Utilising the ward committee system to promote urban food security in the City of Johannesburg

Urban Farm DB summary

Focusing on the City of Johannesburg, South Africa, this policy discussion paper examines the potential of using the ward committee system—part of the South African local government structure—as a vehicle for urban farming programs. It argues it may be more efficient to direct limited resources toward helping urban residents become self-sufficient urban farmers rather than merely acquiring and distributing food, which sustains dependency on government, while noting that knowledge about effective administration for food security among developing-country municipalities is limited, with few Southern African municipalities having explicit policies and even fewer having successfully incorporated such programs; it recommends municipal decision-makers adopt an issue-driven, pro-poor growth approach, and states that urban farming is not inherently equivalent to Local Economic Development but may serve as a catalyst toward it.