We present an analysis of the potential contribution of urban (UA) and peri-urban (PUA) agricultural systems to food and nutritional security in Middle Eastern and North African countries. We provide empirical evidence regarding the structure of UA and PUA that may be in favour of food and nutritional security in the MENA region, using several sources of information. The latter include a recent foresight study on future food systems in the MENA region in 2050, a brief literature review on UA and PUA systems, and an empirical analysis based on global data for MENA countries. We find evidence that the proportion of UA and PUA contributes positively to the city’s capacity to feed its population, but there is no evidence of a size effect of peri-urban area (or its density), indicating that it may be more an intensive margin impact at play. Regarding the share of PUA in total peri-urban area, we find a positive and significant correlation with available food per head, while it is positive for food diversity, as well as a higher elasticity of animal-sourced protein contents of diet to GDP per capita in MENA countries on average. More data complemented with field surveys would be necessary to confirm our findings, but our empirical analysis covering all MENA countries confirms some assumptions found in the literature, regarding the positive contribution of UA and PUA systems for food and nutritional security at the country level.