With on average, 1.45 kg of food consumed per person per day, 3,090 tons of food are needed to feed Parisians and 10,060 tons for Grand Paris Metropolis as a whole. In addition to these estimations¹, Apur has updated information on the food supply chain in order to calculate the daily volumes of food products required to, theoretically, achieve Grand Paris' food autonomy.
Feeding the population involves a wide variety of players: producers, distributors, shops and restaurants but also municipalities. For example, in Paris 30 million meals are distributed each year via the capital's catering services in 1,300 schools, nurseries, EHPAD retirement homes, administrative restaurants and public child welfare establishments. In the metropolis there are 1 million m² of food warehouses, 32,000 restaurants, 16,000 food shops and mass retail outlets. In addition, 1,640 ha of farmed, agricultural land and 83 sustainable food processing establishments enable food to be preserved and particularly encourage the production and practices that respect the environment, economic accessibility and which are beneficial economically for the entire food chain.
By adding together the different storage spaces and resources including people's homes, food shops, restaurants as well as food logistics warehouses, we have calculated there to be sufficient food to feed Paris and its inhabitants for 5 to 7 days. To ensure the subsistence of the population in the event of a crisis, this autonomy could be improved by endeavouring to enlarge the storage space for food products (in car parks, large business areas, warehouses, etc.) and maintaining the supply chain by diversifying modes of transport (road, rail, river). While 95% of food goods are currently transported by road, river (in 2022, 2.6 million tons of agricultural food products were transported via river in the territorial sector of Paris) and rail offer possible alternatives, similar to the rail service of the Tafanel warehouses in the 18th district of Paris.
Furthermore, in order to guarantee a healthy and sustainable food supply, including during a major crisis, several local authorities have begun to reflect on the high priority of the food supply, the supply's security and the sustainability of food chains by drawing up various strategic documents. Within Grand Paris Metropolis, 6 Territorial Food Projects (PAT) are today being implemented in Paris, Grand Paris Sud Est Avenir, Plaine Commune, Fontenay-sous-Bois, Gennevillier and the administrative Department of Seine-Saint-Denis. They contribute to the Metropolitan Food Plan which takes a strategic and operational approach to agriculture and food on the scale of Grand Paris, with the aim of supporting and coordinating local food policies, reinforcing cooperation and increasing the territory's food resilience and sustainability.
¹ - The study is based on the Afterres 2050 scenario, a collaborative approach developed by Solagro.
