRepresentatives

14:00 – 14:30 FAO’s initiative for “Foodsupply and distribution tocities”O. Argenti, Co-SecretaryIDWG “Food for Cities”and Focal Point of FAO’sinitiative “Food Supply andDistribution to Cities”, FAO

14:30 – 14:45 Questions and answersfrom the floor

14:45 – 15:00 Presentation of “Prioritiesfor North-South and South-South Cooperation andPartnerships for UrbanFood Security”B. I. Tjandradewi, CityNet

15:00 – 16:00 Approval of “Agenda forAction”

16:30 – 17:30 Approval of “SeminarConclusions andRecommendations”

17:30 – 18:00 Approval of “SeminarDeclaration”

18:00 – 18:30 Closing Ceremony

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A1 - The response to urbanization of food pro-duction in rural, periurban and urban areas

A2 - Strengthening rural-urban linkages

A3 - Extension services for feeding the cities

A4 - Water management issues in food produc-tion for Asian cities

A5 - The supply of livestock products to Asiancities

A6 - Urban and periurban aquaculture

B1 - Wholesale markets development

B2 - Retail outlets development

B3 - Municipal policies for the informal foodsector

B4 - Fish marketing in Asian cities

B5 - Street foods in Asia: food safety and nutri-tional issues

C1 - Promoting private investment in food sup-ply and distribution

C2 - Food supply and distribution issues intoplanning at regional, metropolitan andurban levels

C3 - City and local authorities and urban foodsecurity: role and needs

C4 - Food security and nutritional well-beingamong the urban poor in Asia

C5 - Small and medium enterprise developmentin food processing and distribution

C6 - The environmental impact of food supplyand distribution activities

EC/118-00E

EC/134-00E

EC/121-00E

EC/122-00E

EC/117-00E

EC/123-00E

EC/124-00E

EC/125-00E

EC/126-00E

EC/127-00E

EC/116-00E

EC/128-00E

EC/129-00E

EC/130-00E

EC/131-00E

EC/132-00E

EC/133-00E

Workshop Code of paperDiscussion leader

P. Moustier, CIRAD

M. L. Augustin-Jean, Polytechnicof Hong KongB. Seiders, FAO

T. Facon, FAO

G. Heinz, FAO

M. Martinez, FAO

J. Tracey White, FAO

E. Seidler, FAO

G. Yasmeen, University of BritishColumbia

E. Ruckes, FAO

R. Clarke, FAO

S. Sunna, FAO

M. Balbo, Istituto Universitario diArchitettura, Italy

N. von Einsiedel,UNDP/UNCHS/World Bank UrbanManagement ProgrammeV. Menza, FAO

G. Yasmeen, University of BritishColumbia

F. Moukoko-Ndoumbe, FAO

Opening AddressH.E. Samak Sundaravej, Bangkok Governor

During the last quarter century, manyAsian cities including Bangkok haveexperienced tremendous expansionresulting in growing demand for food,infrastructure, social facilities andimproved amenities.

Other consequences of growing popula-tions are congestion and pollution,undesirable social consequences andpoverty-related diseases, increasingdemand for ready-made meals raisingissues of food quality and safety, andcompetition for agricultural lands fordevelopment of urban infrastructure,housing and industries.

Many more challenges are ahead of usas half of the population of Asia will belocated in its cities by 2020. There are anumber of issues we must address toensure adequate and healthy food.

1. The policies of local authorities toresolve food problems should beclearly and objectively defined, pro-grammes should be framed andareas for training identified.

2. Database and management informa-tion systems of local authoritiesmust be strengthened.

3. Clear lines of authority should bedemarcated to ensure food security.

4. The private sector needs the recog-nition and supportive policies oflocal authorities in supplying ade-quate and healthy food at a reason-able price.

Other important areas for discussioninclude water safety, environmentalissues, improving the quality of streetfood, recognising and strengthening thekey role of women in improving accessto food.

I have raised some key issues regardingfeeding growing populations, particular-ly the poor, in expanding Asian cities. Itis important that we share experiencesamong our cities and develop South-South and North-South cooperation. Itrust that this seminar will come upwith some viable policy recommenda-tions, action plans and support pro-grammes for the future.

Welcome Address Dr R.B. Singh, Assistant DirectorGeneral and RegionalRepresentative FAO-RAP

The Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO) has alwayshad food security as the cornerstone ofits mandate. Over the past fifty years,the Asia-Pacific region has madetremendous progress in food security.Many nations that once experiencedperiodic famine are now virtually self-sufficient in food production.Community-based nutrition and povertyalleviation programmes in Thailand andIndonesia are held as models for eradi-cating food insecurity and poverty inthe developing world.

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But, there is no room for complacence.Of the world’s nearly 800 million chron-ically undernourished, more than 500million are Asian. FAO projects that by2015 there will be 576 million under-nourished in the world and 52 percentof those will be Asian.

Urbanization has grown at an unprece-dented rate during the last fifty years,the number of people living in cities indeveloping countries has increased atleast four times. With increasing urban-ization, higher proportions of poor peo-ple live in urban areas.

Rapid urbanization poses serious chal-lenges for enhanced and sustained foodproduction and distribution, especiallyfor transport, necessary infrastructuresand energy costs. Further, there will beincreasingly diversified consumerdemand in terms of product quality andfood safety standards. These realitiesmust be internalized in national foodand agriculture policies. The rural-urbancontinuum and synergism must bestrengthened under the “growingcities/growing food” scenario.

FAO fully recognises the key role forlocal governments in feeding Asiancities. They, you, are in a unique posi-tion to affect a situation of rapidchange. We stand ready to offer what-ever assistance we can to enable you toimprove the efficiency of the food sup-ply and distribution systems in yourcities, thus freeing Asians from the fearof hunger and poverty.

Achieving Local Partnerships forFeeding Asian CitiesDr Vincent Rotgé, Asia UrbsSecretariat, Brussels

The goal of this speech is twofold: 1) todiscuss areas of decentralized coopera-tion in relation to the food supply anddistribution to cities; and 2) to highlightthe potential of decentralized coopera-tion as well as the problems encoun-tered with this type of cooperation.

The Asia Urbs experience in decentral-ized urban cooperation shows clearlythat initiatives dealing with the issue offeeding Asian cities are viewed as keyareas for cooperation from both theAsian and European sides. It shows alsothat European local governments inassociation with European institutionsare ready to contribute money and per-sonnel to Asia-based projects. It demon-strates that European styles of urbanmanagement, income-generation poli-cies and agricultural engineering canprove useful in an Asian context pro-vided they fully recognise local condi-tions. It often works to pool the fieldexperience of NGOs in Asia with theurban management experience of localgovernments. In short, the Asia UrbsProgramme shows that local initiativescan solve important challenges in feed-ing Asian cities.

To conclude, the decentralized coopera-tion initiatives promoted by the AsiaUrbs Programme can make a valuablecontribution to feeding Asian cities indeveloping relevant urban managementtechniques. It is desirable that such ini-tiatives proceed in parallel with cross-disciplinary research work conductedjointly by urban development planners,agricultural engineering specialists andeconomists at micro and macro levels.

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Stakes of North-South CooperationMr Henry Chabert, Deputy Mayor,Lyon, France

Many mayors, city administrators andtown planners now think of the citymore in terms of housing, transporta-tion, infrastructure and social frame-works than in terms of food marketingsystems. Consequently, public invest-ments are often not properly plannedand municipal regulations do not reflectchanges in the food economy such asshopping habits and high prices.Municipal authorities must have mid-range (four to six years) and long-range(ten to fifteen years) strategic forecastsfor the city, keeping in mind spatial,demographic and economic evolutionas well as food needs. Concretely,municipalities should adopt policies andprogrammes in order to reduce market-ing costs and prices, to stimulateemployment in the field of marketingand promote urban and suburban agri-culture.

The general aims of these programmesshould be:1. reinforcing, at all levels, the focus

on quality and hygiene of food forthe poorest consumers;

2. stimulating and disseminating theresults of research, debates andexperiments on urban FSDSs as wellas formulating and executing poli-cies and programmes at regional,inter-regional and national levels toreinforce the efficiency anddynamism of urban FSDSs;

3. promotion of collaboration betweenthe various institutions includingtechnical assistance and academicpartnerships.

Challenges include rapid globalization,changes in the organization of distribu-tion networks, the need for new waysto efficiently link producers to con-sumers and the rapid evolution ofFSDSs and consumer shopping habits.

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Bangladesh

Mr Qazi Saif Uddin Ahmad Social Welfare and Cultural OfficerDhaka City CorporationFulbaria1000 DhakaPhone: +880 2 956 76 09Fax: +880 2 956 32 66; 966 77 92E-mail: uphcp@bangla.net

Mr Mirza Hossain AltafDirectorBIRTAN - Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training onApplied NutritionSech Bhaban 22, Manik Mia Avenue, Sher-e-Bangla1207 DhakaPhone: +880 2 81 07 98; 911 78 62Fax: +880 2 81 18 84E-mail: birtan@citechco.net

Mr Rahman MokhlesurConsultant Economist and MIS SpecialistFourth Fisheries Project Department of Fisheries Ministry of Fisheries and LivestockMatshaya Bhaban, Ramna1000 DhakaPhone: +880 2 955 47 16; 933 95 16Fax: +880 2 956 72 16E-mail: mrsoft@bdmail.net;

m7rahman@yahoo.com

Belgium

Ms Orban-Ferauge, FrançoiseHead of Department of GeographyFUNDP - University of Namur Department of GeographyP.O. Box: 61Rue de BruxellesB 5000 NamurPhone: +32 81 72 44 73Fax: +32 81 72 45 30E-mail: francoise.orban@fundp.ac.be

Mr Rotgé, VincentOperations Project ManagerAsia Urbs SecretariatAsian UrbsEuropean Commission205, Rue BelliardB-1040 BrusselsPhone: +32 22 30 76 88Fax: +32 22 30 69 73E-mail: vincent.rotge@asia-urbs.com

Cambodia

Mr Bengthay, TepDirector AGRISUDP.O. Box: 24Siem Reap Phone: +855 6 396 40 35Fax: +855 6 396 40 33E-mail: agrisr@camintel.com

Mr Phat, LengDirectorMunicipality, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries12, Street 323 Sangkat Boeung Kuk II, Tuol Kork P.O. Box 635 CCDPPhnom PenhPhone: +855 1 294 75 57E-mail: 012803804@mohitel.com.kh

Mr Suy, SanDeputySiem Reap City HallSiem ReapPhone: +855 6 585 18 10Fax: +855 6 396 34 50

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Canada

Dr Yasmeen, GisèleResearcher/Consultant/EducatorUniversity of British Columbia, Agora Associates793 Premier St.North Vancouver BC, V7J 2G72029 VancouverPhone: +1 604 822 88 35; 987 86 21Fax: +1 604 987 86 29E-mail: gisele@interchange.ubc.ca

China

Dr Augustin-Jean, LouisResearch FellowChinese University of Hong KongDepartment of AnthropologyThe Chinese University of Hong KongHong KongPhone: +85 22 884 33 38Fax: +85 22 362 93 62E-mail: augustinl@hotmail.com

Mr Burleigh, JamesResearcherAVRDC-Asian Vegetable Research and Development CentreP.O. Box: 42ShanhuaPhone: +63 44 456 05 92Fax: +63 44 456 05 92E-mail: jburleig@ne-link.net

Ms/Dr Padovani, FlorenceResearcherThe Chinese University of Hong KongUSC - Shatin - NTHong KongFax: +85 22 982 61 76E-mail: fpadovani@hotmail.com

France

Mr Chabert, HenryDeputy Mayor of Lyon and Vice PresidentUrban Community of Great LyonHotel de Ville de Lyon, Place de la Comedie, Cedex 0169001 LyonPhone: +33 47 210 31 03Fax: +33 47 210 31 10E-mail: Sgrischy@Mairie-Lyon.fr

Dr Moustier, PauleResearcherCIRAD - International Cooperation Center of AgriculturalResearch for DevelopmentTA 50/04, Avenue d’Agropolis34398 Montpellier Cedex 5Phone: +33 4 6761 56 35Fax: +33 4 6761 59 80E-mail: moustier@cirad.fr

Germany

Mr Schmidt, ErichProfessor of EconomicsUniversity of HannoverInstitut für Gartenbauoekonomie Herrenhauserstr. 230419 HannoverPhone: +49 511 762 41 85Fax: +49 511 762 41 85; 762 26 67E-mail: schmidt@ifgb.uni-hannover.de

Prof. Waibel, HermannProfessor of EconomicsUniversity of HannoverInstitut für Gartenbauoekonomie Herrenhauserstr. 230419 HannoverPhone: +49 511 762 26 66Fax: +49 511 762 26 67E-mail: waibel@ifgb.uni-hannover.de

India

Prof. Jakhanwal, Suraj PrasadProfessor and Senior AdvisorSDS - Society for Development StudiesCore 6A, 2nd Floor -India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road110003 New DelhiPhone: +91 11 469 93 68Fax: +91 11 469 93 69E-mail: sds@giasdl01.vsnl.net. in

Mr Mukherjee, SubrataMayorThe Calcutta Municipal CorporationCentral Municipal Office5, S.N. Banerjee Road700 013 CalcuttaPhone: +91 33 244 75 19 (dir.); 244 15 76; 34 71Fax: +91 33 244 25 78; 440 92 18E-mail: cmcmayor@vsnl.net

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Indonesia

Dr Adiyoga, WitonoResearch Institute for VegetablesJalan Tangkuban Perahu 517, Lembang40391 BandugnPhone: +62 22 278 62 45Fax: +62 22 278 64 16; 278 60 25E-mail: riv@bandung.wasantara.net.id

Mr Jesus, FranckCo-project LeaderCIRAD - International Cooperation Centre of AgriculturalResearch for Developmentc/o CGPRT Centre, Jl. Merdeka 14516111 BogorPhone: +62 25 134 32 77Fax: +62 25 133 62 90E-mail: franck.jesus@cirad.fr;

ecopol@bogor.net

Mr Tanjung, Syahrir H.President DirectorJakarta Wholesale MarketPramuka Raya Jakarta TimurJakarta Phone: +62 21 858 06 29Fax: +62 21 858 06 29E-mail: pasarjy@indosat.net.id;

syahrir@@indosat.net.id

Ms Wiwahari, SrikantiHead of Agriculture OfficeJakarta Province (DKI)Gunung Sahari Raya10720 JakartaPhone: +62 21 628 66 25Fax: +62 21 600 72 47E-mail: dintani@cbn.net.id

Iran

Mr Basij, JamshidDeputy MayorEsfahan MunicipalityTraffic and Transportation DepartmentP.O. Box: 81655-784Esfahan Phone: +98 31 20 36 88Fax: +98 31 20 36 88E-mail: int_municipal@isfahan.or.ir

Italy

Mr Argenti, OlivioMarketing EconomistAGSMFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 51 19Fax: +39 06 5705 68 50E-mail: olivio.argenti@fao.org

Prof. Balbo, MarcelloProfessor of Urban PlanningPost-Graduate School of Urban Planning in Developing CountriesIstituto Universitario di Palazzo Tron, S. Croce 195730135 VenicePhone: +39 041 257 23 05Fax: +39 041 524 08 07E-mail: marcello@iuav.it

Dr Clarke, RenataNutrition OfficerESNSFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 20 10Fax: +39 06 5705 45 93E-mail: renata.clarke@fao.org

Mr Martinez, ManuelFisheries Resource Officer (Aquaculture)FIRIFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 34 70Fax: +39 06 5705 30 20E-mail: manuel.martinez@fao.org

Ms Menza, ValeriaNutrition Officer in Nutrition Planning, Evaluation andAssessmentESNAFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 42 92Fax: +39 06 5705 45 93E-mail: valeria.menza@fao.org

Mr Moukoko-Ndoumbe, FelixSenior OfficerAGSPFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 30 10Fax: +39 06 5705 67 99E-mail: Felix.MoukokoNdoumbe@fao.org

Dr Roberts, RichardChairman IDWG Food for CitiesChiefAGSMFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 38 17Fax: +39 06 5705 49 61E-mail: richard.roberts@fao.org

Mr Ruckes, ErhardSenior Fishery Industry Officer (Marketing)FIIUFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 64 60Fax: +39 06 5705 51 88E-mail: erhard.ruckes@fao.org

Mr Seiders, WilliamRural Youth OfficerSDREFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla0010 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 36 15Fax: +39 06 5705 31 52E-mail: william.seiders@fao.org

Mr Seidler, EdwardSenior Marketing OfficerAGSMFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomePhone: +39 06 5705 38 77Fax: +39 06 5705 68 50E-mail: edward.seidler@fao.org

Japan

Dato’ Chahl, Lakhbir SinghSecretary-GeneralCityNet5F, International Organizations Center Pacificio Yokohama, 1-1-1220-0012 YokohamaPhone: +81 45 223 21 61Fax: +81 45 223 21 62E-mail: citynet@po.iijnet.or.jp

Ms Tjandradewi, Bernadia IrawatiProgramme ManagerCityNet5F, International Organizations Center Pacifico Yokohama, 1-1-1220-0012 YokohamaPhone: +81 45 223 21 61Fax: +81 45 223 21 62E-mail: citynet@po.iijnet.or.jp;

info@citynet-ap.org

Jordan

Mr Awamleh, MohammedDirector of Agricultural Marketing Extension and TrainingAMO - Agricultural Marketing Organisation Quality Control and Extention DepartmentP.O. Box: 9145AmmanPhone: +962 6 535 42 92; 27 960 10 68Fax: +962 6 568 91 93E-mail: fsds@index.com.jo;

mohammed_awamleh@index.com.jo

Mr Sunna, SamiConsultantP.O. Box: 83046411183 AmmanPhone: +962 6 566 24 66Fax: +962 6 566 32 04E-mail: sunnamemare@firstnet.com.jo

Malaysia

Mr Anuar, HarrunManagerBernasPadiberas Nasional Berhad, Level 8B, 9, 10 & 19 CP Tower, No. 1146350 SelangorPhone: +60 3 460 45 45Fax: +60 3 460 46 81E-mail: harrun99@yahoo.com

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Mr Harumaini, Mohd KhusainiSenior ManagerBernasLevel 8B, CP Tower, No.11, Section 16/11 Jalan Damansara46350 SelangorPhone: +60 3 460 45 48Fax: +60 3 460 46 61E-mail: khusaini@bernas.com. my

Mr Mohd Nasri, Abdul RahmanSenior managerBernasLevel 8B CP Tower, No. 11, Section 10/11 Jalan Damansara46350 SelangorPhone: +60 3 460 45 45Fax: +60 3 460 46 61E-mail: arahmann@hq.bernas.com.my

Mr Mohtar, SamsuriMarketing Institution DirectorFAMA - Federal Agricultural Marketing AuthorityBangunan FAMA Point, Lot 17304 Jalan Persiaran Satu, Bandar Baru68100 Batu Caves Selangor, Darul EhsanPhone: +60 3 6138 96 22Fax: +60 3 6138 52 00E-mail: fama19@pop.moa.my

Mr Wang Yung ShyanSenior managerBernasLevel 19, CP Tower No. 11, Section 16/11Jalan Damansara46350 SelangorPhone: +60 3 460 47 26Fax: +60 3 460 47 29

Myanmar

Mr Paw, MoeAgricultural Marketing OfficerMAPT - Myanmar Agricultural Produce Trading Other Crops Department70, Pansodan Street11182 YangonPhone: +95 1 25 14 20Fax: +95 1 28 95 87; 28 55 18E-mail: MAPT.HR@mptmail.net.mm

Nepal

Mr Bhandari, Betman SinghUrban Planner, Head of Foreign DepartmentPohara Sub-Metropolitan CityCity Office, Planning and Foreign Affairs DepartmentPokharaPhone: +61 21 105 20 68; 5160 80 92E-mail: pkrsmcfd@mos.com.np;

betman_s2000@yahoo.com

Dr Gautam, Babu RamSenior Health Officer, Department ChiefKathmandu Metropolitan City, Public Health DepartmentP.O. Box: 8416KathmanduPhone: +97 71 26 85 08Fax: +97 71 26 85 09E-mail: kmcmayor@mos.com.np

Mr Panday, Bhabani RajGeneral ManagerNepal Food Corporation (NFC), Central OfficeP.O. Box: 987KathmanduPhone: +97 71 26 24 27Fax: +97 71 26 24 98

Mr Vaidya, YogeshDeputy Director GeneralResearch and Planning Division Department of Plant ResourcesP.O. Box: 2270, KAI-172, Tripureswore (Milan Marg)KathmanduPhone: +97 701 24 49 72Fax: +97 701 24 45 83; 25 11 41E-mail: acnepal@wlink.com.np

Pakistan

Mr Khan, Khurshid AlamManaging DirectorPASSCO - Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services CorporationHead Office54, Lawrence RoadLahorePhone: +92 42 631 66 20; 637 02 99Fax: +92 42 637 02 96E-mail: passco@brain.net.pk

Mr Syed, Shah MahmoodChief ExecutiveKarachi Metropolitan Administration275 - Shaheen Housing, Shara-E-Faisal75350 KarachiPhone: +92 21 921 51 28; 29Fax: +92 21 921 51 17; 921 51 28E-mail: dc@kmc.com.pk; mckmc_khi@yahoo.com

Philippines

Mr Albarece Calonia, BenjaminMayorLocal Government Unit of Manolo Fortich, BukidnonMunicipal Hall,Manolo Fortich8703 BukidnonPhone: +63 918 903 31 35Fax: +63 882 272 67 68E-mail: bcalbarece@yahoo.com

Mr Batac, JosephPresidentMAFESO, Marilao Federation of Service Organization139 Nagbalon, Marilao3019 BulacanPhone: +63 44 711 14 56Fax: +63 44 711 14 56E-mail: batacjo@blcn.pworld.net.ph

Dr Deloso, Marylilibeth P.Municipality Department of Agriculture Muntinlupa

South Africa

Ms Mkhize, Sizakele ConstanceSteering Committee MemberStreetnet AssociationPO Box 61139 - 29/60 Diakonia Centre Bishopsgate, 20 St.4008 DurbanPhone: +27 031 307 40 38Fax: +27 031 306 74 90; 903 33 06E-mail: stnet@iafrica.com

South Korea

Mrs Han, SunheeDirector of Food Safety DivisionSIHE - Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment202-3 Yangjaedong, Seochogu137-130 SeoulPhone: +82 2 570 32 40Fax: +82 2 570 32 43E-mail: sonnyhan@metro.seoul.kr

Sri Lanka

Dr Eleperuma, Srilal DananjayaMunicipal Veterinary SurgeonCMC - Colombo Municipal CouncilMunicipal Veterinary DepartmentColombo-10 MaligakandaPhone: +94 1 69 16 07Fax: +94 1 69 46 40E-mail: munici@slt.lk

Dr Ismail, FahmyDeputy Municipal CommissionerColombo Municipal CouncilTown Hall7 ColomboPhone: +94 1 68 11 98Fax: +94 1 69 46 40; 67 12 82E-mail: munici@slt.lk

Mr Wijetunga, AriyadasaAdditional SecretaryMinistry of Provincial Councils and Local GovernmentNo. 116/1 Wattegedara Road, MaharagamaColomboPhone: +94 1 85 06 02; 67 27 34Fax: +94 1 67 27 35

Thailand

Dr Aikvanich, TasaneeMunicipal PhysicianMunicipality/Health and Environmental Department166 Talang Road, Ampur Muang83000 PhuketPhone: +66 7 621 69 29Fax: +66 7 621 33 74E-mail: tasaneetu44@hotmail.com

Mr Facon, ThierryWater Management OfficerFAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific39 Phra Atit Road10200 BangkokE-mail: thierry.facon@fao.org

Mr Heinz, GunterAnimal Production OfficerFAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific39 Phra Atit Road10200 BangkokPhone: +66 2 281 78 44; 326Fax: +66 2 280 04 45E-mail: gunter.heinz@fao.org

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Mr Mathema, PushpaRegional OfficerFAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific39 Phra Atit Road10200 BangkokPhone: +66 2 281 78 44Fax: +66 2 280 04 45E-mail: pushpa.mathema@fao.org

Dr Penning de Vries, FritsDirector of ResearchIBSRAM - International Board for Soil Research and ManagementP.O. Box: 9-109, Jatujak10900 BangkokPhone: +66 2 941 25 00Fax: +66 2 561 12 30E-mail: Penningdevries@ibsram.org

Mr Satyal, M. R.Executive DirectorAFMAMaliwan MansionPhra Atit Road10200 BangkokPhone: +66 2 629 12 03; 281 78 44Fax: +66 2 280 04 45; 629 12 03E-mail: afma@asiaaccess.net.th

Mr Von Einsiedel, NathanielRegional CoordinatorUNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) Urban Management Programme for Asiac/o Asian Institute of Technology(AIT), Campus, P.O. Box 4, Klong12120 BangkokPhone: +66 2 524 57 79Fax: +66 2 52457 78E-mail: ump@ait.ac.th

Dr Yap, Kioe ShengChiefUNESCAPThe United Nations Building7A23, Rajadamnern Nok Avenue10200 BangkokPhone: +66 2 88 16 00Fax: +66 2 88 10 97E-mail: yap.unescap@un.org

United Kingdom

Mr Tracey-White, JohnConsultant FAO132 Bedford Court Mansions, Bedford SquareWC1B 3AH LondonPhone: +44 20 7636 25 99Fax: +44 20 7637 29 80E-mail: johntracey_white@hotmail.com

Vietnam

Mr De Bon, HubertHead of Peri-urban Agriculture Project in South-East-AsiaCIRADc/o RIFAV Trau Quy, Gia LamHanoiPhone: +84 4 831 46 75Fax: +84 4 831 46 76E-mail: hubertdebon@hn.vnn.vn

Mr Higaki, YusukeConsultant Agriculture Economist, Civil EngineerJICAc/o Department of Agriculture and Rural Department of Ho ChiMinh City21-23 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Room1101, District 1Ho Chi Min CityPhone: +84 8 821 62 95Fax: +84 8 829 62 95E-mail: higakiyusuke@hcm.vnn.vn;

HigakiYusuke@aol.com

Mr Khac Thi, TranDeputy DirectorRIFAV-Research Institute of Fruit and Vegetablec/o RIFAV Trau Quy, Gia LamHanoiPhone: +84 4 827 63 16Fax: +84 4 827 61 48E-mail: vrqhnvn@hn.vnn.vn

Mr Le, Danh TuyenExpertNational Institute of NutritionApplied Nutrition Department48, Tang Bat Ho Str.HanoiPhone: +84 4 971 61 39Fax: +84 4 971 78 85E-mail: ledanhtuyen@hn.vnn.vn

Mr Luong Van, Thanh Head of Research DepartmentSouthern Institute of Water Resources Research2A Nguyen Bieu Street, District 5Ho Chi Minh CityPhone: +84 8 835 51 15; 835 23 20Fax: +84 8 835 50 28E-mail: envdepar@fmail.vnn.vn

Mr Pham, Minh TriExternal Relation and Project Promotion OfficerDARD - Department of Agriculture and Rural Department176 Hai Ba Trung, Dist.1Ho Chi Min CityPhone: +84 8 829 42 22Fax: +84 8 829 47 64

Mr Tran Van, TienSenior PlannerPeople’s Commettee Hue CityPlanning and Development Bureau Department54 Hue CityPhone: +84 54 82 25 48Fax: +84 54 83 29 69; 84 61 45; 82 26 81E-mail: doingoai@dng.vnn.vn

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Cambodia

Mr Dy, Bun ChemDirectorSiem Reap Provincial Health DepartmentMunicipalitySiem ReapPhone: +855 015 83 30 57Fax: +855 063 96 44 71

China

Dr Zhai, Fengying Deputy DirectorInstitute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine29 Nan Wei Road100050 BeijingPhone: +86 10 63 04 13 62Fax: +86 10 63 01 18 75E-mail: infh@public.bta.net.cn;

zhaifengying@sina.com

India

Ms Chakravarty, IndiraDirectorAll India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition110, Chittaranjan Avenue700 073 CalcuttaPhone: +91 33 241 57 47; 440 36 80Fax: +91 33 241 57 47E-mail: indiracal@hotmail.com

Iran

Mr Farajolahi, DaryoushDirector of Healthy City OrganizationMunicipalityP.O. Box: 11365-4645TehranPhone: +98 21 560 04 44Fax: +98 21 560 04 44; 563 49 11

Mongolia

Mr Bat, ChoimpogChief of Strategic Policy and Planning DepartmentUlaanbaatar City Government, Sykhbaatar SQ-11Ulaan BatorPhone: +976 1 32 50 60Fax: +976 1 32 43 31E-mail: ch_bat@ulaanbaatar.mn

Nepal

Mr Gurung, Mahendra BahadurPokhara Sub-Metropolitan City Planning and Foreign Affairs Department City OfficePokhara Phone: +977 6 12 11 05; 612 55 22Fax: +977 6 12 06 00E-mail: pkrsmcfd@mos.com.np

Thailand

Mr Capol, JuergArchitect127 Sukhumvit Sol 4, Sama Han Klongtoey 10110BangkokPhone: +66 1 805 42 26Fax: +66 2 711 21 36E-mail: juerg_capol@hotmail.com

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ObserversAnnex

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Mr Hardeweg, BerndResearcher Institute of Horticultural Economics University of HannoverCompos Mansion 531/7 Soi Phaholyothin 34, Phaholyothin Road10900 BangkokPhone: +66 2 561 50 37Fax: +66 2 561 50 37E-mail: hardeweg@ifgb.uni-hannover.de

Mr Nandi, BiplabSenior Food and Nutrition OfficerFAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific39 Phra Atit Road10200 BangkokPhone: +66 2 281 78 44 (ext. 315)Fax: +66 2 280 04 45E-mail: biplab.nandi@fao.org

Ms Van den Wijngaart, AnnoekAssociate Professional Officer (Nutrition)FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific39 Phra Atit Road10200 BangkokPhone: +66 2 281 78 44Fax: +66 2 280 04 45E-mail: annoek.vandenWijngaart@fao.org

Mr Vichitlekarn, SuriyanSEAFDEC

Ms Westlund, LenaConsultantSEAFDECE-mail: Lena.westlund@swipnet.se

Vietnam

Prof. Khoi, Ha HuyDirectorNational Institute of Nutrition48 Tang Bat HoHanoiPhone: +84 4 971 37 84Fax: +84 4 971 78 85E-mail: NIN@netnam.org.vn

Mrs Le Thi Song, HuongHead of Environmental Division Officer in charge of Hai Phong Healthy City ProjectPeople’s Committee of Hai Phong CityHai Phong Centre of Preventive Medicine21 Le Dai HanhHai Phong CityPhone: +84 0 318 21 28 46Fax: +84 8 100 97E-mail: vpskmt-hp@hn.vnn.vn

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All the following papers are published in the “Food into Cities” Collection and can befreely downloaded from:

http://www.fao.org/ag/sada.htm

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PapersAnnex

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DT/AC/31b-99E

DT/42-00E

DT/36-99E

-

DT/43-00E

DT/40-99E

AC/21-99E

DT4401E

EC/57-00E

DT/52-00E

DT/47-00E

FAO

Abdalla, Z.

Aragrande, M. & Argenti, O.

Argenti, O.

Argenti, O.

Argenti, O.

Argenti, O.

Balbo, M.

Bona, J.N.

Bradley, P. &Marulanda, C.Burke, J. &Beltran, J.

Final statement of FAO-ISRA sub-regional seminar“Food supply and distribution to Francophone Africancities”, Dakar, 14-17 April 1997.Urban food security and food marketing in the NearEast. Paper presented at the FAO’s Agriculture, Landand Water Use Commission for the Near East(ALAWUC), Beirut, Lebanon, 25-27 March 2000.Analysing food supply and distribution systems ofcities in developing countries. Methodological andoperational guide. Draft version.Feeding the cities: food supply and distribution (IFPRIBriefs, Focus 3, Brief 5).Food for the cities. Food supply and distribution poli-cies to reduce urban food insecurity. A briefing guidefor mayors, city executives and urban planners indeveloping countries and countries in transition.Urban food security and food marketing. A challengeto city and local authorities - Paper copies also avail-able in Urdu, Vietnamese and Arabic.Urban food security and food marketing inMetropolitan Lahore, Pakistan - Workshop report.Food supply and distribution into urban planning andmanagement. A guide for urban planners and man-agers in developing countries.Recycling of municipal solid waste towards urban andperiruban food production in Cargayan de Oro City,Philippines.Potential of simplified hydroponics to provide urbanagriculture income.Water for cities.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

Code Author Title

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EC/65-00E

DT/14-97E

EC/49-01E

EC/60-00E

EC/33-99EAC/15-99E

DT/50-00EDT/53-00E

DHS/03-00SDHS/06-00E

DHS/07-99E

DHS/05-00E

DT/39-98E

EC/68-00E

EC/64-00EEC/35-99E

EC/46-01EEC/59-00E

EC/61-00E

DT/51-00E

EC/113-01E

Burleigh, J.R. & Black, L.L.Cullinan C.

Dajani, R.

De Bon, H. &Tran Khac ThiDhankar, D.H.Diouf, J.

Edwards, P.Facon, T.

FAOFAO

FAO

FAO

FAO

FAO

Gautam, B.R.Gill-Hang Huh& Chee-Ju O.Hamdan, R.H.Higaki, Y.

Holmer, R. et al.

Holmer, R. et al.

InternationalBusiness LegalAssociates

Year-round production of safe vegetables for Manilafrom periurban areas.Legal aspects of urban food marketing supply and dis-tribution.Micro and small enterprise development within thecontext of the food supply and distribution systems tothe City of Greater Amman.The response of periurban agriculture to urbanizationin Vietnam.Food marketing in new Delhi. a pre-case study.The challenge of urban distribution and production.Statement at the 101st Inter-Parliamentary Conference.Wastewater-fed aquaculture: state-of-the art.Feeding Asian cities: a long-term water sector perspec-tive.Wholesale market management - a manual.Market infrastructure planning. A guide for decisionmakers.Street food development: report of regional seminar,Bangkok, Thailand, September 29- October 1, 1999.Training for decentralization: the Sichuan experience -An example of North-South Cooperation between Cityand Local Authorities.Feeding the cities (excerpt from: The State of Foodand Agriculture 1998).Agriculture in China’s urban areas: statistics from Chinaagricultural census.Food insecurity in Kathmandu Metropolitan City.Food marketing in Seoul.

Food supply, demand and urban-rural linkages.Safe vegetable production in Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam.Comparative analysis of periurban vegetable produc-tion, consumption and marketing in three SoutheastAsian cities.Urban Food Security and Its Link to Solid WasteManagement.Legislation and regulations governing food supply anddistribution systems.

BACKGROUND PAPERS (cont.)

Code Author Title

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AC/16-99E

EC/69-00E

DT/55-00E

DT/56-00E

EC/58-00E

EC/50-00E

EC/67-00E

DT/41-99E

EC/71-00E

AC/22-99E

EC/53-00E

EC/56-00E

DT/49-00E

AC/23-99E

EC/55-00E

IPU

Jesus, F.

Kielen, N.

Kobayashi, K.

Le Danh T.et al.Le Thanh Hunget al.Medina Pezzali,A.Mercasa

Onumah, G. E.& Hubbard, M.Orban-Ferauge,F.Quang, C. &Argenti, O.Quang, N.D.

Rahman, Md. M.

Rajorhia, G.S.

Rupasena, L.R.

Saha, C. &Dutta, A.K.

The problem of metropolitan areas: a global challengeto which Parliamentarians must respond in terms ofurban civilisation and democracy. 101st Inter-Parliamentary Conference Resolution.A competitive market in search of public regulations.The case of Hanoi food supply in the north ofVietnam.Water management issues in food production for Asiancities.Development of wholesale markets in Asian selectedcountries in view of international comparison ofwholesale marketing system for fruit and vegetables.Trends in food consumption and in the nutritional sta-tus in urban Vietnam.Sewage use for aquaculture in periurban areas of HoChi Minh City and food safety.Low-cost equipment and facilities for retailing fish inselected cities of Southeast Asia.Ownership and management of wholesale markets.The experience of Mercasa, Spain.Urban food supply and distribution: policies address-ing urban poverty.Fast urban growth and sustainability: the case ofCagayan de Oro (Philippines).Food supply and distribution to Hanoi - Workshopreport.Pre case study of food supply and distribution toHanoi.A case study on feeding fish in Dhaka City,Bangladesh.Analysis of studies on periurban livestock productionsystems in Asia, West Asia, Africa and Latin America.Food supply and distribution to Colombo - Workshopreport.Waste recycling through aquaculture at North and Eastof Calcutta urban and periurban (summary of report).

BACKGROUND PAPERS (cont.)

Code Author Title

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EC/54-00E

DT/48-00E

DHS/01-00E

DT/23-97EEC/112-01EEC/63-00EAC/33-00E

AC/34-00E

AC/35-00E

EC/135-00E

EC/34-99E

DT/AC/31-99E

EC/66-00E

DT/54-00E

Saha, C. et al.,

Schiere, H.

Shepherd, A.

Shepherd, A.Sirriyeh, M.Sunhee, H.Sunna, S.

Sunna, S.

Sunna, S.

Tuyen, Le Danhet al.Villasis, E.A.

Wilhelm, L.

Yasmeen, G.

Yasmeen, G.

Urban and periurban aquaculture - A case ofBhubaneswar City, India (summary of report).Periurban livestock system. Problems, approaches andopportunities.Food for consumers: marketing, processing and distri-bution.Market information services. Theory and practice.Food supply and distribution issues in urban planning.Safety of imported fishery foods in Seoul.Report of a workshop on food markets planning andmanagement in Greater Amman, Jordan.Micro and small enterprise development in the foodsupply and distribution.Report of workshop on urban food supply and distrib-ution policy.Trends in food consumption and in the nutritional sta-tus in urban Vietnam.Food marketing in Metropolitan Manila (Pre-casestudy).Food supply and distribution to Francophone Africancities Summary of papers and discussions at the FAO-ISRA sub-regional seminar “Food supply and distribu-tion to Francophone African cities”, Dakar, 14-17 April1997.Urban agriculture in India: a map of research capacityand expertise.Stockbrokers turned sandwich vendors: the economiccrisis and small-scale food retailing in Southeast Asia.

BACKGROUND PAPERS (cont.)

Code Author Title

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Adiyoga, W.

Adiyoga, W.

Albarece, B.

Awamleh, M.

Bandeh Khoda

Basij, J.Beng Thay, T.

Chabert, H.

Duran, L. S. Jr.

Eleperuma, S.D.

Eleperuma, S.D.

Ghulam, M.

Gupta Adiyoga, W.

Ismail, F.Jakhanwal, S.P.

Jalil, H.

Khan, A.K.

Leng, P.

Leng, P.Mohtar, S.

Panday, B. R.Paw, M.

Qazi Saif U. A.

Rahman, M. et al.

EC/85-00E

EC/86-00E

EC/73-00E

EC/93-00E

EC/99-00E

EC/98-00EEC/75-00E

EC/72-00E

EC/94-00E

EC/97-00E

EC/97-00E

EC/87-00E

EC/84-00E

EC/77-01EEC/96-00E

EC/74-00E

EC/90-00E

EC/91-00E

EC/82-00EEC/89-00E

EC/79-00EEC/83-00E

EC/89-00E

EC/56-00E

Indonesia

Indonesia

Philippines

Jordan

Iran

IranCambodia

France

Philippines

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Pakistan

India

Sri LankaIndia

Pakistan

Pakistan

Cambodia

CambodiaMalaysia

NepalMyanmar

Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Food resilience in province specialregion. - capital city of Jakarta(Power-point presentation)Urban and periurban vegetable pro-duction systems: are they dependablealternatives for supporting food secu-rity programmes?Corn production in Manolo Fortich,Bukidnon.Proposed structures for food microand small enterprise development.The city of Amman.Introduction to the food industrialcomplex.Food policy in the future.Problems of food supply in SiemReap.Lyon: quelques enjeux concernant ladistribution alimentaire.Improving nutrition to food securitywith integrated solid waste manage-ment.Challenges and constraints faced byColombo. Municipal Council in supply of meatand poultry to the city.Distribution of basic food items inLahore.Meeting nutritional needs of theurban poorMarkets in Colombo.Food supply and distribution in amega city: a case study of Delhi.Supply and distribution of perishablesin Lahore Metropolitan.Food distribution system in the city ofLahore.Food supply and processing issues inPhnom Penh.Vegetable production in Phnom Penh.The operation of wholesale marketsin Malaysia.Feeding Kathmandu City.Food price stabilization in YangonCity.Role of Dhaka City Corporation inurban food security.A case study on feeding fish in DhakaCity.

PARTICIPANTS’ SHORT BACKGROUND PAPERS

AuthorCode Title Country

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PARTICIPANTS’ SHORT BACKGROUND PAPERS (cont.)

Tran Khac Thi

Tran Van Tien

Tri, M.P.

Vaidya, Y.

Wijetunga, A

Wiwahari, S.

EC/92-00E

EC/95-00E

EC/80-00E

EC/91-00E

EC/76-00E

EC/78-00E

Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam

Nepal

Sri Lanka

Indonesia

Safe vegetable production devel-opment to supply Hanoi.Food supply and distribution toHue City. Current situation andpolicies.Improving fish processing andmarketing facilities in Ho Chi MinhCity.Urbanization changing eating pat-terns and its effects on urban lifestyle in Nepal.The problem of inadequate infra-structure facilities.Food resilience: province of DKIJakarta.

AuthorCode Title Country

1. Argenti Olivio Marketing and Rural Finance Service, FAO

2. Baudoin Wilfried Crop and Grassland Service, FAO

3. Clarke Renata Food Quality and Standards Service, FAO

4. Gauthier Michelle Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service, FAO

5. Hansen Jorgen Animal Health Service, FAO

6. Koenraadt Cornelia Women in Development Service, FAO

7. Moukoko-Ndoumbe Felix Farm Management and Production Economics Service, FAO

8. Roberts Richard Marketing and Rural Finance Service, FAO

9. Ruckes Erhard Fish Utilisation and Marketing Service, FAO

10. Seiders William Extension, Education and Communication Service, FAO

11. Steele Peter Agro-Industries and Post-Harvest Management Service, FAO

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Technical CommitteeAnnex

7

FAO provides assistance to city and localauthorities in developing countries andcountries in transition to reduce urban foodinsecurity� This is achieved through institutionstrengthening to enable city and localauthorities to formulate urban policies andprogrammes for the development of food supplyand distribution systems at urban� metropolitanand regional levels� This happens in partnershipwith concerned public and private institutionsand organizations� The objective is to improveaccess to food by low�income urban households�

FAO has developed an interdisciplinary�intersectoral and participatory methodology forthe analysis of food supply and distributionsystems constraints and policy formulation�

Further information can be obtained from theWeb site� the local FAO Representation Office orthe focal point in FAO�

Subject to external funding� FAO:• conducts information and sensitization

activities for decision�makers;• undertakes and promotes research on selected

themes;• diffuses technical documentation and photos

through its “Food into Cities” Collections;• conducts information and training activities

for technical staff of city and local authoritiesand assists in similar activities for marketmanagers� food traders� transporters� etc�;

• promotes dialogue and collaboration betweencity and local authorities and the privatesector;

• provides direct technical assistance in:� the analysis of local food supply and

distribution systems;� the formulation of policies� strategies and

programmes; • promotes North�South and South�South

technical assistance partnerships between cityand local authorities to address specific foodsupply and distribution problems�

A component of FAO’s SPECIAL PROGRAMME

FOR FOOD SECURITY

http://www.fao.org/ag/sada.htm

• “Food into Cities” Collection: more than � ���pages of free technical documentation andphotos;

• reports of workshops in selected cities;• planned activities;• technical assistance activities;• opportunities for collaboration and partnerships;• opportunities for sponsoring FAO’s activities;• calls for papers�

FAO’s initiative for:

Food Supplyand Distributionto Cities

Asian cities have been growing rapidly with urban poverty creatingincreased food insecurity. These proceedings of the FAO-CityNet-AFMAregional seminar “Feeding Asian Cities” held in Bangkok in November2000, review issues related to food production in urban, periurban andrural areas, rural-urban linkages, processing as well as wholesale andretail activities and suggest possible directions for remedial action. Therole of City and local authorities and the importance of North-South andSouth-South cooperation are given particular attention. Theseproceedings are meant for decision-makers, planners as well asresearchers concerned with urban development, urban poverty and theenhancement of urban food security.

http://www.fao.organd

http://www.fao.org/ag/sada.htm“Food into Cities” CollectionE-mail: sadaseries@fao.org

“Food into Cities” NetworkE-mail: sadanet@fao.org

Food Supply and Distribution to Cities

Marketing and Rural Finance ServiceAgricultural Support Systems DivisionFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, ItalyTel.: (+39) 06 5705 5119Fax: (+39) 06 5705 6850 - 5705 4961E-mail: sada@fao.org

Gisèle Yasmeen received a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbiain 1996. Her dissertation, entitled “Bangkok’s Foodscape”, focused onprepared food distribution systems in Bangkok with references to otherAsian cities. She has worked as a lecturer, researcher and consultant forthe past seven years on urban food supply and distribution systemsincluding two years studying the impact of the economic crisis on small-scale food retailing in Thailand and the Philippines. Gisèle Yasmeenauthored a report for the International Development Research Centre’sSouth Asia Regional Office on urban agriculture in India. She is anassociate of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD).