No. 09: The State of Household Food Security in Nanjing, China

This report on the state of food security in Nanjing, China, is based on a 2015 city-wide survey conducted by Nanjing University and the Hungry Cities Partnership. The research found that most of the city’s residents are food secure, with access to desirable foods and high dietary diversity throughout the year. Nanjing has a high level of economic development, low unemployment, and spatially dense food supply networks. However, a high average level of food security obscures the finding that about one household in five is food insecure according to the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence indicator. Female-centred households, households that have no formal wage worker, and households with only one member tend to be the most food insecure. The proximity of wet markets and supermarkets to food retail and food procurement by households across Nanjing emerges clearly in this survey, and the relationship between wet markets and supermarkets appears to be more complementary than competitive. The survey found that three in four respondents feel exposed to threats of unsafe food from the production and processing stages of food supply chains, especially from the overuse of agrochemicals in the agriculture and livestock industry. There is a widespread perception that the ineffective enforcement of regulations by local governments is the major cause of food safety problems

No. 02: Approaching Sustainable Urban Development in China through a Food System Planning Lens

After more than two decades of rapid urbanization, Chinese cities now face severe sustainability chal- lenges in terms of balancing economic viability, social justice, and environmental protection goals. While various types of planning have long been adopted to cope with these challenges, food as a centrepiece of daily life and of social and economic activity in cities has rarely been considered as a focus of urban planning in China, despite a lot of recent attention to food waste and food safety concerns. China’s food policy is largely fragmented in terms of its multiple regulatory agencies and diverse policy goals. Amid this complexity, there has been little attention to using the food system as a lens to understand and tackle the various social, economic health and environmental challenges in cities. This discussion paper argues for the integration of food issues into urban planning in Chinese cities. Drawing on survey data and specific observations from Nanjing, it shows that China’s urban planning has inadvertently addressed a number of important aspects of sustainable food systems. The paper provides a preliminary analysis of various priorities for food system planning and identifies strengths and challenges in terms of achieving sustainability goals in Chinese cities. The analysis highlights various priorities for future urban food policy making including fostering the development of diverse food procurement channels and short food supply chains, strengthening the role of the informal food sector for urban food security, promoting healthy, sustainable diets and ethical consumption, and reducing food waste

Workshop Report: Hungry Cities Partnership Knowledge Mobilization Workshop in Nanjing

The Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) and Nanjing University, China organized a workshop entitled “Wet Market and Urban Food System in Nanjing” on January 12, 2017 at the School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences of Nanjing University in Nanjing, China. The workshop aimed to disseminate the results of the HCP household food security survey in Nanjing to government officials and researchers and to discuss the management of the urban food system. It also facilitated communication and understanding between the HCP team and local government officials regarding research themes in 2017. Presenters included Prof. Jonathan Crush, HCP Postdoctoral Fellow Zhenzhong Si, and officials from Nanjing City Administration Bureau, Nanjing Urban Planning Bureau, Commerce Bureau of Jianye District, the manager of the Nanjing Wholesale Market and the manager of Heyuan Wet Market. The officials gave presentations on various relevant policies and regulations and the government’s efforts to manage street vending, and govern the development of wet markets and wholesale markets in Nanjing. Other participants included Professor Xianjin Huang (Vice Dean of the School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences of Nanjing University), Associate Professor Dr. Taiyang Zhong, Associate Research Fellow Dr. Shuangshuang Tang and Dr. Jinliao He from Nanjing University, HCP PDF Cameron McCordic, Mr. Roger Dickinson from South Africa, and other researchers and graduate students from Nanjing University

No. 04: Supermarkets, Wet Markets and Food Patronage in Nanjing, China

Although supermarkets have become a dominant food outlet for urban residents in developed countries, studies of food purchasing in developing countries such as China report a persistence of traditional food outlets, despite a proliferation of supermarkets over the past two decades. Yet, little is known about urban residents’ use of various food sources in the Chinese context. Building on the debate over the rise of supermarkets and the persistence of traditional food outlets, this paper analyzes the landscape of competing food sources including supermarkets, wet markets, restaurants, online food markets, urban agriculture and others. Based on the HCP citywide survey of 1,200 households in Nanjing, China, the paper looks at the purchasing frequency of a comprehensive list of food items in different food retail outlets, the accessibility of these outlets, and also the use of different food sources. We found that while supermarkets are the top source for purchasing staple grains, dairy products and processed food, wet markets still prevail for purchasing fresh produce and meat. The data demonstrates the high level of food accessibility in Nanjing and also indicates the significance of food sources beyond conventional retailing outlets, such as online food markets, urban agriculture and restaurants, in people’s daily lives

No. 01: The Urban Food System of Nanjing, China

With a population of 8.2 million people, Nanjing is the 14th largest city in China. China became a predominantly urban nation in 2011, when its urban population surpassed its rural population for the first time. The declining farming population and area of farmland along with the increased food consumption of urban residents have had significant implications for China’s food security, including in cities such as Nanjing. As with many other Chinese cities, Nanjing’s informal economy has become an important source of income for the poor, including migrant workers. Since the beginning of economic reform in 1978, street vendors have become an integral part of urban China. Their activities are diverse and include selling fresh and processed food, as well as cooking it. The diversity of food outlets in big Chinese cities like Nanjing makes the foodscape extremely complex. There are thousands of supermarkets, small stores and more than 100 wet markets and wholesale markets in Nanjing. Food safety has become an urgent and important issue in the last few years, and the most relevant dimension of food security for Chinese urban residents might well be access to safe food. This audit of the city of Nanjing and its food system highlights the fact that there are major gaps in our understanding of the food system. As the Hungry Cities Partnership research program progresses, accurate information on a range of food issues in the city will fill many of these gaps

No. 02: Approaching Sustainable Urban Development in China through a Food System Planning Lens

After more than two decades of rapid urbanization, Chinese cities now face severe sustainability chal- lenges in terms of balancing economic viability, social justice, and environmental protection goals. While various types of planning have long been adopted to cope with these challenges, food as a centrepiece of daily life and of social and economic activity in cities has rarely been considered as a focus of urban planning in China, despite a lot of recent attention to food waste and food safety concerns. China’s food policy is largely fragmented in terms of its multiple regulatory agencies and diverse policy goals. Amid this complexity, there has been little attention to using the food system as a lens to understand and tackle the various social, economic health and environmental challenges in cities. This discussion paper argues for the integration of food issues into urban planning in Chinese cities. Drawing on survey data and specific observations from Nanjing, it shows that China’s urban planning has inadvertently addressed a number of important aspects of sustainable food systems. The paper provides a preliminary analysis of various priorities for food system planning and identifies strengths and challenges in terms of achieving sustainability goals in Chinese cities. The analysis highlights various priorities for future urban food policy making including fostering the development of diverse food procurement channels and short food supply chains, strengthening the role of the informal food sector for urban food security, promoting healthy, sustainable diets and ethical consumption, and reducing food waste

No.05: FOOD SECURITY AND THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF FOOD RETAILING IN NANJING, CHINA

■ The expansion of supermarkets and online food markets are changing the complexion of food retailing in Nanjing. At the same time, traditional forms of retail display considerable resilience. ■ Nanjing has low levels of food insecurity overall as measured by the HFIAS and HDDS. The one in five households who are food insecure are primarily low-income and female-centred. ■ Concerns over food safety are a major characteristic of all consumers in Nanjing irrespective of income and food security status. ■ Policy implications include ensuring food access for households with higher levels of food insecurity, promoting trustworthy food sources in the food retailing system, intensifying support for wet market development, and monitoring the development of newer and emerging retail outlets

No. 17: Inclusive Growth and Small-Scale Food Vending in Nanjing, China

This report should be read in conjunction with HCP Report No.1: The Urban Food System of Nanjing, China (Si et al 2016) and HCP Report No. 9: The State of Household Food Security in Nanjing, China (Si and Zhong 2018). The first report provides contextual background on the history, demography, and economy of Nanjing. It also contains a review of existing studies on Nanjing’s changing food system. The second summarizes the results of the household food security survey conducted in Nanjing in 2015. It provides essential information on the food purchase patterns of urban residents and highlights the importance of wet markets, street vendors, and small food shops in the city’s food system. Building on both, this report presents and analyzes the findings of a follow-up, city-wide survey of 864 small food vendors conducted by Nanjing University and the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) in Nanjing from January to March 2017

The Transformation of Trust in China’s Alternative Food Networks: Disruption, Reconstruction, and Development

Food safety issues in China have received much scholarly attention, yet few studies systematically examined this matter through the lens of trust. More importantly, little is known about the transformation of different types of trust in the dynamic process of food production, provision, and consumption. We consider trust as an evolving interdependent relationship between different actors. We used the Beijing County Fair, a prominent ecological farmers’ market in China, as an example to examine the transformation of trust in China’s alternative food networks. We argue that although there has been a disruption of institutional trust among the general public since 2008 when the melamine-tainted milk scandal broke out, reconstruction of individual trust and development of organizational trust have been observed, along with the emergence and increasing popularity of alternative food networks. Based on more than six months of fieldwork on the emerging ecological agriculture sector in 13 provinces across China as well as monitoring of online discussions and posts, we analyze how various social factors—including but not limited to direct and indirect reciprocity, information, endogenous institutions, and altruism—have simultaneously contributed to the transformation of trust in China’s alternative food networks. The findings not only complement current social theories of trust, but also highlight an important yet understudied phenomenon whereby informal social mechanisms have been partially substituting for formal institutions and gradually have been building trust against the backdrop of the food safety crisis in China

Alternative Food Networks and Rural Development Initiatives in China: Characterization, Contestations and Interactions

Agrifood studies have examined the alternativeness, embeddedness and ‘transformative potential’ of various alternative food networks (AFNs) in developed market economies from sociological and geographical perspectives. Meanwhile, rural development studies have identified the critical roles of AFNs in the emergence of a new rural development paradigm. However, a puzzle that remains to be solved is to determine to what extent the alternative values and practices of AFNs will be transferred to developing nations where the sociopolitical context is rapidly changing and to determine how AFNs coevolve with rural development initiatives. To solve this puzzle, this dissertation probes into AFNs in China to examine their complicated relationship with grassroots rural development initiatives. Data for this analysis were collected from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in various AFNs; visits to ecological farms and food companies; information obtained from attending organic expos, workshops, and academic conferences; observations of online blog posts and discussions; and secondary sources including news reports and media coverage. The dissertation employs two main analytical approaches—case studies and discourse analysis—to synthesize and interrogate the qualitative data. The key findings of the study are as follows. First, the alternativeness of AFNs in China is uneven and varies among different elements of alternativeness. The state is a key player in tempering the contested nature of AFNs. Second, the New Rural Reconstruction Movement as a critical grassroots rural development initiative not only adopts AFNs as critical tools for promoting its rural development agenda but also functions as a hub for the convergence of various alternative food initiatives in China. The dissertation concludes that the relationship between alternative food and rural development initiatives can be reciprocal, although the synergies between them face various challenges in the specific socio-political context of China. This study contributes to the literature by unveiling a set of AFNs that are introduced by, and co-evolved with, rural development initiatives. It bridges the discussion on the convergence of AFNs and the scholarship of rural development paradigms