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- Convenors:
-
Fabian Käser
(University of Bern)
Johanna Jacobi (Universtiy of Bern)
Chinwe Ifejika Speranza (University of Bern)
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- Format:
- Panels
- Location:
- KH117
- Start time:
- 1 July, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/Zurich
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
Food is one of the most important links between rural and urban areas especially in Africa. Taking a food system approach, this panel aims at looking at institutions that manage these rural-urban food links and their social, political, cultural, economic and ecological effects in both areas.
Long Abstract:
The growing urban population in Africa demands for increased food availability in cities. Food is globally, but especially in African contexts, one of the most important links between rural and urban areas. Through a food system approach that encompasses various dimensions of rural-urban food links, this panel aims at looking at formal and informal institutions, as rules of the game, that manage these links and their social, political, cultural, economic and ecological and gendered impacts in both areas. The sustainability of food systems is an emerging field of research. Studies analyse how actors, institutions, knowledge, and power relations regulate access to natural resources and their use, as well as how natural resources are transformed into food flows, from input supply to production, consumption, and beyond. Different kind of food system exist, such as agro-industrial, local or regional as well as differentiated quality food systems. Looking at impacts of different food systems that aim at satisfying the increased demand for food in African cities, their outcomes can be assessed against principles of food sustainability, such as food security, realization of the right to food, social-ecological resilience, avoidance of harmful environmental impacts, and reduction of poverty and inequality. As such, this panel aims at addressing the question of how food system do or should look like to be able to satisfy the increased demand for food in African cities in a sustainable way.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Fabian Ottiger
Paper short abstract:
My study compares the environmental performance of different Food Systems present in the North-West Mount Kenya Region. A Life Cycle Inventory Analysis for representative products was used to compare the Agro-industrial Food System with the Local Food System.
Paper long abstract:
Kenya is one of the major horticulture exporters in Africa, with the Mount Kenya Region as a hotspot of commercial horticulture farms. However, there is also an enormous number of small scale farmers living in this region, producing food for either self-consumption or the supply of local to national markets.
The goal of my study was to do a Life Cycle Inventory Analysis of the different Food Systems present in the North-West Mount Kenya Region. Representative products of each Food System were followed along their value chain from the moment seeds were purchased until crops were consumed. In the study kilo-calories served as functional unit to make the Food Systems and their environmental performance comparable. Factors under investigation regarding the environmental performance of the Food Systems were the energy use, not only in terms of fossil energy but also of human energy, the material input such as water for irrigation or agrochemicals, and the waste production.
The focus of this presentation shall be the comparison of the agro-industrial Food System and the local Food System of rural small scale farmers. The comparison shows, that whilst the Agro-industrial System has much more inputs and energy use for the transport of these inputs, the major cause of environmental impacts in the Local Food System was misuse of agrochemicals.
Mariah Ngutu Peter (University of Nairobi)
Paper short abstract:
In the North-West Region of Mount Kenya horticultural companies produce food for export markets. By looking at formal and informal rules and regulations that regulate how food is produced at a selected company I analyse which social, economic and ecological impacts of such a production.
Paper long abstract:
In the North-West Region of Mount Kenya horticultural companies produce food for export markets. My in-depth anthropological research of such a horticultural production company looks at formal and informal rules and regulations that regulate how food is produced at the selected company and which social, economic and ecological impacts this has. By looking at power relations, narratives, effects of national and international laws and policies, product standards and certifications I explore how these rules and regulations are formed and negotiated, and who benefits in which way from the thereby formed formal and informal institutional settings. While the management of the company is expected to have a rather strong bargaining position, it considers itself constricted between consumer demands, national and international regulations and different forms of resistance by local laborers. On the other side, laborers with little bargaining power and accordingly unfavorable working conditions can benefit from working for such a company if they find ways to deal with these conditions and earning cash as starting capital for other forms of income.
Frederik Brønd (University of Copenhagen)
Paper short abstract:
The paper examines the material and organisational configuration of the small scale oil palm value chain in Ghana. It is argued that the interrelationships between the large scale sector and the small scale sector play an important role for rural industrial development
Paper long abstract:
Oil palm is an important cash crop in West Africa. But the promotion and research on oil palm value chains has so far mainly focused on smallholders' incorporation in the value chains, e.g. through outgrower schemes, and larger scale industrial development. However, different artisanal oil palm products play a significant role in Ghanaian diets which have traditionally been dependent on oil palm as a subsistence crop and the artisanal or small scale production of palm oil in Ghana today exists in an interrelationship with the large scale plantation and processing sector. Therefore this paper examines the material and organisational configuration of the small scale oil palm value chain emanating from a field study area in the Kwaebibirem District in the Eastern Region in Ghana. It is argued that the interrelationships between the large scale sector and the small scale sector play an important role for the development of the small scale value chain as well as productive linkages to small industries in the settlements. The case provides valuable insights to how rural economic development is spurred through 'unintentional' linkages between formal and informal sectors in Ghana. It is argued that policymakers should take these linkages into consideration in future policies on agricultural and rural development.
Shingo Takamura (Kyoto University)
Paper short abstract:
The Second Congo War have devastated pre-existing distribution infrastructure, which caused serious stagnation of rural economy. This research focuses on the dynamics of the distribution system before and after the conflict in pursuit of rebuilding rural-urban linkages.
Paper long abstract:
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conflicts have devastated the distribution infrastructure such as roads and bridges, which has stymied the rural economy. The current state of rural-urban distribution processes must be determined to rehabilitate local communities. However, the perspective of such determinations is unclear. This research, therefore, describes and analyzes conflict impacts on rural-urban distribution, periodic market functioning, and indigenous distributional activities based on qualitative and GPS data collected from an extensive area survey. Observing 500 km of main roadways from rural villages to the capital of Orientale Province by motorbike, I present a study of rural-urban distribution. Today, a mass of rural residents travel to periodic markets through forests and engage in long-distance peddling to connect with the urban economy while petty traders advance their commercial activities. Using waterborne transportation, such as dugout canoes, traders sustain urban-rural commodity interexchange. The collapse of the pre-conflict distribution system has caused the periodic markets to become influential regional economic nodes. These observations indicate that local people reorganize alternative distribution systems utilizing indigenous knowledge and ecological environments.
Sookhee Yuk (Graduate School of International and Area Studies / Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)
Paper short abstract:
Market queens are not only the key intermediator between maize farmers in rural and consumers in urban areas in Ghana, also play an important and unique role in Ghana's agricultural value chain.
Paper long abstract:
There are women as a bridge from rural to urban, from small-scale farmers to processors or consumers so called market queens or 'ohemma.' Market queens are not just traders of agriculture products within food system in Ghana, they are rather a female-led institution. Market queens who are leaders of sections of the market such as yam, maize, or tomato sections are known for controlling market price and supply side. Generally, these queen mothers are elected by the traders and have the direct influence on producers by supporting small-scale farmers in rural areas as well as consumers in big cities.
Among diverse agricultural products, this paper deals with Ghanaian's important staple food maize and its market queens. Maize is particularly for the approximately 1 million small-scale households engaged in the primary production. It is one of the most important crops for Ghana's agricultural sector and for food security.