Urban Food Hives combat rise in urban hunger

Increasing numbers of people are migrating to major urban areas around the world, forced by many factors—including the impacts of climate change—to leave their homes and traditional livelihoods. By 2050, more than 70% of the world's population is expected to live in urban areas.

What and how these expanding populations will eat is one of our biggest challenges: Urban malnutrition will rise if communities don’t adapt their food systems to meet this demand. This is why in 2021, Oxfam and our partner Second Muse launched a program called Urban Food Hives, which aims for people living in and around major cities in five countries—the Philippines, Uganda, Nigeria, Colombia, and Kenya—to work together to improve access to healthy, affordable food.

These networks help solve problems, exchange knowledge and best agricultural practices, and advocate for change. At the heart of these hives are food growers, processors, distributors, waste managers, recyclers, vendors, and consumer advocates, known as “foodpreneurs,” or food entrepreneurs.

They are demonstrating how to grow food using agroecology and organic farming methods, how to reduce waste through circular economies—essentially, recycling prolonging the life of materials (in this case food) for as long as possible—and how to use digital technologies to market and distribute produce. At the same time, these hives are creating jobs for young people and women.

Martin Komu, a trader in Korogocho Market in Nairobi, Kenya, is one such foodpreneur. He and others in the market have received trainings, mentorship, and startup support on value-added food production and recycling of food waste into products such as organic fertilizer and briquettes. “When I take something that was supposed to go into the river or the dumpsite, and I use it to make products out of the compost, it’s very fulfilling,” he said.

Three years out, the hives have shown promising results

• The Philippines: The Garden of Hope: Women Food Producers Urban Food Hives was established in 2022 and quickly spread to two additional sites. Members have established women-led community gardens and seed banks to promote local seeds and organic products, such as condiments and bread. This project supports almost 8,000 members.
• Colombia: Colmenas Urbanas Alimentarias grew from a partnership with ANUC Women’s Program, Tierra Libre, and San Isidro Foundation in three cities in the central region of the country, in the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá.The hive links farmers in rural and peri-urban areas (areas in proximity to urban areas) to the cities through local and regional peasant farmers‘ markets.
• Nigeria: Oxfam is partnering with COCIN Community Development Program in the city of Jos. Members have been trained on urban agriculture and entrepreneurship, and many have established individual gardens, producing tomatoes, bell peppers, and other vegetables for income generation and home consumption.
• Kenya: Foodpreneurs have received support to reduce food loss and the ecological impacts of waste to create economic value from these activities. The initiative also promoted public participation in county planning forums and the inclusion of a food system strategy into the Nairobi County government’s five-year plan for fiscal planning and implementation.
• Uganda: Oxfam in Uganda partnered with Community Integrated Development Initiative (CIDI) and JERO Farm to establish agroecology centers of excellence in Kampala in schools, backyards, and community farms. Urban Food Hives champions include a single mothers’ group, a youth climate change activist group, and women leaders who have been able to transform empty land into bountiful food baskets.

As climate change and barriers to food accelerate rapidly, there is a growing demand to scale up these projects. Some governments, and partners have adopted the model and are scaling out their Urban Food Hives projects.