We envision a city that is self-reliant in acquisition of adequate, safe and nutritious food for all residents of Nairobi, through local production of foods. This will be majorly through promotion of kitchen gardening for all social groups, peri-urban-farming and utilization of public spaces such as in schools and other idle land for small scale farming. Additionally, efficient linkages with rural food sources will complement the local food sources.
The Vision also proposes efficient use of local food preservation methods and surplus food rescue and repurposing to promote access for the most vulnerable in the spirit of Ubuntu. The vision will deploy innovative, regenerative, human-centred technologies and approaches, including agro-ecological farming approaches and vertical food production to ensure adequate, safe and nutritious foods for the City residents. It will also promote bio-cultural diversity through increasing Nairobi’s tree canopy with fruit trees, which will help take care of the environment by greening the city landscapes.
Further, the Vision creates an enormous opportunity for economic empowerment of vulnerable populations, including women and youth, through agri-business, employing modern technological advances. Supportive structures to actualize the Vision include rigorous, policy relevant research, advocacy for policy and behaviour change, and policy formulation and reform.
Innovation and efficiency in food production is at the core to increase productivity and to empower women and youth economically. Our food system focuses on maximizing residents’ self-reliance in access to safe nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, poultry, small livestock and fish. We promote innovative, organic urban kitchen gardening across the socio-economic divide in Nairobi, and in other available spaces including school compounds, idle land, and in peri-urban areas. This has increased the production and consumption of nutritious foods including vegetables and animal source proteins.
An innovations and knowledge transfer hub for co-designing, testing and demonstrating innovations and technologies in urban farming is underway and will promote urban innovations and technologies that increase yields of food in a short amount of time and in a small space. Some innovative urban farming approaches include vertical gardening, hydroponics and aquaponics.
Our pipeline dream is to have a food rescue system; repurposing and redistribution system will involve collection of surplus food from: households, local markets, hotels, export processing zones, supermarkets in Nairobi, redistributing it to people in need through a digitally supported system; and processing excess food to stable forms e.g. dried fruits and vegetables, juice for future use to reduce food waste/loss and to improve food access for the urban poor. Safe food that is destined for disposal will be rescued at nominal cost and redistributed at nominal costs to where it is most needed through a digitally facilitated system. A digital data centre will help make information access for suppliers and vendors in real time. Further, we will establish collection and redistribution centres for efficiency of the system.
The food rescue system will reduce the environmental impact of GHG emissions from decomposing waste, while enhancing food sharing and social justice. The system will further promote social justice through creating income generation opportunities for youth and women groups in the system. This system needs an effective food tracing system to ensure food safety. Thus we will use a digital platform that closely follows and tracks agricultural produce from where it is produced to the markets.
The actualization of our audacious vision involves engagement of all stakeholders and sensitization and awareness creation among the citizens to embrace and support the vision. Social Behaviour Change Communication and advocacy is central to this project. A social movement drive this process. We are establishing a Right to Food Movement to spearhead this.
