While cities play a key role in the social and economic development of Africa, the interests of the urban population have long been perceived by national and international development agencies as being opposed to those of the rural population. The supply of food to cities, however, highlights the remarkable vitality shown by both urban and rural actors, their common interests and the significant constraints they both face. Thus, policy-makers faced with the challenge of promoting efficient food supply and distribution systems (FSDS) in African cities, should not focus exclusively on improving quantity, regularity, quality and price for the urban consumers but also on how such improvements can be translated into increased income for farmers. This and other studies on FSDSs in African cities have been undertaken in order to provide a framework for policy-makers in meeting this challenge.
This paper is based on research carried out by the author in some sub-Saharan African countries, including appraisal studies for market rehabilitation projects funded by Coopération Française and the Caisse Française de Development (Wilhelm, 1994).1 It consists of three chapters, the first of which provides a general overview of food supply systems and discusses the role and functions of urban markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The second chapter analyses the internal organization and operation of major supply and redistribution markets and the conclusions and recommendations for improving FSDSs in Africa are outlined in Chapter 3.
