Urban food supplies, particularly in the Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), can no longer be taken for granted: by 1980, nearly 50% of all food consumed by people in the cities of the developing world was imported from other countries (Austin 1980, quoted by Wade 1987: 37). In African cities, many imported food products now cost relatively less than local food, at least during part of the year (Vennetier 1988: 221). The internationalization of urban food-supply systems, in countries stricken or not by famine, and its effects on diet changes, food prices, infant health, and local enterprises are provoking renewed concern (Drakakis-Smith 1990). In Harare, a former Secretary of Agriculture, now chairman of the Agricultural Marketing Authority, sees UA as a national food-security issue (Charles Gore, personal communication, Harare, 1 September 1993).
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revised, June 12,1995
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