Urban Food Systems Policy Forum Highlights Key Steps Towards Food Security in Filipino Cities

By Gordon Prain, Arma Bertuso , and Martha Awinoh

Rapid urbanisation is reshaping the Philippines’ landscape, with over half of the population now residing in cities. This trend is expected to intensify, with projections indicating that 84% of Filipinos will live in urban areas by 2050. This growth is driving increased demand for nutritionally diverse foods, making urban centres major consumers of the nation’s food supply. However, these cities are also grappling with significant food waste. At the heart of urban food systems are small-scale wet market vendors and street hawkers, who serve as critical links in delivering food—particularly to low-income consumers. These vendors, often women, support urban employment and social welfare but remain vulnerable due to precarious working conditions and limited policy support.

Against this backdrop, the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum, organized in Quezon City on November 6 by the CGIAR Resilient Cities Initiative and the Quezon City Government, served as a platform to address some of these pressing challenges. The Forum focused on the inclusion of food vendors and producers—giving them a voice through videos that highlighted their challenges, aspirations and progress as part of local government initiatives and their active presence and participation in the audience. These voices grounded the different discussions involving local and national policymakers, civil society, research organisations, and the private sector.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte emphasised the urgent need for a new and holistic approach to ensure urban food security. She stated, “If we want vibrant and resilient food systems, we must move beyond piecemeal solutions and foster collaboration across all sectors—government, civil society, research institutions, and most importantly, our vendors and producers.”

This multi-pronged approach aims to transcend siloed efforts and encourage intersectoral collaboration. Improving urban food systems, therefore, requires engagement not only from local and national governments but also from research organisations to provide evidence-based decision-making and targeted interventions. Mayor Belmonte also stressed the importance of partnerships with civil society organisations, city networks, and private sector representatives, notably food vendors and producers.

Innovative Capacity-Building Initiatives

One of the key takeaways from the forum was the introduction of practical solutions to strengthen the urban food system. A significant example is the Vendor Business School (VBS), an adult education programme designed to enhance the capacity of street vendors. Unlike traditional educational programs, the VBS curriculum is grounded in real-world challenges faced by vendors, adapted directly from the field, and delivered via a mix of group learning sessions and one-on-one coaching. This inclusive, targeted approach aims to empower food vendors as entrepreneurs, ensuring their resilience and sustained contribution to the urban food supply chain.

Additionally, technical support initiatives for urban food production were highlighted. By leveraging an existing city programme, the Joy of Urban Farming, these efforts aim to bolster the outputs of urban producers, ensuring their vital role in complementing the formal food supply.

Scaling the Vendor Business School

The steps toward scaling the Vendor Business School are already underway, starting with legislative support. A Vendor Business School Ordinance has been presented to the Quezon City Council by the Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD). If approved, this ordinance will institutionalise the programme, ensuring its sustainability and scalability across other urban areas in the city.

The Policy Forum also stood out for its ability to foster open dialogue between sectors. The morning sessions featured interactive forums, while the afternoon panels emphasised the crucial need for coordination between local and national governments and strong partnerships between city governments, research organisations, and civil society groups to collectively enhance food security. Panel discussions also underscored the importance of city networks, which can help replicate successful initiatives like the VBS in other urban areas.

Transforming Urban Food Systems Together

The Urban Food Systems Policy Forum in Quezon City demonstrated that achieving more resilient urban food systems requires collaborative, inclusive, and innovative approaches. By ensuring that the voices of food vendors and producers are heard, by fostering intersectoral cooperation on implementing innovative capacity-building initiatives like the Vendor Business School and the Joy of Urban Farming, stakeholders are taking significant steps toward more food secure cities.

For policymakers and researchers, this forum provided valuable insights and the beginnings of a roadmap. However, it also served as a reminder that the success of urban food systems is deeply rooted in meaningful partnerships and the active inclusion of the people who form its core. Moving forward, the challenge lies in sustaining these efforts and scaling them effectively.

The first steps have been made—now it’s time to accelerate this momentum for the future of urban food systems in the Philippines.

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About the Organizers 

CGIAR Resilient Cities initiative: The CGIAR Resilient Cities research initiative is an international urban agri-food system research network that seeks to harness the dynamism of urban societies and economies to catalyze technological, institutional, and social change. By enabling agrifood system innovations and investment strategies for inclusive job and business opportunities, the Initiative aims to ensure access to healthier diets for all, safeguard human health, and minimize environmental risks. The initiative generates evidence, technologies, and capacities that help improve urban food systems and secure equitable job and business opportunities, healthy diets for all, human and environmental health, and a reduced carbon footprint.  

Quezon City Local Government Unit (QC-LGU): The Quezon City Local Government has been actively pursuing initiatives to improve food systems, enhance urban food production, and address the challenges of food security and economic development in the city. The QC Food Security Task Force, through the “Grow QC— Kasama ka sa Pag-unlad sa Pagkain, Kabuhayan, at Kalusugan Food Security Program,” has been at the forefront of these efforts. In 2022, the QC-LGU signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) binding the city’s commitment to further the work on food systems improvement and development and leverage the partnership to tap the best practices on food security and food systems from nations and their cities who signed the pact.