The Bright Side of: United Nations High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis; Rome, July 2008

Comprehensive Framework for Action

Yes!  Yes!! The reports have been almost universally negative. And, it's not all bad for Urban Agriculture.

A. Both the short-term and longer-run objectives emphasize "smallholder"     
   a. Immediate: Smallholder production boosted,
       b. Longer-term: Smallholder growth sustained,

It's true; the higher yield urban farms are on average smaller than their rural counterparts.

B. Paragraph 3. of the Executive Summary finds that risks of hunger and poverty   may be more pronounced in urban areas.  And that in an urban world, rising food  prices bring the threat of unrest and political instability, more than the rural starvation crises of history.

C. Paragraph 4. [following the urban finding in 3.], suggests; "- agricultural investments focused on smallholder farmers - could turn agriculture into a vibrant economic sector-" [emphasis added]

D. Having concluded that urban agriculture should be given greater support the 'UN Task Force' in Paragraphs 12. and 13. urges action at a scale.

a. 12. "immediately  scale up public spending and private investment -"towards  the "recovery of agriculture [rural & urban] as a viable sector of a  country's economy."

b. 13. " increase the percentage of development assistance invested in food and agriculture from 3 percent to 10 percent within five years -".

There is a corollary positive in these UN findings and recommendations.  Investments in urban agriculture development are by and large easier to deliver and generate a return on the investment dollar more quickly.