Food Remittances: Migration and Food Security in Africa

By drawing attention to the importance of food remittances for urban and rural food security and identifying the current knowledge gaps, this report contributes to the study of the relationship between migration and food security and creates a platform for the design of a new research agenda. Across Africa, there is considerable evidence of a massive informal trade in food, including staples, fresh and processed products. While most cross-border trade in foodstuffs is a result of commercial transactions by small-scale traders who buy in one country and sell in another, an unknown proportion is actually food remittances on their way from migrants to kin in their country of origin. A SAMP survey of 4,765 migrant-sending households in five SADC countries found that goods remitting was a significant component of overall remittance flows within the region. Within countries there is now considerable evidence that urban migrant households rely to varying degrees on an informal supply of food from their rural counterparts to survive in precarious urban environments. The two case studies presented in this report are designed to highlight different facets of food remitting with potentially broader applicability. The Harare study looks at food remittances under conditions of extreme economic and political duress, and the Windhoek research provides an important example of cash remittances for food remittances reciprocity

No. 03: Urban Food Deserts and Climate Change in African Cities

The underlying assumption in much of the Euro-American food deserts literature is that urban food deserts are dynamic spaces, expanding and contracting with the advent and withdrawal of supermarkets. This discussion paper argues that to tie such dynamism purely to the spatial behaviour of formal food retail outlets is both narrow and inappropriate in the African context, where the use of the food deserts concept requires a sophisticated understanding of the multiple market and non-market food sources, of the spatial mobility and dynamism of the informal food economy, of the changing drivers of household food insecurity and the local conditions that lead to compromised diets, undernutrition and social exclusion. The paper discusses the case of Cape Town, South Africa, where supermarkets command a significant share of food retailing and have been expanding into all areas of the city. After tracing the spatial expansion of supermarkets in the last two decades, the paper examines the nature of the food interactions between modern retail, the informal food economy and food access in poor urban neighborhoods from the perspective of consumer households. It argues that the concept of urban food deserts needs to be reformulated and redefined to fit African realities since there is very little evidence that the growth of supermarkets across the city and in low-income areas is eliminating urban food deserts. The paper also addresses one of the major silences in the food deserts literature; that is, the relationship between climate change and urban food security

No. 09: Comparing Household Food Security in Cities of the Global South through a Gender Lens

Understanding the determinants of urban food insecurity requires sensitivity to local cultural contexts and taking into account a globally relevant framework for analysis. A gender lens is amenable to this kind of analysis because it is rooted in local configurations of households, livelihoods and consumption patterns, while also being animated by a longstanding global effort to create a world in which men and women are equal. This discussion paper is aimed at academic researchers and development practitioners concerned with urban food insecurity. It demonstrates the usefulness of a gender lens of analysis for generating new insights and questions about household food insecurity in an international context of comparative urban research. The data used in the paper is drawn from the Hungry Cities Partnership household food security baseline surveys in Maputo and Nanjing

No. 72: Food Remittances: Migration and Food Security in Africa

By drawing attention to the importance of food remittances for urban and rural food security and identifying the current knowledge gaps, this report contributes to the study of the relationship between migration and food security and creates a platform for the design of a new research agenda. Across Africa, there is considerable evidence of a massive informal trade in food, including staples, fresh and processed products. While most cross-border trade in foodstuffs is a result of commercial transactions by small-scale traders who buy in one country and sell in another, an unknown proportion is actually food remittances on their way from migrants to kin in their country of origin. A SAMP survey of 4,765 migrant-sending households in five SADC countries found that goods remitting was a significant component of overall remittance flows within the region. Within countries there is now considerable evidence that urban migrant households rely to varying degrees on an informal supply of food from their rural counterparts to survive in precarious urban environments. The two case studies presented in this report are designed to highlight different facets of food remitting with potentially broader applicability. The Harare study looks at food remittances under conditions of extreme economic and political duress, and the Windhoek research provides an important example of cash remittances for food remittances reciprocity

Food Remittances: Rural-urban Linkages and Food Security in Africa

The need for a new research agenda Globally, the transfer of funds by migrants to their home countries or areas (cash remittances) is at an all-time high. By 2017, it is predicted to rise to US$500 billion – and there is a growing policy consensus that cash remittances can be mainstreamed into development. Equally, food remitting also has a role to play in urban and rural food security. Yet despite its importance, researchers and policymakers tend to ignore food remitting. The growing literature on rural-urban linkages highlights their complex, dynamic nature in the context of rapid urbanisation and growing rural-urban migration in Africa. Food remitting cannot be treated in isolation from the ‘complex web of relations and connections incorporating rural and urban dimensions and all that is in between’ (Tacoli, 2007). Yet the remitting of goods, and especially foodstuffs, across international boundaries and within countries has received little attention, particularly in Africa, where it seems that ‘transfers of food are invisible in the sense that they run within the family and outside market channels’ (Andersson Djurfeldt 2015a: 540). This report is aimed at researchers and policymakers interested in transforming rural-urban linkages and the implications for food security of rural and urban residents. The current rural-urban binary is arbitrary, outdated and unhelpful. At a time of rapid urbanisation in the South, a wider lens is needed: focusing on rural-urban linkages and moving beyond cash-based, market transactions to consider the bidirectional flows of goods – including food – and their impact on food security. This report contributes to the study of changing rural-urban linkages by: Expanding the geographic and thematic scope of research, Demonstrating the value of examining the links between informal food transfers and urban-based household food security, and Arguing for a new research and policy agenda focused on food remitting. Using case studies from Zimbabwe and Namibia, this report also demonstrates how lessons related to food remitting can be applied in other African contexts – and highlights the urgent need for a new research agenda. The report concludes with recommendations for policymakers and researchers. What are the main lessons? Rural-urban linkages in a rapidly urbanising world require much more attention from researchers and policymakers. As this report shows, several key findings have emerged from the existing literature on food remitting. The importance of bidirectional food remittances: Most studies overlook food remitting as a key link between rural and urban areas and food security. Understanding these linkages must move beyond cash-based, market transactions to consider bidirectional flows of goods, including foodstuffs, and their impact on food security. Concepts of the divided or stretched household (Francis, 2000) and multi-local household livelihoods (Andersson Djurfeldt, 2015a) should guide any analysis of the dynamics of food remitting. Cross-border migration and food remittances: Food remitting is an important livelihood strategy. Remittances across international boundaries are important to food security (Crush, 2013) and there is a massive informal trade in food in Africa. Internal migration and food remittances: Reciprocal rural-urban-rural remitting is ‘fundamental to the ability of poor urban households to survive’ (Frayne, 2004). Many urban migrant households rely on informal, non-marketed food from rural counterparts. But we still know little about what it means for rural food security in terms of food sent and received. Comparing rural-urban and urban-urban food remittances: For food-insecure households, food remittances from both rural and urban sources are important. In one study around a third of poor urban households received food remittances from outside the city the year before (Frayne et al., 2010). But while rural-urban food remitting was significant, urban-urban food remitting was greater still. This phenomenon suggests that we need a much more nuanced notion of linkages and flows. Frequency and types of food remitting: Frayne et al. (2010) also showed that households receiving food from another urban area did so far more often. This might suggest that urban-urban networks and support mechanisms are stronger than rural-urban ties. What impact this has on the food security of producers and purchasers requires additional research. Food remitters in rural areas: Rural-urban food flows tend to focus more on poor urban neighbourhoods and households and are important to food security. There is some evidence that better-off rural households remit more than their less well-off counterparts – and that the effects of food remitting are much more severe on poorer rural households. Food remittances can be seen as ‘social security’ (Andersson Djurfeldt and Wambugu, 2011) but also as having an important cultural dimension (Kuuire et al. 2013). Lessons from the Zimbabwe and Namibia case studies These case studies highlight different facets of food remitting with potentially broader applicability. The first, of Harare in Zimbabwe, looks at the significance of food remittances under conditions of extreme economic and political duress. It allows an assessment of the impact of macro-economic and political stability on food remitting. The Windhoek case study provides an important example of cash remittances for food remittances reciprocity. It also raises important hypotheses about food remittances that need further elaboration and testing, such as the relationship between urban poverty and the level of food remitting and whether the volume and frequency of food remitting is related to the strength of links between urban and rural residents. What are the main recommendations for researchers and policymakers? The massive global attention paid to cash remittances over the past decade provides a solid evidence base for policymaking and advocacy at international, regional and national levels. Policy prescriptions for maximising the flow and impacts of cash remittances on development are now legion and part of a growing policy consensus that remittances can be mainstreamed into development planning and the practices of the private sector, for the benefit of both senders and recipients, whether individuals, communities or whole countries. Yet no equivalent knowledge base or policy dialogue exists with regard to food remittances. A new research agenda and policy dialogue are urgently required relating to food remittances and urban and rural food security. Food remitting is a major research gap that demands much greater attention and a systematic, comparative programme of primary research. The case studies from Zimbabwe and Namibia in this report highlight how a deeper understanding of food remitting can be applied in other African contexts: the nature of rural-urban linkages under conditions of state failure and crisis (Zimbabwe) and the importance of reciprocal cash and food remittances for food security (Namibia). The notion of a rural-urban divide is outdated and oversimplifies the issues. Food remitting cannot be treated in isolation from the complex web of relations and connections between both rural and urban contexts. An extremely useful starting point is to explore how stretched or multi-nodal households drive and impact on food remitting at both urban and rural ends of the spectrum. Much additional research on this important, yet much-neglected, aspect of urban-rural linkages and informal cross-border transactions is urgently required. By drawing attention to the importance of food remittances for urban and rural food security and identifying the current knowledge gaps, this report creates a platform for the design of a new research agenda

No. 16: The State of Food Insecurity in Msunduzi Municipality, South Africa

There is plenty of food in Msunduzi, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, but the urban poor regularly go hungry. This study of Msunduzi’s food security situation formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of eleven Southern African cities. The survey results show that the urban poor in Msunduzi are significantly worse off than their counterparts in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A third of the households reported that they sometimes or often have no food to eat of any kind. Household size did not make a great deal of difference to levels of insecurity but female-headed households are more food insecure than male-headed households. Msunduzi is a classic case study of a city whose food supply system is dominated by modern supermarket supply chains. The informal food economy is relatively small, urban agriculture is not especially significant in the city and informal rural-urban food transfers are lower than in many other cities surveyed. In this respect, Msunduzi offers the other cities a picture of their own future. Supermarket expansion is occurring at an extremely rapid rate throughout southern Africa, tying urban spaces and populations into global, regional and national supply chains. While supermarkets offer greater variety and fresher produce than many other outlets, they clearly do not meet the needs of the poor

No. 03: The Urban Food System of Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town is South Africa’s second largest city and plays a critical role in the national economy. Despite its apparent wealth, Cape Town is very unequal in terms of food security with many areas experiencing high levels of food insecurity. The city’s urban food insecurity challenge is multi-dimensional with determining factors including the size of the city, its urbanization pattern, the legacy of apartheid, and economic marginalization. South Africa’s apartheid legacy is a food system with high levels of concentration in all aspects of the food value chain. For example, there are 5-6,000 wheat farmers but the four main millers control 87% of the market and are integrated with plant bakers. The food system in South Africa has undergone rapid transformation in the last two decades with the expansion and growing control of supermarket chains. Engaging in similar activities as the formal food sector is an active and vibrant informal system. The only difference is effectively one of visibility, in terms of policy and law. The informal sector remains largely illegal, despite the fact that it and the formal sector in Cape Town are directly connected and often reliant on one another. Food trade is a significant component of Cape Town’s informal economy, which plays a major role in making food accessible to low-income households and has a distinctive micro-geography to maximize accessibility

No.06: GENDER INEQUALITY AND FOOD SECURITY POLICY RESPONSES

■ Gender inequality and the legacy of racial discrimination operate alongside poverty and economic inequality to shape the household food security experience in low-income areas in South African cities. ■ In Cape Town, male-headed households are more likely to be food secure than female-headed households, although both experience high levels of severe food insecurity. ■ National food security policy and local government do not recognize the systemic nature of gender inequality and food insecurity; a gap that needs to be addressed

No. 05: The HIV and Urban Food Security Nexus

Considerable attention has been devoted to the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on small farmers and the food security of the rural poor. Despite the rapid progression of the epidemic in rural areas, it remains an ever-growing challenge in the continent’s rapidly-growing cities where prevalence rates are still higher than in rural areas. This report examines the reciprocal relationship between HIV and urban food security. Much of the research and most of the policy interventions on the HIV-Urban Food Security Nexus focus on the nutritional status of individual People Living With HIV (PLHIV). Other members of households with PLHIV also experience an increase in food insecurity as household purchasing power declines and nutritional needs increase. Urban food insecurity is a complex phenomenon and nutritional research and interventions on the vicious circle of HIV and nutrition need to be reframed within a broader socio-economic perspective that encompasses all of the various aspects of urban food security

No. 03: Urban Food Deserts and Climate Change in African Cities

The underlying assumption in much of the Euro-American food deserts literature is that urban food deserts are dynamic spaces, expanding and contracting with the advent and withdrawal of supermarkets. This discussion paper argues that to tie such dynamism purely to the spatial behaviour of formal food retail outlets is both narrow and inappropriate in the African context, where the use of the food deserts concept requires a sophisticated understanding of the multiple market and non-market food sources, of the spatial mobility and dynamism of the informal food economy, of the changing drivers of household food insecurity and the local conditions that lead to compromised diets, undernutrition and social exclusion. The paper discusses the case of Cape Town, South Africa, where supermarkets command a significant share of food retailing and have been expanding into all areas of the city. After tracing the spatial expansion of supermarkets in the last two decades, the paper examines the nature of the food interactions between modern retail, the informal food economy and food access in poor urban neighborhoods from the perspective of consumer households. It argues that the concept of urban food deserts needs to be reformulated and redefined to fit African realities since there is very little evidence that the growth of supermarkets across the city and in low-income areas is eliminating urban food deserts. The paper also addresses one of the major silences in the food deserts literature; that is, the relationship between climate change and urban food security