How do we feed the city? Examples from Brazil and China

How do we feed the city??
The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in the context of the International Green Week in Berlin dealt with the topic "How do we feed the city?". The approaches that can succeed were demonstrated by examples presented in the forums.
In the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, with 2.5 million people, about 84 percent of the population of the state of Minas Gerais live. Twenty years ago, the city administration began to take care of the diet in the city. It all began with school gardens in 1991. Four years later, with the help of the United Nations, this became a complete program, said Mayor Marcio Lacerda. Today there are 144 city gardens between 200 and 3,000 square meters in size. Most of the city gardens are run by small communities, five larger build products for the trade. Minas Gerais farmers have signed initial direct food supply contracts, which will deliver about 740 tonnes of food annually to specialized points of sale.

Urban development: this is how cities can be fed. Image: JFL Photography - fotolia

The projects are based on training of employees in the public sector as well as in the private sector. Contents are planting calendar as well as tillage and crop rotation. Finally, there is a quality control at the end.

Important was the participation of the people from the beginning. The city has expanded its food aid, making Belo Horizonte today a "city without hunger". For registered homeless people, the city spends up to 11,000 meals a day. The schools distribute 350,000 meals a day.

It is not just the small-scale "urban gardening" mosaic and city-rural supply relationships that are improving people's lives. The inhabitants of Belo Horizonte can cultivate their own varieties. This is even legally guaranteed by a municipal law. Communities have individual responsibilities for daily duties.

A similar movement exists in China. The loss of confidence in domestic products since the 2008 melamine scandal has led to a new form of consumer-farmer relationship. For up to two hours, Beijingers travel by bus to the countryside and farm around 30 square meters of leased land at "their farmer's". Individually, in community or with the help of the farmer. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the trend reported by Shi Yan, director of Shared Harvested Ecological Agriculture Services. The products directly from the farmer are twice as expensive as conventional foods. However, only a few hundred people currently practice CSA.

According to Professor Dr. Sir Gordon Conway of British Imperial College will continue to feed the majority of urbanites through urban gardening. The main food crops, such as cereals and legumes, will continue to grow extensively in the countryside. Further information: The aid info service provides information on Urban Gardening at www.aid.de, section Food, Sustainable Consumption (Roland Krieg, aid)