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Urban food insecurity in Cape Town, South Africa: An alternative approach to food access

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  • Jane Battersby

Abstract

This paper presents data from the African Food Security Urban Network's 2008 baseline survey of Cape Town. This survey found that 80% of the sampled households could be classified as moderately or severely food insecure. In urban areas the main driver of food insecurity is not availability but access. Access is typically viewed as being directly related to income. Households were found to use formal food markets, but more frequently depended on informal sector markets and informal social safety nets. The more food insecure and income poor a household was, the more likely it was to be dependent on less formal means of securing food. This suggests that there is some form of market failure in the formal food system. This paper therefore advocates for a food systems approach that validates and supports the role that the informal sector plays in urban food security.

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  • Jane Battersby, 2011. "Urban food insecurity in Cape Town, South Africa: An alternative approach to food access," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 545-561, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:deveza:v:28:y:2011:i:4:p:545-561
    DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2011.605572
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    Cited by:

    1. Feyisayo A Odunitan-Wayas & Mieke Faber & Amy E Mendham & Julia H Goedecke & Lisa K Micklesfield & Naomi E Brooks & Dirk L Christensen & Iain J Gallagher & Kathryn H Myburgh & Angus M Hunter & Estelle, 2021. "Food Security, Dietary Intake, and Foodways of Urban Low-Income Older South African Women: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Feyisayo Odunitan-Wayas & Kufre Okop & Robert Dover & Olufunke Alaba & Lisa Micklesfield & Thandi Puoane & Monica Uys & Lungiswa Tsolekile & Naomi Levitt & Jane Battersby & Hendriena Victor & Shelly M, 2018. "Food Purchasing Characteristics and Perceptions of Neighborhood Food Environment of South Africans Living in Low-, Middle- and High-Socioeconomic Neighborhoods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Ana Moragues-Faus & Bridin Carroll, 2018. "Reshaping urban political ecologies: an analysis of policy trajectories to deliver food security," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1337-1351, December.
    4. Chakona, Gamuchirai & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2019. "Food insecurity in South Africa: To what extent can social grants and consumption of wild foods eradicate hunger?," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 87-94.
    5. Daniel Tobin & Mark Brennan & Rama Radhakrishna, 2016. "Food access and pro-poor value chains: a community case study in the central highlands of Peru," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 895-909, December.
    6. Cameron McCordic & Bruce Frayne & Naomi Sunu & Clare Williamson, 2022. "The Household Food Security Implications of Disrupted Access to Basic Services in Five Cities in the Global South," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Magnifique Nkurunziza & Zandile June-Rose Mchiza & Yanga Zembe, 2023. "Meals on Wheels: Promoting Food and Nutrition Security among Older Persons in Cape Town, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-19, January.
    8. Horman Chitonge, 2014. "Land Redistribution and Zero Hunger Programs: Can South Africa Reap a Triple Dividend?," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(4), pages 380-406, December.
    9. Davis, Jac & Magadzire, Nyasha & Hemerijckx, Lisa-Marie & Maes, Tijs & Durno, Darryn & Kenyana, Nobelusi & Lwasa, Shuaib & Van Rompaey, Anton & Verburg, Peter H. & May, Julian, 2022. "Precision approaches to food insecurity: A spatial analysis of urban hunger and its contextual correlates in an African city," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    10. Bruce Frayne & Cameron McCordic, 2018. "Food Swamps and Poor Dietary Diversity: Longwave Development Implications in Southern African Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-12, November.
    11. Pierre Boulanger & Emanuele Ferrari & Alfredo Mainar Causape & Martina Sartori & Mohammed Beshir & Kidanemariam Hailu & Solomon Tsehay, 2019. "Policy Options to support the Rural Job Opportunity Creation Strategy in Ethiopia," JRC Research Reports JRC117916, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Mausch, Kai & McMullin, Stepha & Karanja, Alice, 2022. "Megatrends in Africa: Implications for food in urban high-density areas with special focus on Nairobi and Cape Town," SocArXiv uvcb7, Center for Open Science.
    13. Diana Lee-Smith, 2013. "Which way for UPA in Africa?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 69-84, February.
    14. Jordan Blekking & Cascade Tuholske & Tom Evans, 2017. "Adaptive Governance and Market Heterogeneity: An Institutional Analysis of an Urban Food System in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-16, November.
    15. Michelle Chihambakwe & Paramu Mafongoya & Obert Jiri, 2018. "Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as A Pathway to Food Security: A Review Mapping the Use of Food Sovereignty," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    16. Haysom, Gareth & Tawodzera, Godfrey, 2018. "“Measurement drives diagnosis and response”: Gaps in transferring food security assessment to the urban scale," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 117-125.

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