Food System and Food Security Study

Abstract

A long-term vision is needed for an improved food systeminCapeTownwiththeshorttermobjectiveof eradicating chronic food insecurity. To meet the challenges of improving nutrition and feeding a growing population in the face of rapid urbanisa- tion, the council and city planners must make the metropolitan food supply system an integral part of their development and planning strategies. This must happen in the context of local government in South Africa, where there is currently no explicit mandate to address food security. Although many actors are working in some way on interventions in the food system, one could fairly question these interventions’significance and urgency (Visser 2011). The city council of Cape Town, under leadership of the Mayor, has taken a proactive approach by commissioning a study to inform the city’s response to food security and food system planning.