The Characteristics of the Urban Food System in Kitwe, Zambia: A Focus on the Retail Sector

The chapter describes Kitwe’s food system from the perspective of food retail. Food retail is an integral part of the city’s economic space and activities with the majority of retailers engaging in retail as a permanent livelihood activity. There is, however, a strong gender dimension to the food retail as a livelihood activity, with more women than men pursuing food retail as a long-term livelihood venture. In this chapter we show that the geography, product mix, and functional character of the food retail environment have the potential for making an effective food system. For that to happen, however, there must be policy intervention and the provision of relevant infrastructure so as to overcome some of the numerous challenges facing the food retail sector, many of these being a reflection of the lived poverty of both the retailers and consumers.