ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that there has been a pervasive rural bias and anti-urbanism in global, regional, and national responses to the challenge of urban household food insecurity. It presents an analysis of documents produced by UN agencies, the African Union, and the Committee on World Food Security to demonstrate how the urban has been neglected in the food security agenda. It then discusses how food has been largely ignored in the urban agenda. The chapter notes, however, that there are signs that food could become more prominent within an African urban and food security agenda over the next decade through a growing policy emphasis on nutrition issues.