Food Sovereignty and Urban Agriculture: Concepts, Politics, and Practice in South Africa

174 Pages·2022·4.138 MB·English

by  Anne Siebert

Food Sovereignty and Urban
Agriculture
This book analyses the interplay of urban agriculture and food sovereignty through
the innovative lens of the “critical urban food perspective”. It focuses on the
mobilisation of urban food producers as a powerful response to highly exclusion-
ary dynamics in the agri- food system including insufficient food access and disas-
trous land dispossessions.
This volume particularly aims to fill the gap in the current literature by engag-
ing with food sovereignty discourses and movements in urban areas. Related activ-
ism of urban food producers in the Global South remains underrepresented in
practice and in literature. Therefore, this book engages with the lived realities of an
urban agriculture initiative in George, South Africa. Building on theoretical notions
of the “right to the city” and “everyday forms of resistance”, the book illuminates
how deprived food producers expose inequalities and propose alternatives. The
findings of in-d epth empirical research reveal that dwellers perceive farming as a
mean to overcome historical segregation, high food prices, and unhealthy nutri-
tion. Hence, they breathe life into food sovereignty in practice and suggest further
alliances beyond the city.
The book will be of interest to scholars and students of alternative food politics,
agrarian transformation, and food movements as well as rural–urban intersections.
Anne Siebert is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of
Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), Ruhr- University Bochum,
Germany. She obtained a joint PhD degree in International Development Studies
from the IEE and the Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam,
The Netherlands. Her research experience and interest revolve around food poli-
tics and social movements, and how these have shaped dominant agri-f ood systems,
governance, rural–urban interlinkages, as well as research methodology.
Critical Food Studies
Series editors: Michael K. Goodman, University of Reading, UK,
and Colin Sage, Independent Scholar
The study of food has seldom been more pressing or prescient. From the intensify-
ing globalisation of food, a world-wide food crisis and the continuing inequali-
ties of its production and consumption, to food's exploding media presence, and
its growing re-connections to places and people through ‘alternative food move-
ments’, this series promotes critical explorations of contemporary food cultures
and politics. Building on previous but disparate scholarship, its overall aims are to
develop innovative and theoretical lenses and empirical material in order to con-
tribute to – but also begin to more fully delineate – the confines and confluences
of an agenda of critical food research and writing.
Of particular concern are original theoretical and empirical treatments of the
materialisations of food politics, meanings and representations, the shifting political
economies and ecologies of food production and consumption and the growing
transgressions between alternative and corporatist food networks.
Food System Transformations
Social Movements, Local Economies, Collaborative Networks
Edited by Cordula Kropp, Irene Antoni-Komar, and Colin Sage
Metaphor, Sustainability, Transformation
Transdisciplinary Perspectives
Edited by Ian Hughes, Edmond Byrne, Gerard Mullally, and Colin Sage
Food and Cooking on Early Television in Europe
Impact on Postwar Foodways
Edited by Ana Tominc
Hunger and Postcolonial Writing
Muzna Rahman
Food Sovereignty and Urban Agriculture
Concepts, Politics, and Practice in South Africa
Anne Siebert
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Critical-Food-Studies/book-series/CFS
Food Sovereignty and Urban
Agriculture
Concepts, Politics, and Practice in South
Africa
Anne Siebert
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Anne Siebert
The right of Anne Siebert to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-02269-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-02270-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18263-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003182634
Typeset in Bembo
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
To my parents

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Why food sovereignty in the city matters now 1
Confronting the dominant agri-food system 1
Urban agriculture, exclusion, and calls for food sovereignty 3
Analytical framework: critical urban food perspective 8
Research approach 16
Overview of the book 19
Notes 20
References 21
2 Rethinking South Africa’s agri-food system: Notions of food
sovereignty and urban agriculture 28
South Africa’s commercialised agri-food system 28
Food sovereignty in discourse: roots, actors, and challenges 33
Initial challenges 33
Incipient attempts towards food sovereignty 35
Further endeavours and urban issues 41
Notions of urban agriculture and introduction of the case study 43
Kos en Fynbos 54
Concluding remarks 56
Notes 58
References 59
3 Exposing marginalisation: Food and farming in the city 66
Initial mobilisation 66
Socio-economic backgrounds 70
Different types of urban agriculture and microhistories 72
Blanco 74
Pacaltsdorp 75
Thembalethu 76
viii Contents
Organisation and cooperation 77
Garden Route Botanical Garden 79
George Herald 80
George Municipality – Local Economic Development Unit 80
Landmark Foundation 81
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, George Campus, Saasveld 82
Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA)
in the Eden region 82
Further actors: “moral supporters” and other donors 83
Critical reflection of the prevailing nutrition landscape 83
Concluding remarks 88
Notes 89
References 90
4 Proposing food sovereignty 92
Local access to nutritious food 93
Valuing food providers 98
Farmer Support and Development Unit 99
Local Economic Development Unit 100
Unemployment and market access: the role of the informal sector 103
Access to land 105
Community knowledge and skills 111
Biodiversity and connection to nature 116
Concluding remarks 120
Notes 122
References 124
5 Politicising alternatives from below 126
Uncovering political dimensions and rights to the city 127
Growing food sovereignty across the rural–urban divide 134
Creating changes within and beyond the existing system 137
Concluding remarks 141
Notes 144
References 144
6 Conclusions: Urban South Africa and beyond 149
Critical urban food perspective 150
Lived realities of food producers at the urban margins 151
Political dimensions and food producers’ agency 154
Trajectories of food sovereignty and alliances 155
References 157
Index 159
Acknowledgements
This book bears the imprint of many people. The rich experience, insights, and sup-
port of many individuals and institutions made this study possible. I am extremely
grateful to Jun Borras; you introduced me to critical agrarian studies and a vital
network of critically engaged scholars. Your enthusiasm and thoughtful inputs
contributed richly to my “intellectual-p olitical project”. Many thanks to Pierre
Thielbörger. You encouraged me to do research on food sovereignty in urban set-
tings. I highly appreciate your support in many essential steps of my project.
Thanks to the European Commission, particularly the Erasmus Mundus
Partnerships Programme EUSA_ID, for the funding of an extensive research and
teaching period at the Institute for Social Development, University of the Western
Cape, South Africa. This grant made the research possible. I owe many thanks to
the Research School PLUS of the Ruhr University Bochum, which funded addi-
tional conference trips and provided the opportunity to present my findings to
international audiences, defend and refine my arguments.
Carrying out fieldwork in South Africa would never have been possible with-
out support from the DST-N RF Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the
University of the Western Cape, South Africa. A special thanks to Julian May for
facilitating the institutional support. Thanks to Raymond Auerbach of the Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University for introducing me to “Kos en Fynbos” and
providing expertise during my first visits. Many thanks to Hannah Posern who
started earlier with her research on Kos en Fynbos and shared key insights with me.
I am deeply indebted to the communities in George for their openness and partici-
pation which made this research possible and inspired me in many ways. I would
also like to thank all the other organisations and government departments which
shared important information with me. Without this assistance it would have been
difficult to understand the vast urban agriculture and food sovereignty landscape in
South Africa.
In Bochum, many people in and around the Institute for Development Policy
and Development Research (IEE) have supported me in various ways throughout
these years. First and foremost, many thanks to Wilhelm Löwenstein and Gabriele
Bäcker; you encouraged me to pursue a PhD at the IEE and the International
Institute of Social Studies (ISS). Your continued support has been an important part
of my academic formation since my early days at the Ruhr University Bochum.
Many thanks to Christina Seeger, Ruth Knoblich, Stefan Buchholz, Steven Engler,