Informality and the urban food system: Policy, practice and inclusive growth through a food lens, 15 February 2016, UCT Graduate School of Business, Cape Town

Professor Edgar Pieterse, Principle Investigator, Hungry Cities Partnership

Dr Jane Battersby of the African Centre for Cities, UCT presented on "Space for Cape Town’s Informal Food Economy"

The informal economy is a critical access point for food for most poor urban communities. This largely unrecognised sector also provides livelihoods: a recent report by the City of Cape Town suggests that this sector could be the City’s fifth largest source of employment (creating more jobs than the construction industry).

Greater attention needs to be paid to the informal economy in the cities of the Global South, where its benefits to the food insecure are potentially enormous.

Presenters discussed their research findings about urban food insecurity and informal trade in Cape Town and other cities in the Global South – such as Kingston, Jamaica, and Nanjing, China – with alarming levels of food insecurity.

Other presentations focused on migrant traders and the role of women in the informal economy

Gareth Haysom of the African Centre for Cities, UCT, spoke on "Managing informal food systems"

Draconian policing and neglect are among the ways informal trade is restricted and very few city managers embrace this sector.

The food we no longer eat

Ines Raimundo from the Eduardo Mondlane University, presenting on "Informal Traders and Maputo’s Urban Food Economy"

Florian Kroll an affiliate of AFSUN sharing insights on Johannesburg’s Informal Food Economy

Dr Arundhatie Kundal of the CoE in Food Security at the University of the Western Cape presented on: "Street Food Livelihoods Trail: From India to South Africa"

Caroline Skinner of the African Centre for Cities, UCT, and WEIGO presented on: "Food and the urban informal economy"