In Kenya, almost 50 % of youngsters residing in low-income city areas are malnourished. That is being pushed by speedy urbanization, rising meals prices, and the erosion of conventional food-sharing programs. As cities like Nairobi develop, neighborhood leaders and researchers are working to reimagine city meals programs—not simply to feed folks, however to revive dignity, well being, and social connection.
“Rising up as a younger child, there was no assure that we may get 3 meals in a day. I used to depend upon the college meal. It was a problem that many individuals are going through,” Greg Kimani, the CEO of Metropolis Shamba, says within the Meals 2050 movie, which premieres January 2026 in partnership with Media RED, the Rockefeller Basis, and Meals Tank. “If my neighbor can’t have meals, we aren’t meals safe.”
This perception displays a broader cultural worth rooted in Ubuntu, an Indigenous African philosophy of interconnectedness.
“After I was rising up, sharing meals was a typical factor that we did. It’s in regards to the worth of Ubuntu, [meaning] ‘I’m as a result of we’re.’ It’s the spirit of serving to each other. It’s the spirit of sharing,” says Dr. Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, a Analysis Scientist on the African Inhabitants and Well being Analysis Middle (APHRC).
“However the world is urbanizing, and we’re shedding that tradition of Ubuntu,” says Dr. Kimani-Murage.
Nairobi’s inhabitants is projected to triple by 2050 to greater than 10 million folks. Traditionally, town relied on rural communities for meals, however these areas have more and more urbanized themselves, lowering agricultural manufacturing. Dr. Kimani-Murage, who has performed analysis on vitamin and meals safety among the many city poor for greater than twenty years, has seen firsthand how these shifts have deepened inequality. In the present day, she promotes agroecological city farming throughout socioeconomic divides to “be sure that folks can produce protected meals for themselves and feed themselves with dignity.”
In Nairobi, affordability—not availability—is usually the core drawback, in response to Dr. Kimani-Murage. As a result of many residents can’t afford market costs, the meals provide can exceed demand. “A number of the meals finds itself within the dump web site, and folks go to scavenge on that meals,” both feeding it to their households or promoting it to others, says Dr. Kimani-Murage.
Metropolis Shamba was based to problem the belief that dense city areas can’t produce meals. The group trains residents in vertical farming methods to maximise productiveness in restricted areas. It gives seedlings and soil, which are sometimes tough to entry. Kimani’s staff additionally prioritizes nutrient-rich Indigenous greens, serving to households enhance vitamin whereas lowering prices.
In response to David Osogo, a Analysis Officer at APHRC, Metropolis Shamba exhibits that city areas themselves might be a part of the answer to meals insecurity and malnutrition.
“City farming nearly offers you on the spot outcomes,” says Osogo. “We’ve got seen communities within the casual settlement feed off their tiny kitchen gardens…faculty youngsters consuming lunch and consuming sizzling meals which can be instantly from greens from the farms…rooster from the poultry farms throughout the colleges.”
These community-led efforts are supported by Dr. Kimani-Murage’s imaginative and prescient, “A Place of Cool Waters”—the interpretation of the Indigenous identify for Nairobi—which was named a Rockefeller Basis Top Food System Visionary in 2020 and featured within the Meals 2050 movie. It gives grants to grassroots organizations together with Metropolis Shamba which can be rethinking meals manufacturing and entry in city areas. This work can also be advancing what Dr. Kimani-Murage describes as a “proper to meals motion” in Kenya.
“It is crucial that folks can take cost of what they’re consuming,” says Dr. Kimani-Murage. “We actually need to promote the spirit of Ubuntu, encouraging folks to share any extra meals…in order that meals isn’t just seen as a commodity, it’s seen as a typical good and a human proper.”
For the reason that Meals 2050 filming, the initiative has expanded to cities all through Kenya and gained worldwide consideration: In 2023, King Charles III visited Metropolis Shamba’s amenities. However Dr. Kimani-Murage’s long-term imaginative and prescient has expanded past meals—she sees local weather motion as crucial to meals programs transformation.
“We’ve got embraced local weather motion as a key driver of this work,” says Dr. Kimani-Murage. “Meals safety and vitamin are very closely impacted by local weather change. By encouraging local weather motion, you’re additionally selling meals safety and optimum vitamin.”
