The Supermarket Revolution and Food Security in Namibia

Kazembe, Lawrence; Crush, Jonathan; Wagner, Jeremy

doi:10.2307/j.ctvh8r2cr

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The Kisumu survey was a city-wide survey. Kitwe 39% 14% 7% 2% 1% 37% Kisumu 29% 26% 19% 8% 3% 14% In these, and in other cities such as Windhoek [54] and Nairobi [55], supermarkets are predominantly located in central city locations and are more typically present in higher-income residential areas [48,55]. Research in Cape Town found rapid expansion in the number of supermarkets, with a 2.6-fold increase in the number of supermarkets in the city from 1994 to 2012.…”

Section: Core Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Food Desert as a Concept and Policy Tool in African Cities: An Opportunity and a Risk

Battersby

2019

Sustainability

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The idea that food insecurity can be resolved by increasing the presence of supermarkets has been gaining traction in African cities and has recently gained political traction in Africa. This paper interrogates the potential value and risks associated with the adoption of the discourse of the food desert in the African context. The paper draws on findings from a households survey, neighborhoods-scale food retail mapping and surveys, and city-wide supermarket mapping conducted in Cape Town (South Africa), Kisumu (Kenya), and Kitwe (Zambia). Following a discussion of why the concept is gaining traction, the paper identifies false assumptions associated with the food desert framing in Africa, namely: supermarkets provide better access to healthier food, low-income areas have poor access to healthy food; and food security can be reduced to economic and physical accessibility. The paper concludes that although the food desert concept may be valuable for African researchers to provoke debates about systemic inequality, the food desert policy narrative should be rejected as it is ill-informed by the lived experiences of food insecurity in African cities and may promote policy interventions that erode rather than enhance the capacity of the food system to meet the food security needs of African urbanites.

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Section: Core Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Food Desert as a Concept and Policy Tool in African Cities: An Opportunity and a Risk

Battersby

2019

Sustainability

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“…A classic western city food deserts argument would implicate the absence of supermarkets as a key culprit in the state of food insecurity and poor diets of households in the informal settlements of Windhoek. However, the city has undergone a mini-supermarket revolution in the last two decades and there are now over 30 supermarkets (Figure 2) [59]. The majority of the supermarkets are owned by companies from the neighboring country of South Africa, with one local chain, Woermann Brock (WB Supermarkets).…”

Section: Supermarketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informal Food Deserts and Household Food Insecurity in Windhoek, Namibia

Crush

Kazembe

2018

Sustainability

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Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision, and chronic food insecurity. Traditional concepts of food deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal food deserts. This paper focuses on a case study of informal settlements in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to shed further light on the relationship between informality and food deserts in African cities. The data for the paper was collected in a 2016 survey and uses a sub-sample of households living in shack housing in three informal settlements in the city. Using various standard measures, the paper reveals that the informal settlements are spaces of extremely high food insecurity. They are not, however, food deprived. The proximity of supermarkets and open markets, and a vibrant informal food sector, all make food available. The problem is one of accessibility. Households are unable to access food in sufficient quantity, quality, variety, and with sufficient regularity.

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“…Specifically, highly urbanized regions are generally characterized by more energy-intensive and high-processed food consumption and lower physical activity levels, resulting in excessive energy intake and malnutrition. Households or individuals living near restaurants or supermarkets tend to eat out more frequently and purchase more processed or fast foods with high-sugar or fat contents (Nickanor et al, 2017). In addition, residents living in highly developed areas (some megacities), especially rural-urban migrants, need to pay more nonfood expenditures such as housing, medical facilities and social public services without the protection and benefits afforded by hukou registration, thereby cutting off household food expenditures (Darrouzet-Nardi and Masters, 2015).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanicity and nutrition: evidence from rural–urban migrants in China

Sun

Rahut

2021

CAER

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of urbanicity on rural–urban migrants' dietary diversity and nutrition intake and whether its effect differs across various urban environments of migrants.Design/methodology/approachUsing the individual- and time-invariant fixed effects (two-way FE) model and five-year panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), this paper estimates a linear and nonlinear relationship between urbanicity and nutrition. The paper also explores the spatial heterogeneity between rural–urban migrants and rural–suburban migrants. Dietary diversity, total energy intake and the shares of energy obtained from protein and fat, respectively, are used to measure rural–urban migrants' nutrition on both quality and quantity aspects.FindingsThe study shows that rural–urban migrants have experienced access to more diverse, convenient and prepared foods, and the food variety consumed is positively associated with community urbanicity. Energy intake is positively and significantly affected by community urbanicity, and it also varies with per capita household income. The obvious inverse U-shaped relationship reveals that improving community urbanicity promotes an increase in the shares of energy obtained from protein and fat at a decreasing rate, until reaching the urbanicity index threshold of 66.69 and 54.26, respectively.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on the nutritional status of rural–urban migrants, an important pillar for China's development, which is often neglected in the research. It examines the urbanicity and the nutrition of migrants in China, which provides a new perspective to understand the dietary and nutritional intake among migrants in the economic and social development. Moreover, the urbanicity index performs better at measuring urban feathers rather than the traditional rural/urban dichotomous classification.

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The Supermarket Revolution and Food Security in Namibia

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

The Food Desert as a Concept and Policy Tool in African Cities: An Opportunity and a Risk

The Food Desert as a Concept and Policy Tool in African Cities: An Opportunity and a Risk

Informal Food Deserts and Household Food Insecurity in Windhoek, Namibia

Urbanicity and nutrition: evidence from rural–urban migrants in China

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