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Given the many different ways the product may be used, the institutional market for fresh vegetables in the Southern Philippines can be segmented on the basis of the role market intermediaries perform in the supply chain, where they are, what customers they serve, the range of products required, the volume of product required and the quality specifications. Potential market opportunities are identified and the various constraints smallholder farmers face in endeavouring to meet the needs of institutional buyers are highlighted.

This paper focuses on how microfinance has affected the investment decision making of squash and bitter gourd cluster farmers in Impasugong in the Southern Philippines. The farmers received loans from a microfinance institution (MFI) but because of production problems farmers were not able to meet their buyers' requirements. The squash cluster disintegrated, while the bitter gourd cluster decided to diversify into onion production and to adopt organic fertilizers as a more cost effective means of production. As a result of these setbacks, both the clusters and the MFI learned some valuable lessons including; the role of microfinance in production; the risks associated with loans; and the level of support received by the farmers. Sustainability of livelihoods is the key factor that keeps the MFI and the farmers together. As the farmers aspire to maintain production, they will continue to need access to financial resources to meet their farm and family commitments.

Urbanization has been associated with significant transformations in our society, with paramount influence in agriculture and the world food industry, and subsequently in consumers' diets. Arguably, the current food consumption trend is non-sustainable given the non-regenerative, and rather disruptive, ways of using natural resources for meeting the growing food demand and the growing inequality for food affordability across regions. Cities have been an easy target to promote non-sustainable consumption, due to a lifestyle that encourages it and where 'convenience' is the prominent sought-after feature in food. Moreover, the food systems feeding urban populations need to be not only environmentally sustainable, but also socially and economically sustainable, and these pillars of sustainability are inextricably linked. It is within this context that this chapter asks: how can cities be drivers of food system sustainability? It specifically focuses on cities of the South due to their rapid urbanization and particular persistent challenges of poverty and food insecurity. Indeed, in cities of the global South, population in slums, where poverty is prevalent, constitute nearly four out ten of the total urban dwellers in developing countries, and as high as seven out of ten in African countries, revealing cities can no longer afford to treat slums as an excluded part or 'exception' to the rest of the city. We reviewed the global context and identify current opportunities that cities can exercise to drive what can be the sustainable food systems of the future. It is highlighted that social and environmental inclusion in city-linked food systems can be effectively articulated through: (i) participatory governance; (ii) solidarity schemes; (iii) inclusive value chain collaborations; and (iv) food system planning. Importantly, interventions in cities of the South require improved coherence given the inter-cross of jurisdictions of pertinent institutions, evidencing the need for a territorial approach where the different levels of government engage in dialogue.

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