The vicious cycle of low productivity and exposure to price hikes

Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food says that the urbanisation trend can be slowed by implementing a form of sustainable, low input agriculture, known as agroecology, as this would improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and preserve healthy ecosystems for future generations.

"In the short term, lower import tariffs to let in food ensure urban populations are fed, but in the long term it is a disaster because local farmers can't compete," says de Schutter, adding that cheap food imports make the country extremely vulnerable to price hikes in the global markets – such as those we are now seeing in North Africa.