Invest in farmers to curb migration to urban slums, cities told

By Alex Whiting ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cities must do more to slow the migration of people from the countryside to urban slums, by using their power and money to invest in farmers and promote their products, experts said on the sidelines of a U.N. global food security meeting. "There are many mayors and city authorities thinking maybe they must begin to invest in rural development ... They don't want to have a lot of migration," said Nicolas Bricas, researcher of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD). Cities can change the balance of power in the way food reaches the market, said Corinna Hawkes, professor of food policy at London's City University.