Is Urban Agriculture Sustaining the Urban Poor? A Study of Grandmother Headed Households (GHHs) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Chipo Hungwe
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Urban Poor

scholarly journals Where Do I Allocate My Urban Allotment Gardens? Development of a Site Selection Tool for Three Cities in Benin

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 318
Author(s):  
B. G. J. S. Sonneveld ◽  
M. D. Houessou ◽  
G. J. M. van den Boom ◽  
A. Aoudji
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Site Suitability ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Allotment Gardens

In the context of rapid urbanization, poorer residents in cities across low- and middle-income countries increasingly experience food and nutrition deficiencies. The United Nations has highlighted urban agriculture (UA) as a viable solution to food insecurity, by empowering the urban poor to produce their own fresh foods and make some profit from surplus production. Despite its potential role in reducing poverty and food insecurity, there appears to be little political will to support urban agriculture. This is seen in unclear political mandates that are sustained by information gaps on selection criteria for UA sites. The research reported here addresses this issue in the form of a decision-making support tool that assesses the suitability of cadastral units and informal plots for allotment gardens in urban and peri-urban areas. The tool was developed and tested for three rapidly expanding cities in Benin, a low-income country in West Africa, based on an ordered logit model that relates a set of 300 expert assessments on site suitability to georeferenced information on biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. Soil, land use, groundwater depth, vicinity to market and women’s safety were significant factors in the assessment. Scaled up across all cadastral units and informal sites, the tool generated detailed baseline maps on site suitability and availability of areas. Its capacity to support policymakers in selecting appropriate sites comes to the fore by reporting changes in site suitability under scenarios of improved soil fertility and enhanced safety for women.

Cultivating biological and cultural diversity: urban farming in Casamance, Senegal

Africa ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga F. Linares
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
West African ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Biological Complexity ◽  
Urban Farming ◽  
Household Economies ◽  
City Environment ◽  
The City

AbstractAt the present time, urban agriculture—that is, the growing of food crops in backyard gardens, unused city spaces and peripheral zones—is an economically viable alternative for many African migrants. Although previously ‘invisible’ to most developers and economists, urban farming is now recognised as playing a crucial subsistence role in the household economies of lower-income people living in major West African cities. But the practice does more than feed the urban poor. Using the example of Ziguinchor in Casamance, Senegal, it is argued that growing crops in peri-urban and intra-urban zones, on otherwise neglected or half-built-up land, also protects and enriches the city environment while increasing the primary productivity of the inhabitants. Directly, or in more subtle ways, the practice strengthens bonds of friendship, and promotes inter-ethnic co-operation while at the same time helping to maintain biological complexity in interesting and previously unexplored ways. City farming may provide a context through which the urban poor can relate to debates about biodiversity.

Urban Agriculture as Livelihood Strategy

2019 ◽  
pp. 557-579
Author(s):  
Ashenafi Tilahun Hailie
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Educational Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Land Use Plan

This chapter assesses the benefits of urban agriculture in the study area. Data is generated through questionnaire, focus group discussions, interviews, and direct observations. Qualitative and quantitative analysis is made in line with sustainable livelihood framework. In the findings, sex indiscrimination, migrants' dominancy, poor educational status, and agricultural background made it as main stays. As assets, access to land, gentle slope, fertile soil, moderate climate, drainage, diversification, access to transportation, are promising. Skills, knowledge transfer, ability to labor, and good health are examined insufficient. Population explosion, absence of good governance, frequent indeterminable natural calamities, land tenure insecurity, and seasonality of prices are identified vulnerabilities. The strategies designed need intervention, organization, and persuasion effort. As outcomes, increasing well-being, reducing vulnerability, and improving food security, are substantial. Hence, incorporating a land use plan and promoting and providing support to the sector imply helping urban poor.

Urban Agriculture as Livelihood Strategy

2018 ◽  
pp. 320-342
Author(s):  
Ashenafi Tilahun Hailie
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Educational Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Land Use Plan

This chapter assesses the benefits of urban agriculture in the study area. Data is generated through questionnaire, focus group discussions, interviews, and direct observations. Qualitative and quantitative analysis is made in line with sustainable livelihood framework. In the findings, sex indiscrimination, migrants' dominancy, poor educational status, and agricultural background made it as main stays. As assets, access to land, gentle slope, fertile soil, moderate climate, drainage, diversification, access to transportation, are promising. Skills, knowledge transfer, ability to labor, and good health are examined insufficient. Population explosion, absence of good governance, frequent indeterminable natural calamities, land tenure insecurity, and seasonality of prices are identified vulnerabilities. The strategies designed need intervention, organization, and persuasion effort. As outcomes, increasing well-being, reducing vulnerability, and improving food security, are substantial. Hence, incorporating a land use plan and promoting and providing support to the sector imply helping urban poor.

scholarly journals Coping with food poverty in cities: The case of urban agriculture in Glen Norah Township in Harare

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Masvaure
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Coping Mechanism ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
African Countries ◽  
African Cities ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe focus of this study is on urban agriculture which is a common informal sector activity across most sub-Saharan African cities. Urban agriculture is more common among poor urban households, and acts as a poverty coping mechanism. Poor households often spend more than 60% of their income on food alone. The major thrust of this study was to understand the underlying mechanisms driving farming in cities. A mixed method research approach was adopted and data was collected from 103 households in Glen Norah Township in Harare, Zimbabwe through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observations. Arising from analysis of the data, the Urban Livelihoods Coping Model (ULCM) is proposed in order to explain the phenomenon of urban agriculture in African cities. This model acknowledges the fact that the socio-economic conditions and the socio-historical context of Zimbabwe and other African countries today is as a result of the influence of ‘Western leaning’ development policies influenced by modernization and associated theories. These theories combined with cultural factors and the impact of Structural Adjustment Policies resulted in the present situation where urban agriculture plays a critical role in the survival of the urban poor as a coping mechanism against food poverty. The ULCM ascribes the emergence of urban agriculture to necessity, ability and opportunity. The significance of this study is that it will contribute to understanding the socio-economic role of urban agriculture and how it can be factored into the urban planning systems of developing countries.

scholarly journals Detecting level of wetland encroachment for urban agriculture in Uganda using hyper-temporal remote sensing

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Kabiri ◽  
Molly Allen ◽  
Juduth Toma Okuonzia ◽  
Beatrice Akello ◽  
Rebecca Ssabaganzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Wetland Loss ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Modis Ndvi

Background: Urbanization is an important indicator of economic growth and social change but is associated with environmental degradation. In Uganda, wetlands cover an area of 11% of the country’s land area, of which half have been converted to industry and residential areas, and urban agriculture. Here, we investigate the extent of wetlands lost in two Ugandan cities, Wakiso and Kampala, in a period of 30 years. Secondly, we demonstrate a simple methodology to monitor agriculture on encroached wetlands. Methods: Using a field survey and free remote sensing data from Landsat TM 1986 and Landsat ETM 2016 we classified the rate of wetland loss and encroachment from 1986 to 2016. Using MODIS NDVI 16-day composites at 500-meter spatial resolution, we generated distinctive crops and crop mixtures in the encroached wetlands for urban agriculture using the ISODATA clustering algorithm. Results: Over 30 years, 72,828 ha (73%) of the Wakiso-Kampala wetlands have been lost. Agriculture areas have doubled, of which 16,488 ha (23%) were reclaimed from wetlands. All cultivated agriculture in Kampala was in the wetlands while in Wakiso, 73% of crop agriculture was in the wetlands. Major crops grown in these urban wetlands were banana (20%), sugarcane (22%), maize (17%), Eucalyptus trees (12%), sweet potatoes (10%). Conclusions: The Kampala-Wakiso wetlands have been disappearing at a rate of 2500 ha annually for the last 30 years. At this rate, there will be no wetlands left by 2029. Policy recommendations should promote wetland reclamation programs so as to restore and reconstruct lost and fragmented wetlands; should mandate food security and poverty eradication to convene with ministries regulating wetlands to merge conflicting policies; and should develop polices that are inclusive of challenges faced by the urban poor while at the same time minimize the pressures on urban environments.

Gardening as More than Urban Agriculture: Perspectives from Smaller Midwestern Cities on Urban Gardening Policies and Practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Christopher Strunk ◽  
Ursula Lang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Public Land ◽  
Vacant Lots ◽  
Urban Gardening ◽  
Privately Owned ◽  
Policies And Practices

For the most part, research and policymaking on urban gardening have focused on community gardens, whether in parks, vacant lots, or other public land. This emphasis, while important for many Midwestern cities, can obscure the significance of privately owned land such as front yard and back yard and their crucial connections with gardening on public land. In this case study, we examine how policies and practices related to gardening and the management of green space in two Midwestern cities exceed narrow visions of urban agriculture. The article explores the cultivation of vacant lot gardens and private yards as two modes of property in similar Midwestern contexts and argues that the management of green space is about more than urban agriculture. Instead, we show how urban gardening occurs across public/private property distinctions and involves a broader set of actors than those typically included in sustainability policies. Gardening also provides a key set of connections through which neighbors understand and practice sustainability in Midwestern cities.

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