These women sell part of their produce at the market of Los Chillos César Jaramillo Avila

The Economics of Urban MAGAZINE NUMBER 7, AUGUST 2002 AUGUST NUMBER 7,

Urban agriculture provides multiple functions and benefits America, and many of them incorporate to urban dwellers and cities. Political support is growing and agriculture as part of their livelihood further research and financial support to enhance the strategies. Although the contribution of contribution of to sustainable urban urban agriculture to the GDP (Gross development is necessary. In this issue of the UA-Magazine Domestic Product) may be small, its we focus on the analysis and understanding of the importance to many city inhabitants is economics of urban agriculture, during periods of economic substantial, especially in difficult times recession as well as in times of a well developing economy. (see the Buenos Aires, Quito and Harare case studies).

he Economics of Urban Agriculture is Urban agriculture arises not only out of a wide area of study. Moustier (2001) crisis situations, but also exists because of T discusses the following indicators to nearness to urban markets and the show and measure the economic impacts comparative advantages this location of urban agriculture: employment (popu- provides for delivery of fresh perishable lation involved), income and income dis- products as milk (Nairobi), eggs, meat and tribution, cash readiness, contribution to fresh vegetables (Kumasi), the availability household food, added value, contribu- of productive resources (water, tion to urban food supply, and share in of urban organic wastes), closeness to market(s). Various case studies are pre- institutions providing credit, technical sented in this issue analysing such factors advice and market information, etc. Editorial at household and/or municipal level. Urban agriculture complements rural Next to the analysis of the socio-econom- agriculture and increases the efficiency of

www.ruaf.org ic impacts of urban agriculture, strategies the national food supply in terms of to further develop the economic contribu- producing niche products, or may tion of urban agriculture are presented substitute food imports (leading to and reviewed. foreign exchange savings). The contribution to urban food supply varies, Rapid urbanisation in developing coun- relative to rural agriculture, depending on tries and migration of rural populations product and season (see Ouagadougou). places high demand on cities to provide When the economy improves urban jobs and adequate living conditions. The agriculture also may take on other numbers of urban poor and those operat- functions for the urban citizens: César Jaramillo Avila ing in the informal sector are increasing for leisure and physical Municipality of Quito, Ecuador throughout Africa, Asia and Latin exercise, offering of recreational services René van Veenhuizen ETC-RUAF URBAN AGRICULTURE Contingent Valuation Methodapplied inHavana,Cuba. - HennPandHenningJ.2001. The Value ofUrban Agriculture.The shop proceedings(ODA), Kumasi,Ghana,1995. Ghana: anoverview. In:NRI(eds.)Peri-Urban InterfaceResearch:work- - AbutiateW.S. 1995. Urban andPeriurban HorticulturalActivityin REFERENCES - MoustierP. 2001. AssessingtheSocio-EconomicImpact. K - HouseW. Ikiara.G.andMcCormick.D.1993. Urban Self-employmentin (December 2001): 49-50. F - Sawio.C.1998. Managing Urban AgricultureinDarEsSalaam.Cities Methodologies inUrban Agriculture, Nairobi,Kenya. contingent valuationanalyses. PresentationatworkshoponAppropriate of urbanandperiurbanagriculture:Acomparison ofcost-benefitand - NugentRA.2001. Usingeconomicanalysistomeasurethesustainability 5 (December2001): 47-48. F eeding People Report20.Ottawa: IDRC. ood Security. June 2002. enya: panaceaorviablestrategy?World Development21 (7)”1205-1223 farmers ownproduction( cent offoodconsumedderivedfromthe urban farmingincluding:atleast50per- highbenefitsfrom Nairobi foundvery holds, whilestudiesintwoslumareasof food consumptioninlow-incomehouse- (Jakarta) to60percent(Harare)oftotal represents anywherefrom18 percent livestock production.Self-producedfood diet thanthosewithoutaccesstocropand rity andprovidedthemwithahealthier household consumptionraisedfoodsecu- countries, showingthatproducingfor of householdsisgivenforanumber urban agricultureonthenutritionalstatus available at W on In theSpecialissueof A ECONOMIC IMPACTS OFURBAN agriculture? ty relatetothecommunityandurban ❖ alternative uses? and howcanchoicesbemadeabout better (overall)thanotherusesofspace, ❖ change overtime? orpermanent,andhowdothey porary these impactspositiveornegative,tem- culture onthecommunity, andwhyare ❖ and howdotheyrelate? ❖ analysis: impacts ofurbanagricultureineconomic questions concerningthesocio-economic Nugent (2001) suggeststhefollowingkey print (asexplainedintheLondoncase). reduction oftheurbanecologicalfood periurban landscapeandbiodiversity to urbantourists,maintenanceofthe Special, 2002,Mwangi,1995). GRICULTURE orld Food Summit-fiveyearslaterand How dofactorsoutsidethecommuni- Are theseimpactsonthecommunity What aretheimpactsofurbanagri- Who aretheimportantstakeholders, food security www.ruaf.org , preparedfortheFAO U A-Magazine U U , theimpactof A-Magazine A-Magazine , SpecialIssueon U U A-Magazine A-Magazine 5 # basic inputs Ur sonal variationsandexternalfactors the levelofthesebenefitsdependonsea- of practisinghomegardening,butthat cultivators weighedupagainsttherisks nomic impactandfoodsecurityforthe in thisissueshowsthatthepositiveeco- and invest.ThearticleonOuagadougou itively affectspeople’s improved accesstofoodandincomepos- other expenditures.Furthermore, income ofthehouseholdavailablefor production offoodmakeslittlecash 80 percentoftheirincomeonfood.Self- P important The foodproducedoftenrepresents time spent,etc); the farming effort encing netincomeofahousehold as:the Nugent (2000)describesthefactors influ- (Abutiate,1995).senior publicservant to equaltenminimumsalariesorthatofa income ofamarketgardenerwasfound et al.,1993). In Lométhemeanmonthly est earningsinallofurbanKenya (House small-scale enterprisesandthethirdhigh- highest self-employmentearningsin K those employed,Sawio,1998). InNairobi, second largestemployer(20percentof Salaam, Tanzania, urbanagricultureisthe tor tohouseholdmaintenance.InDarEs nificant, butanoftenuncertain,contribu- earned byurbanfarmersisfoundtoasig- and middleincomehouseholds.Income sourceofincometolow complementary poor lackingaccesstootherjobsandasa ment oor urbanconsumerscanspend60to naUrban agricultureprovidesthe enya ban agriculturecreates and ro example istheproduction ofperishableproducts, suchasvegetables Market proximity isamajorincentivefortheintensificationoffarming und open-spacevegetableproduction iscommon,especiallyinbot- income in urbanandperiurbanareas. Around Kumasi,manyrainfedmaize- systems orchangeoftomore profitable ones.Acommon savings onfoodexpenditures. ; the streams togenerateadditionalincome,whileinthecityitselfyear- cassava farmersstarteddry-seasonvegetableproduction along (type ofactivity, amountof yields , especiallyfortheurban 2 availability , whicharedeter- capacity towork Income ofFarmingSystemsAroundKumasi self-employ- and cost of tomlands withwateraccessforirrigation. exception ofthe peakperiods. in urbanagriculture production,with there isrelativelylittleuseof and Haroonabadinthisissueillustrate, gies. AstheexamplesofOuagadougou often aspartofabroaderarray of strate- impact onurbanhouseholds,but very have animportantpositiveeconomic must beanalysed.Urban agriculturecan poor urbanhouseholds agriculture inthe In ordertounderstandtheroleofurban fares andpeopletendingtheirchildren). their houses(withrelatedcostsofbus and otherinformaljobsfarawayfrom badly paidwagelabourinhouseholds alternativeto an attractiveandflexible many women,urbanagricultureprovides families and/oradditionalincome.For ture, seekingimproveddietsfortheir cially In Africa,LatinAmericaandAsia,espe- farmers inaperiurbansetting. impact ontheeconomiesofsmall-scale the useoflocalresourcesanditspositive These casesalsoshowtheimportanceof using fewerexternalinputs(Mexico). invested bymaintainingdiversityand or obtainingbetterreturnsperdollar intensive vegetableproduction(Kumasi), duction decisionsbytakinguphigherrisk that urbanfarmersmaderationalpro- Ouagadougou inthisissuedemonstrate Kumasi, Nairobi,MexicoD.F. and demand oftheproducts.Thecaseson on products,and store, processandpreserve turn dependoncashneeded,abilityto and subsequent nology mined by outside fa women ; access tomarket management ctors suchassupplyand are activeinurbanagricul- prices survival strategiesof survival obtained, whichin , variousfactors and or otherbuyers available tech- wage labour UA-Magazine PAGE 5 In this issue

4Micro Credit and Investment 5Income of Farming Systems Around Kumasi Employment is also created by the small was estimated at 1.6 the annual minimum 7 Municipal Strategies for the Primary Sector scale enterprises producing inputs for salary (Sawio, 1998). In Accra, Ghana of the District of Moreno agricultural production (e.g. production nearly 30% of low-income households in 10 Urban Agriculture Project in the Conjunto of compost, equipment, a.o.) or process- informal housing, had livestock worth on Palmeira Slum ing and marketing agricultural products average nearly a full month of income. In 12 The Economic Impact of Urban Agriculture (packaging, frying, drying, canning, Hanoi, Vietnam it is estimated that 80% on home in Ouagadougou freezing, marmalades, etcetera). of fresh vegetables, 50% of pork, poultry 16 Economic impact of using low external Examples of the former are given in this and fresh water fish, as well as 40 % of inputs in the chinampa periurban agricultur- issue ion the use in periurban agriculture eggs, originate from urban and periurban al system of urban organic wastes in Brisbane and areas (UA-Magazine Special, 2002). 19 Private Investment in Urban Agriculture in of urban wastewater in Nairobi and Nairobi Haroonabad. Examples of the latter in ECONOMIC VALUATION AT CITY 22 Can Urban Rooftop Microfarms be this issue, are the contributions on LEVEL Profitable? Fortaleza, Buenos Aires and Quito, and It is not that simple to determine the eco- 25 Impact of Urban Agriculture: the discussion on London. nomic value of agricultural production in Reduced Prices in Havana and around the cities based on hard “cost 26 Different kind of Investments in Urban Urban agriculture provides the urban and benefit” data. Data on the amounts Agriculture; Kintyre County and poor with a good buffer against sectoral of inputs used or their prices, the quanti- Musikavanhu Co-operative experiences shocks (Nugent 2000), in that one can ties of food produced and prices obtained 29 Maximizing Private and Social Gains of start the activity with relatively few barri- within the city boundaries are often lack- Wastewater Agriculture in Haroonabad ers (although lack of land ownership in ing or not accurate and difficult to obtain 32 Trust Funds as Financing Mechanism for many cases prevents substantial invest- due to the largely informal character of Participatory Urban Agriculture ment) and provides food, which is the urban agriculture. 34 Costs and Benefits of Urban Agriculture in most essential commodity in times of East London (a discussion paper) economic crisis (illustrated by the cases It is often argued that economically more on Ouagadougou, Harare and Fortaleza). valuable land uses will (or even should) replace urban agriculture. High urban The fact sheet included in the Special edi- land values are clearly a main factor influ- implemented that support such functions tion of the UA-Magazine on food security encing urban agriculture and in an open of urban agriculture. shows that the quantities of vegetables, market agriculture often gives way to poultry, milk, eggs, etcetera, annually industry, housing, etcetera. However, the In order to estimate the non-market costs produced in/around the cities are quite economic power of intensive other methods to estimate cost-benefits substantial (see also several articles in and animal husbandry is often underesti- of urban agriculture, e.g. the contingency this issue: Kumasi, Nairobi, Havana and mated and the picture regarding the eco- value method (Henn and Henning 2001, Ouagadougou). The few data available on nomic value of urban agriculture becomes Nugent 2001) that take into account the the market value of the products generat- much more positive if non-market benefits social, health and environmental costs ed in urban agriculture are impressive. (such as food security, better nutrition and benefits, by using opportunity costs and social integration of the poor, urban and willingness to pay as measurements. In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, urban agri- greening and better urban micro-cli- culture is the second largest employer (20 mates, recycling of urban organic wastes, The cases in this magazine issue illustrate percent of those employed). The individ- urban landscape management, recreation, that more multidisciplinary work is need- ual urban farmer’s annual average profit etc.) are included and urban policies are ed in order to produce clear data that convince policy makers about the socio- economic importance of urban agricul- ture and alternative ways to support urban agriculture.

MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN THE Private Investment in Urban ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF Agriculture in Nairobi URBAN AGRICULTURE Urban agriculture constitutes a critical food Once a Municipality acknowledges the security component of low-income urban farm- importance of urban agriculture, various ing families. Also, urban agriculture is an impor- measures to stimulate the development of

PAGE 19 tant aspect of urban agri-business where the this sector can be considered, including: sector generates important income and employ- ❖ the establishment of farmers’ markets ment opportunities. Producers often lack and related basic infrastructure (see the access to efficient credit and investment support services. Agro-based articles on the experiences gained in industries in Nairobi play an important role in the promotion of urban agri- Buenos Aires and Quito in this issue) culture, which can be enhanced by an organised farmers society and ❖ the stimulation of micro-enterprise favourable government policy environment. development in food processing and

August 2002 3 Micro-Credit and marketing (see the articles on Fortaleza Investment in Urban Agriculture and Nairobi) ❖ Improving access of urban farmers to credit services and technical advice (see Urban Agriculture has been recognised in many cities to be a vehicle for page 4 and the article on Quito – “Credit urban environmental improvement, and for strengthening the develop- and investment for urban agriculture” ment of productive, sustainable and democratic cities. Examples have been will be the focus in issue no. 9 of the covered in earlier issues of the UA-Magazine (see the article on Dar Es UA-Magazine) Salaam, Santiago de los Caballeros and Gaborone in issue no.4 on the ❖ Stimulation of the transition from sub- Integration of Urban Agriculture into City Planning). Both financial and politi- sistence to market oriented urban farming cal legitimacy are essential to support this development and the scaling-up can be stimulated, among others by provi- of positive experiences. Progress has been recorded and assessed on politi- sion of market information regarding cal support rather than on the financial one, despite a growing interest of most promising niche markets for urban development and financial agencies. agriculture like fresh vegetables (Kumasi), ornamentals (Buenos Aires), flowers and Therefore, a systematic survey and evaluation of significant and diverse (Brisbane) and assisting modalities of credit and investment provision to urban agriculture is very urban farmers to engage in such sectors. timely. In the past two decades, considerable progress with several types of micro-financing has been made (like cooperative banking, micro-banks, vil- Municipal policies should address urban lage banks and solidarity groups), but further institutional innovation is agriculture holistically, as part of the required. This is especially so for urban agriculture. The growth of this sec- entire urban food system, covering differ- tor at the margin of the mainstream economy could not only aggravate the ent sectors (food security, environment, environmental and public health risks posed by bad practices but could also health, land use, etc.), and at different undermine the ability of the sector to make an even greater contribution to levels (local and national). Municipalities food security, employment and income generation as well as productive try to reduce the number of urban poor management of idle or under-utilised urban resources. and promote their social integration in the urban economy, while many national UN Habitat through its Urban Economy and Finance Branch (at Head- level policies tend to push people into the quarters in Nairobi) and its Urban Management Programme for Latin informal sector. Thus, there is an impor- America and the Caribbean (UMP-LAC), as well as the International tant role to play for the municipality in Development Research Council (IDRC), decided to support a global initia- the enhancement of urban agriculture. tive to promote a more coherent and efficient development and implemen- But also investment of the private sector tation of credit and investment schemes for urban agriculture innovations. may play a substantial role as the Harare The initiative, which started in early 2002, aims to identify, typify, analyse and Nairobi cases show. and draw lessons from seven major city case studies in Kathmandu and Bharatpur, Nepal; Bangalore, India; Khartoum, Sudan; Gaborone; Botswana; Quito, Ecuador; Texcoco, Mexico; and one London, UK. Additional case studies are supported by UMP and RUAF. The experiences will be systematised and compared in a Fact Sheet and synthesis paper, which will be distributed widely through various channels, and presented in issue no.9 of the UA-Magazine (due in March 2003).

At the conference “Food Security in African Cities” (27-31 May 2002, in Nairobi, Kenya) organised by UN-HABITAT, FAO, IDRC and SIUPA-CGIAR, a workshop was held to discuss early drafts and develop policy recommen- dations for improving the financial, social and institutional sustainability of such systems. The cases were assessed according to Actors, Type of Investment, Interest rate, Type of activities supported, Scale of scheme, Strengths and Weaknesses, Policy Response and Recommendations. PAGE 29 Next to the importance of credit and investment for urban agriculture, Maximizing Private and Social Gains of especially for women and youth, recommendations were presented Wastewater Agriculture in Haroonabad regarding financial sustainability (e.g. flexible terms and interest rates and In many low-income countries, municipalities often lack the need for monitoring and quality control), institutional sustainability necessary physical, financial, institutional and regulatory and partnerships (involvement of public and private investment, means to safely dispose-off wastewater. On the other hand, diversification of portfolios of providers of resources) and governance of the farmers around urban and periurban areas find the schemes (participation of beneficiaries, clear policy rules, proper wastewater as a valuable resource to grow high value management and transparency). . This paper presents data from a case study from Pakistan’s southern Punjab, and estimates private and Marielle Dubbeling social gains from wastewater agriculture and compares UMP-LAC these to the freshwater agriculture.

4 UA-Magazine Micro-Credit and marketing (see the articles on Fortaleza Investment in Urban Agriculture and Nairobi) ❖ Improving access of urban farmers to credit services and technical advice (see Urban Agriculture has been recognised in many cities to be a vehicle for page 4 and the article on Quito – “Credit urban environmental improvement, and for strengthening the develop- and investment for urban agriculture” ment of productive, sustainable and democratic cities. Examples have been will be the focus in issue no. 9 of the covered in earlier issues of the UA-Magazine (see the article on Dar Es UA-Magazine) Salaam, Santiago de los Caballeros and Gaborone in issue no.4 on the ❖ Stimulation of the transition from sub- Integration of Urban Agriculture into City Planning). Both financial and politi- sistence to market oriented urban farming cal legitimacy are essential to support this development and the scaling-up can be stimulated, among others by provi- of positive experiences. Progress has been recorded and assessed on politi- sion of market information regarding cal support rather than on the financial one, despite a growing interest of most promising niche markets for urban development and financial agencies. agriculture like fresh vegetables (Kumasi), ornamentals (Buenos Aires), flowers and Therefore, a systematic survey and evaluation of significant and diverse hydroponics (Brisbane) and assisting modalities of credit and investment provision to urban agriculture is very urban farmers to engage in such sectors. timely. In the past two decades, considerable progress with several types of micro-financing has been made (like cooperative banking, micro-banks, vil- Municipal policies should address urban lage banks and solidarity groups), but further institutional innovation is agriculture holistically, as part of the required. This is especially so for urban agriculture. The growth of this sec- entire urban food system, covering differ- tor at the margin of the mainstream economy could not only aggravate the ent sectors (food security, environment, environmental and public health risks posed by bad practices but could also health, land use, etc.), and at different undermine the ability of the sector to make an even greater contribution to levels (local and national). Municipalities food security, employment and income generation as well as productive try to reduce the number of urban poor management of idle or under-utilised urban resources. and promote their social integration in the urban economy, while many national UN Habitat through its Urban Economy and Finance Branch (at Head- level policies tend to push people into the quarters in Nairobi) and its Urban Management Programme for Latin informal sector. Thus, there is an impor- America and the Caribbean (UMP-LAC), as well as the International tant role to play for the municipality in Development Research Council (IDRC), decided to support a global initia- the enhancement of urban agriculture. tive to promote a more coherent and efficient development and implemen- But also investment of the private sector tation of credit and investment schemes for urban agriculture innovations. may play a substantial role as the Harare The initiative, which started in early 2002, aims to identify, typify, analyse and Nairobi cases show. and draw lessons from seven major city case studies in Kathmandu and Bharatpur, Nepal; Bangalore, India; Khartoum, Sudan; Gaborone; Botswana; Quito, Ecuador; Texcoco, Mexico; and one London, UK. Additional case studies are supported by UMP and RUAF. The experiences will be systematised and compared in a Fact Sheet and synthesis paper, which will be distributed widely through various channels, and presented in issue no.9 of the UA-Magazine (due in March 2003).

At the conference “Food Security in African Cities” (27-31 May 2002, in Nairobi, Kenya) organised by UN-HABITAT, FAO, IDRC and SIUPA-CGIAR, a workshop was held to discuss early drafts and develop policy recommen- dations for improving the financial, social and institutional sustainability of such systems. The cases were assessed according to Actors, Type of Investment, Interest rate, Type of activities supported, Scale of scheme, Strengths and Weaknesses, Policy Response and Recommendations. PAGE 29 Next to the importance of credit and investment for urban agriculture, Maximizing Private and Social Gains of especially for women and youth, recommendations were presented Wastewater Agriculture in Haroonabad regarding financial sustainability (e.g. flexible terms and interest rates and In many low-income countries, municipalities often lack the need for monitoring and quality control), institutional sustainability necessary physical, financial, institutional and regulatory and partnerships (involvement of public and private investment, means to safely dispose-off wastewater. On the other hand, diversification of portfolios of providers of resources) and governance of the farmers around urban and periurban areas find the schemes (participation of beneficiaries, clear policy rules, proper wastewater as a valuable resource to grow high value management and transparency). crops. This paper presents data from a case study from Pakistan’s southern Punjab, and estimates private and Marielle Dubbeling social gains from wastewater agriculture and compares UMP-LAC these to the freshwater agriculture.

4 UA-Magazine vary crops according to their own specialisation and market demand. Market proximity is a major incentive for the In periurban Kumasi, farmers still intensification of farming systems or change rely on traditional and largely sub- of systems to more profitable ones. A sistence and cassava rainfed common example is the production of farming. Close to streams or where perishable products, such as vegetables in shallow wells can be dug, many urban and periurban areas. Around Kumasi, farmers start dry-season cultiva- many rainfed maize-cassava farmers started tion of, for example, okra, toma- dry-season vegetable production along toes, peppers, or cabbage for the streams to generate additional income, while urban market. Besides access to in the city itself, year-round open-space water, dry season vegetable pro- vegetable production is common, especially in duction depends on a good road

bottomlands with water access for irrigation. IWMI network. Irrigating urban vegetables with cans FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Surveys carried out by the Kwame of Farming Systems Nkrumah University of Science Income and Technology (KNUST) with International Water Management around Kumasi Institute (IWMI) as well as differ- ent British research teams covered in total about 300 farm house- hese systems are not only or private owners and do not pay holds. Cost-benefit analysis com- output intensive - with for rent on the land. The essence is to parisons were made of farm T example up to eleven lettuce keep the area clean and to prevent finances of common rural (A), peri- harvests per year - but also man- encroachment by squatters. urban (B/C) and urban farming (D) age to overcome shifting cultiva- Periurban or rural farmers, on the systems see table 1 (i.e., traditional tion by farming on the same plot other hand, hold short-term (e.g. maize-cassava farming, additional nearly continuously, despite often two year) renting or leasing agree- dry-season vegetable irrigation, ments with the chief of their com- and open-space year-round urban munity for the traditional maize- vegetable farming, respectively). Vegetable farming is for cassava system. income generation Urban and periurban farmers use The major crops cultivated by water from streams and drains urban vegetable farmers are lettuce and dugout wells and only in marginal soil quality. This is only (9-11 harvests/year), cabbage (2-3 selected cases, pipe-borne water. possible through high inputs of harvests/year), spring onions (8-9 In the urban areas, farmers use manure, water, labour and skills harvests/year), as well as “Ayoyo” watering cans whilst periurban (Drechsel et al. 2002). But what are (Corchorus sp.), “Alefi” ( farmers often use either pumping the benefits of farming with sp.), carrots, radish or cauliflower. machines or carry water from the insecure tenure, high risk of pest Urban vegetable farmers cultivate stream to their farms. Manual irri- attacks and much more dependen- all of these crops year-round, gation needs to be carried out with cy on in- and output market fluc- mostly with manual irrigation, and high frequency and makes irriga- tuations than ever faced in tradi- tional maize and cassava farming in rural Kumasi? The motivation Table 1. Revenue generated in different farming systems to start urban vegetable farming is ______in fact largely economic, which is Farming system Typical Net revenue Net revenue George Danso, the subject of this article. farm size (US$)/ha/year (US$)/ farm Dept. of Agricultural (ha) holding/year Economics, KNUST/IWMI, KUMASI Kumasi, Ghana This study was carried out in A Rainfed maize or 0.5-0.9 350-550 200-450 ✉ [email protected] urban and periurban areas of maize/cassava Pay Drechsel, IWMI, Kumasi. The periurban area of B Dry season vegetable 0.4-0.6 300-350 140-170 Kumasi, Ghana Kumasi extends on average 40 km irrigation only ( eggs, Thomas Wiafe-Antwi, from the city center (Adam 2001). pepper, okra, cabbage) KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana Vegetable farmers in urban C Dry-season, irrigated 0.7-1.3 500-700 300-500 Lucy Gyiele, IWMI, Kumasi, Kumasi have informal land vegetables and rainfed Ghana arrangements with the authorities maize (or vegetables) D All-year round irrigated 0.1-0.2 2,000-8,000 400-800 vegetable farming (lettuce, August 2002 cabbage, spring onions) Urban vegetable farmers jump over the poverty line possible, periurban and especially urban vegetable farmers make a remarkable step over the poverty line. In 1998/99, about tion time-consuming and expensive (13% farm gate, although some farmers closer to 43% of the Ghanaian population could be of total cost – excluding family labour – the city also bring their produce to urban defined as poor, using the upper poverty and 38% of time). Only weeding was rated wholesale markets. line of 900,000 cedis (equivalent to about as more expensive by the farmers (23% of US $380 in January 1999) per adult per total cost). The cost for hiring of pumps is Vegetable farming in the study area is for year (Ghana Statistical Service 1999). This estimated to be from US $40-70 per dry income generation. Urban farmers occu- part of the population has insufficient season (ca. 3 months). Most farmers who pying open space in low- or bottomlands income to cover its essential food and non- use manual labour rarely pay for it as they all year round and reach annual food consumption. Twenty-nine percent depend on family labour, though occa- income levels of US $400 to $800 (see even fall under the lower (i.e., extreme) sionally they hire labourers, rarely paying Table 1); this is 2-3 times the income they poverty line of 700,000 cedis (ca. US $300) more than US $11 per season. In general, could earn from rural farming. However, and cannot meet their caloric require- manual labour is more expensive per vol- being successful in this way requires care- ments even if they spent their entire bud- ume of water delivered (US $3-6 per m3) as ful observations of market demand. As get on food. The common picture, that compared to the use of pumps (US $0.6-5 urban farming is land and labour con- poverty is much higher in rural (52%) than per m3) (Cornish et al. 2001). strained, typical farm sizes range around urban areas (28%), finds its pendant in 0.1 ha. Urban farmers thus earn at least agriculture. Urban vegetable farmers thus Besides water, vegetable farmers also use twice as much as rural farmers on only jump over the poverty line, periurban veg- significant amounts of different types of about 20% of their farm area. etable farmers can double their staple crop nutrient inputs as well as . In Unfortunately, many cities do not offer income and move over the poverty line as Kumasi, the use of poultry manure is very much space for such intensive systems. In well, while many maize-cassava farmers common due to its high availability and Kumasi, an area of only about 120 ha is remain below it. However, ranked accord- low price (US $0.1 per sack). Only a few currently under open space vegetable ing to profit as a percentage of production farmers use mineral fertiliser in addition to farming without considering about 80,000 costs, vegetable farming shows its disad- this (mostly for cabbage). In periurban backyard farms in the city which mostly vantage: high profits also require more Kumasi, many more vegetable farmers use produce for home consumption (i.e., to investments and initial capital. mineral fertiliser (US $14 per 50kg NPK) reduce expenditures on food). but combine it with poultry manure when TRADE-OFFS possible. For periurban farmers, dry season veg- Urban vegetable farmers in particular etable irrigation can also add a significant obtain relatively high profits on a very In periurban Kumasi, women and men amount of cash to their income; especially small area as compared with the other play similar roles in crop production while as large parts of their rainfed maize and farming systems. Additional benefits for urban vegetable farming is mostly done by cassava harvest are used for household the society (food supply, employment, men. Women, however, play a major role consumption. Without this additional trader income, etc.) must however be in crop marketing in both urban and peri- income, cash availability might actually be compared with the negative trade-offs, urban areas. Traders usually purchase veg- less than US $100 per year. However, only for example from use or through etables at the farm gate. Prices vary signifi- a minority of periurban farmers shift to soil nutrient mining. Nevertheless, paral- cantly from one season to another. year-round vegetable farming (e.g. toma- lel nutrient balance studies by IWMI Occasionally, traders provide farmers with toes in the Akumadan area). There are showed that related costs are low and are inputs (especially seeds) in order to pro- three reasons for this: the importance of more significant in traditional farming (up duce crops for them to sell. Sometimes the maize and cassava for home consumption to 10% of net income) than in intensive sellers order products ahead of time in an (mentioned by 52% of the farmers inter- vegetable production (up to 1%). oral contract that is based on trust. The viewed); the lower price of vegetables in amount of money finally received may dif- the rainy season (40%); and the increased Traditional cropping is based on ash (and fer from the earlier agreement as demand risk of pest attacks (8%). soil) nutrient depletion, which the farmer and supply might have changed during is trying to counteract through shifting cul- the growing period. In the periurban area, Irrigated vegetable production is not only a tivation (acquiring new land). In irrigated wholesalers pick up vegetables either at way out of shifting cultivation but also out urban vegetable farming, space limitations assembly points or roadsides or at the of poverty. Where vegetable marketing is do not allow for shifting cultivation. Here, output-oriented cash crop production depends on high nutrient inputs to cope with low native soil fertility. On sandy REFERENCES soils, urban farmers enter into a vicious - Adam M. 2001. Definition and boundaries of the periurban interface - patterns in the patch- cycle of applying high rates of nutrients work. In: Drechsel P. and Kunze D (eds), Waste Composting for Urban and Periurban Agriculture - Closing the rural-urban nutrient cycle in sub-Saharan Africa (Wallingford: IWMI/FAO/CABI), (especially N and K) which keep pp 193-208. out due to high rates of irrigation. Though, - Drechsel P, G Danso and B Keraita. 2002. Soil nutrient depletion vs. environmental pollution: the irrigation water also contains nutrients, The dilemma of intensive urban agriculture. Paper for ISCO 2002, Beijing, 26-31 May. and as poultry manure is very cheap, costs - Ghana Statistical Service. 1999. Poverty trends in Ghana in the 1990s. Prepared by the remain low (Drechsel et al. 2002). Government of Ghana for the tenth consultative group meeting, Accra, 23-24 November.

6 UA-Magazine Municipal Strategies for the primary sector of the District of Moreno, Buenos Aires

The horticultural and ornamental production centre of the capital, while the primary sector is a source of sector of the district of Moreno, in Buenos Aires, is Caminos del Buen Aire Highway labour and has significant eco- strategically located in an urban area with direct access allows direct access to the other nomic movements in Moreno and to the major markets of the country. Horticultural main productive corridors of the the province in general. As a result, producers predominantly belong to the Bolivian colony, country. it was decided to enhance the pro- with scarce income. Growers of ornamental are ducer-state relationship. mostly from the Japanese (herbs) and Italian (trees and The extension of the district and shrubs) communities, who are capable of undertaking the availability of low-cost and eas- THE HORTICULTURAL larger capital investments. ily accessible land make the district SECTOR a privileged area for the develop- Horticultural facilities in the area ment of urban projects (private are small - on average 6 ha. Some he district of Moreno is locat- neighbourhoods, estates) and con- 40 species are grown throughout ed on the western edge of the sumption and leisure services. the year. Leafy vegetables are the T Metropolitan Area of Buenos most significant, being grown by Aires, Argentina, 37 km from the In 1997, the Municipality of 96% of producers and taking up a federal capital. The district is Moreno began a relationship with surface that accounts for 55% of divided into six localities: Moreno, the productive sector through the total horticultural area, fol- La Reja, Francisco Alvarez, Cuartel PROINSER (Programme of lowed by fruit, grown in 85% of all V, Trujuy, and Paso del Rey. It cov- Incentives for the Rural Sector), establishments and covering a sur- ers 186.13 km2, with a population which allowed the establishment face equivalent to 32%. The total of 430,000 residents as of 2001 of the Association of volume of production of the dis- (Population Census 2001). The Horticulturists. In 1999, the trict reaches 3,663 annual tons, of strategic location of the munici- Municipal Institute for Local which 90% are leafy vegetables pality at the boundary of the met- Economic Development (IMDEL) and fruit (Horticultural Census ropolitan area and good infra- was established as a new manage- 1998). structure are factors that have a ment and development tool of the favourable effect on economic state for the community. The main Labour is domestic (mostly of development. Using the railroad goal of IMDEL is to generate Bolivian origin), women and services or the western highway development policies for the dis- young people usually work the takes only 30 minutes to reach the trict, taking into account that the land while the men handle com- mercialisation aspects. Men, then again, learnt to work the fields from Portuguese growers living in adjacent lots. Most properties are Gral. Sarmiento rented; however, in many cases tenants do not have contracts to Pilar certify this status. The good geo- graphic location of these lands motivates their owners to specu- late with their value. Owners do not consider land exploitation as a way to obtain income but rather as a way to prevent the land from being illegally occupied. This Gral. Rodríquez means that the producers do not Morón invest in improvements (green- house production, for instance), area occupied by ornamental gardeners consolidating the precarious con- Marcos Paz area occupied by horticulturists ditions and high health risks.

Figure 1: Urban agriculture zones in Partido de Moreno Most growers sell their produce through the Central Market of ______Buenos Aires (MCBA) or other E Craig, L Falco and L Sabatte, IMDEL, regional markets, either directly Municipality of Moreno, National University of or through consignees. The direct Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

August 2002 7 REFERENCES - Barsky A, E Craig, L Falco et al. 2001. Agricultura Periurbana: Diagnóstico Socioambiental del Impacto de las Actividades del Sector Primario en el Partido de Moreno, Area Metropolitana de sale of vegetables in the area is also sig- Most producers have been growing the Buenos Aires, II jornadas interdisci- nificant. same species for several years and, for plinarias de estudios agrarios y agroindustriales. Presentation at the them to adopt other species is in many Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, THE ORNAMENTAL PLANT cases equivalent to jumping into the void. November 7-9 in Buenos Aires, PRODUCERS In addition, the Japanese community has Argentina. - Horticultural Census. 1998. Buenos The nursery sector is composed mostly of the support of the Japan International Aires: Secretariat of Agriculture, growers of flower seedlings, interior Cooperation Agency, JICA, which at the Province of Buenos Aires. - Population Census. 2001. Buenos plants, cut flowers, perennial herbs, trees, beginning financed the purchase of land Aires: INDEC, Argentina. and shrubs. The production surface of all and initial investments with loans granted these crops does not cover 100% of the at a very low interest rate. Currently JICA total surface of the plot, because most are provides these producers with technical family-managed operations, a fact that is assistance in the management of crops, as The main goal of the horticulturists, who reflected in labour, the technology applied well as in pest and disease control. are already organised in an association, to the crops and the type and volume of was to create a market. Projects were gen- production. According to the type of pro- IMDEL STRATEGIES erated with the purpose of securing funds duction (interior plants, trees and shrubs, IMDEL has a technical team in charge of that would allow the creation of a fully etc.) one could say that the growers of growing ornamental plants, keeping serviced market for fruit and vegetables, seedlings have the highest demand for and recycling the including the processing and packaging labour. These are mostly family undertak- residues generated by the district, next to facilities. This would allow them to sell ings and do not have sufficient labour providing assistance services to growers. their vegetables and fruit with higher available at all stages, and have to hire added value. Although they were not able temporary labour (see Table 2). They are not competitors in the market, to obtain funds at first, the horticultural because most of the production is used to producers organised a cooperative for plant squares, public parks, boulevards, marketing, which resulted in the recently Crop management and as urban greenery. In addition, the pri- inaugurated Norchicha Market, where and marketing are ority of the municipal nursery is to produce 80% of producers of the district are pre- key aspects native trees, shrubs and herbs, which are sent. not grown by anyone else in the district. Like the growers of ornamental plants, Fifty percent of the annual production of The work began with the organisation of horticulturists had not been authorised seedlings originates in these areas, a fact meetings with groups of producers (horti- because legislation only took into account that underlines the economic significance culturists and nursery growers). This industry and commerce. No distinction of this sector in Moreno and the country allowed creating new links among the was made between agricultural producers as a whole. Unlike the horticultural sector, producers themselves and at the same and companies and impossible sums of land is owned by the producers, either time offering the possibility of subsidising money had to be paid for authorisation. through direct ownership or cession of use part of the temporary labour through the Therefore, a Special Regime Ordinance for from parents to children. This situation National Employment Emergency the promotion of the primary sector of guarantees that improvements are made Programme (under which many were able Moreno was given. Hereby only those pro- whether through the addition of larger to receive subsidies for local labour with ducers that exceed specified amounts pay covered areas or the replacement of wood the commitment of investing in their the Tax on Security and Hygiene, and tax- and glass nurseries with polyethylene ones crops). Frequent visits were and are made es increase proportionately to the income (Barsky et al. 2001). Most growers sell their to the plots, in order to determine existing of the producers. crops at the local market, while a very difficulties and to guide growers in the small number supplies hypermarket search for solutions for problems that are For many horticulturists, this ordinance chains. common to the group. had one added advantage: real leases could be obtained, which was a require- ment for authorisation. Additionally, the Table 1 Inputs required for horticultural production IMDEL implemented a large-scale pro- gramme to prepare sacks of fruit and veg- Production Labour required Use of agrochemicals etables at a minimum cost to supply all the peripheral low-income neighbourhoods of Leafy vegetables Raking and harvesting Only in summer crops the district. It installed a municipal pro- Fruits (, Raking - staking - During the entire process gramme under which fruit and vegetables eggplant, zucchini) harvesting from local producers were bought at first. Fruits (strawberry) Disinfection of soil During the entire process This programme was able to prepare Application of black 30,000 sacks per week, with workers oper- mulching ating in three daily shifts. The sacks did Pruning not compete with local greengrocers, as Construction of tunnels most beneficiaries did not habitually eat Harvest vegetables and fruit.

8 UA-Magazine Table 2 Inputs required for production of ornamentals

Production Technology required Labour Use of agrochemicals

Trees and Latticework sheds to protect crop 3 persons /ha Preventive and curative Low shrubs from low temperatures. insecticides and Water quality control Interior plants , climate control 5 persons/ha Soil disinfectants Inter-mediate and perennial Water quality control Preventive and curative herbs Preparation of substrata for different insecticides and fungicides species Seasonal Greenhouses, climate control 20 persons/ha Soil disinfectants High seedlings Preparation of substrata Preventive and curative Water quality control insecticides and fungicides

The Institute established a consortium quate management plan for the produc- Therefore, any productive planning must with nursery operators to allow them to ers, using fewer agrochemicals, potable have a strong social and cultural compo- sell their produce together with IMDEL water, and in the future the delivery of nent in the assessment of each case in par- (through tenders). Producers were organ- certifications of origin. Crop management ticular. ised in an Association of Flower Growers, of nurseries is tested with techniques that Nursery Producers and Cut Flowers of allow reducing the incidence of diseases In the future, IMDEL will try to prepare Moreno, which organised the first and several alternatives in the use of a Local Production Plan both for horticul- “Expoferia de Productores”, in September Methyl Bromide as a soil disinfectant. turists and for nursery growers that takes 2001. The goals of this event were to foster into account the current status of the the consumption of ornamental plants Crop management and marketing are key producers and defines strategies to and to publicise their activities as a pro- aspects in both sectors, especially at this improve their production and their duction area. The group meets once a point where sales in the country have quality of life, both quantitatively and month, and the technical team contributes been few for lack of money supply. Hence, qualitatively. with information talks on issues requested productive activities must be more effi- by the producers. cient and producers must assess new ways The state plays a key role in the develop- to sell and plan their crops, as many grow ment of urban agriculture, and it is very In October 2001, the productive sector was the same species and even the same vari- important to work in an interdisciplinary seriously affected by a hailstorm that eties. In this sense, it is not easy to intro- fashion with the various departments destroyed part of the crop. From then on, duce changes in the planning of which of the municipality, with other municipali- IMDEL began financing the producers species to grow and how, among those ties, with the provincial and national who suffered most, with micro-credits farmers who still have difficulties adopting governments, and with the various granted through Banco Social Municipal simple daily management strategies. agencies working in the region. at a 5% rate in pesos (at a time where no credits either in pesos or dollars were available in the country), which had to be paid within two years and with a joint guarantee among producers. In order to achieve this we developed an investment project for producers, and together Banco VIDEO on Urban Agriculture Social and the Association of Nursery Producers evaluated its feasibility. Once 2002. 45 min. VHS-PAL/SECAM/NTSC. the money is reimbursed, it will be RUAF. The Netherlands deposited in a special line to aid the pri- This video has been produced to facilitate a greater mary sector of the district. Additionally, understanding of urban agriculture among policy-makers, urban IMDEL obtained the exemption of provin- planners, NGO’s, and others, who can make a contribution to cial and local service charges for six the integration of urban agriculture into urban polices, plans and months after the hailstorm. development programmes. Produced by RUAF and AV2 Foundation, the video is supported by many organisations, like CURRENT STATUS IDRC, CORDAID, NOVIB, NCDO, DSE/ZEL, ICCO, ASC, IMDEL is currently working on the MISEREOR and GTZ. The first part of the video shows the improvement of the quality of the veg- potential contribution of urban agriculture to enhancing urban etable crops through a series of research food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable urban management. Footage comes agreements with national universities. from Hanoi-Vietnam, Dakar-Senegal, Dar es Salaam-Tanzania and Cuenca-Ecuador. This will enable them to generate an ade- The latter two cities are used as examples in the second part of the video, which shows local processes of situation analysis, policy development, planning and action. The video is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

August 2002 9 Conjunto Palmeira is a slum with 30,000 inhabitants, situated in the southern area of Fortaleza-Cearà, a metropolis located in the northeast of Brazil. The first inhabitants arrived here in 1973 and started building their houses spontaneously, without access to purified water, electric power, schools or oth- er public services. In 1981, the Association of Settlers of the Conjunto Palmeira (ASMO- CONP) was founded, starting the process of organisation of the families João Joaquim de Melo Neto Segundo Breeding of caipira hens Urban Agriculture Project In the Conjunto Palmeira Slum, Fortaleza-Ceará, Brazil

lowly, the Association of prevented small enterprise devel- delivery of nutritional, psychologi- Settlers managed to develop opment. Close to 1,200 children cal, medical follow-up and profes- S the neighbourhood through were roaming the streets, as there sional training. At the end of this popular mobilisation and partner- was no place for them in schools. period, each woman receives a ships with municipality and pri- Illiteracy rates in the community loan from the bank that will be vate companies. In 1988, potable reached 75% of settlers. used to launch a productive water and electricity was installed. undertaking in her home. In 1990, through a partnership In January 1998, ASMOCONP with the Prefect’s Office, the State established the Banco Palmas and Fighting hunger with local devel- Government and GTZ (German implemented a solidarity network opment became the great chal- Agency for Technical Co-opera- among producers and consumers. lenge for Banco Palmas. Urban tion), the neighbours collectively The bank guarantees micro-credits agriculture practices fit perfectly in built a 1,700-meter long drainage for production and local consump- the food-security strategies of canal. Again two years later, the tion, at very low rates, without pre- Palmas, because in addition to Association organised the settlers requisites like cadastral consulta- providing food for consumption, by blocks and started the imple- tions, verification of income, or the production surplus can be sold mentation of a sewage network guarantees (collateral). Within a at the solidarity shop and at the with the help of the State short period of time, the Banco neighbourhood fair, generating Government. Through these Palmas had created several bodies income for the families. achievements, the neighbourhood to form a solidarity network, became more liveable. including the Local Producers’ Fair, The bank did not have any previ- a Solidarity Shop, a Bartering Club ous experience with these prac- In spite of these advances, a survey for Social Exchanges, a Solidarity tices. However, agricultural expe- by the Association of Settlers in School, etc. rience was available in the neigh- 1997 revealed that poverty and bourhood as most of its older hunger were still devastating the In October 2000, the Banco inhabitants came from rural areas. residents of the neighbourhood: Palmas launched a programme Some settlers spontaneously start- 80% unemployment, 90% of called Incubadora Femenina (the ed to raise livestock for their own economically active households women’s hatchery), aimed at consumption needs, such as pigs, earning an income of less than two assisting women in the slum who goats and hens, kept in the houses minimum wages (US$ 80) and lived in high-risk situations, who or freely roaming in the streets of difficulties in accessing loans and were generally illiterate and lacked the neighbourhood. marketing of products, have professional training; e.g. heads of households, single mothers and Women were very enthusiastic ______drug users. The programme about the development of an agri- João Joaquim de Melo Neto Segundo, includes a food-security strategy, cultural activity as they had a very Coordinator - Banco Palmas, Brazil, which guarantees a nine-month close relationship with the fields. ✉ [email protected]

10 UA-Magazine Table 1: Obstacles and the solutions offered to

Obstacles Proposals of solutions submitted -Varying property sizes, soil - For the project’s agricultural technician to Domestic Economy gives lectures in characteristics, groundwater aquifers make a study to determine the type of which the participants reflect on the rela- and salinity levels, which make it practices that are achievable in each property tionship between people and nature and difficult to adjust the projects the wealth it offers. Other lectures deal - Lack of walls around most backyards, -To implement a project to build walls and a with the nutritional quality of food, the permitting the entry of animals and campaign to raise awareness in the usefulness of medicinal plants and the increasing the possibilities of theft of neighbourhood need to change the eating habits of the household production community in order to improve the popu- - Insufficient technical assistance, - For Banco Palmas to seek a partnership with lation’s health pattern. mainly for fish farming, management the Federal University of Ceará and the of medicinal crops and new Municipal Prefecture in order to retain Banco Palmas opened a small line of credit agricultural technologies specialised technicians for urban agriculture. Each woman wish- - Limited credit portfolio of bank, - For the bank to seek a partnership with other ing to be admitted in the project can ask making it difficult to meet the demand institutions working in urban agriculture, with for up to R $150.00 (about US $40); they of loans the goal of increasing its portfolio then have two months’ grace and 15 - Difficulties in following-up the project, -To select the nearest properties and to hire a months to reimburse the loan. The follow- due to the distance between social services intern to carry out the specific ing steps must be followed in order to properties and because the bank follow-up of the project have access to the loan: submit a credit team is quite small application; choose the agricultural prac- - Scarcity and costliness of organic - For the bank to prepare a project for the tice to be developed (cultivation of crop or manure construction of a composting facility, using the raising of “Caipira” hens); receive a visit organic waste generated in the community; from the agricultural technician to the this facility can then distribute compost to all property for a technical analysis; follow project members at a much cheaper cost specific training of no less than eight hours on the chosen activity; and receive the final delivery of credit. All of these In order to overcome the lack of experi- its headquarters, measuring approximate- steps are not slowed down by any bureau- ence of some participants, a seminar was ly 600m2, where it established an experi- cratic red tape. A family can begin the pro- organised in the neighbourhood on the mental urban agriculture plot, growing ject two days after applying for the loan. following subject: War against Hunger: A vegetables, legumes and medicinal plants, Priority for the delivery of loans is given to Meeting on Food Security - “Reflections on and raising “Caipira” hens. In the future, women members of the hatchery, but the Urban Agriculture as a local response”. The the project will also develop fish farming scheme is open to any woman head of seminar was a success and created self- and hydroponics. The experimental plot is household living in the neighbourhood. confidence in the entire bank team. managed by two women from the hatch- ery, assisted by an agricultural technician. This experiment is at its initial stages. However, a major difficulty concerns the The members of the hatchery receive daily Until now it has been possible to assist lack of available spaces in the neighbour- training on how to grow crops organically, five women, but the goal for 2002 is to hood for crops and livestock. Because of to respect the environment and take reach one hundred beneficiary families. the rural exodus and the growth of fami- advantage of the organic waste generated For this, it is necessary to overcome lies, all spaces originally designated to the in the neighbourhood. A technician in certain obstacles, as outlined in table 1. building of football fields, parks and other public spaces were taken up by the set- tlers’ houses and shacks. A member of the cooperative assists in the The families then decided to initiate the construction of project on their own properties, although the research station their yards were very small (30m2 on aver- age) and had been used for other purpos- es. The backyards became a concrete opportunity, since they together repre- sented a reasonable amount of land, espe- cially if organised as a network. The plan is for each block to grow a specific type of crop, guaranteeing a reasonable scale of production.

Confident with this proposal, Banco

Palmas bought a small parcel adjacent to João Joaquim de Melo Neto Segundo

August 2002 11 Drawing water out of a well, Tanghin, Ouagadougou

Urban agriculture can provide benefits but also risks for urban inhabitants. This study confirmed that the strengths overshadow the risks of prac- ticing home gardening in a sub-Sahelian setting, and underlined the positive eco- nomic impact and food securi- ty for home gardeners. However, these two benefits depend on seasonal variations and external factors. Sabine Gerstl Economic Impact of Urban Agriculture on home gardeners in Ouagadougou

n Burkina Faso, urban agricul- control over future use of the shortly after the rainy season, the ture has an important position plots. Urban agriculture is a legal fields for home gardening are par- I among the different income- part of the urban economy, but is tially inundated and the gardeners generating activities. According to in actuality merely tolerated. In could not fully work there. During governmental statistical data, 44% Burkina Faso’s capital city, this time, they often cultivate their Ouagadougou, the government own cereals in the rural villages does not officially permit urban from which they originally came, Income is subject to agriculture either in the dry or or have further activities, such as seasonal variations rainy season. In addition, cultiva- being night guards or animal tion is specifically prohibited dur- breeders. However, our HG sam- ing the rainy season, especially of ple size represented between 40 of the urban population is engaged tall-growing crops like millet and and 67 percent of the population in agriculture, which includes maize (Quon 1999). Recent data of home gardeners. home gardening (see box), animal indicated that there are 48 differ- The three sites Boulmiougou, breeding, fishing and forestry ent sites in Ouagadougou where Tanghin and Kossodo are among (INSD 1994). The selection of veg- home gardening was being carried the largest in town and can be etables on the home gardening out for profit-making (Cissé 1997). clearly distinguished in terms of plots depends on local water sup- their location in town, social ply, soil conditions, plot size, use of In the study described here, inter- organisation, the pattern of veg- products and home gardeners’ views were held with approxi- etable production and the planti- mately 100 home gardeners (HGs, ng and irrigation strategies ______see box) from three different sites. (Ndero 1996, Cissé 1997, S. Gerstl, Swiss Tropical Institute, Bale, Switzerland, The total number of HGs at the Desconnets 1998, and Traoré ✉ [email protected] three sites was difficult to estimate 1999). All of the sites are situated G. Cissé, École Inter-États d’Ingénieurs de l’Équipement due to the enormous variations on the outskirts of the town (see Rural, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, between seasons. During and map 1 and photos 1 to 3 for a ✉ [email protected] M. Tanner, Swiss Tropical Institute, ✉ [email protected] 12 UA-Magazine Home Gardening is that part of the urban agriculture system which refers to small-scale production of vegetables, fruit, flowers and trees in small comparative view of the three sites). The plots. In this document, the Home Gardeners are those people whose first interviews were carried out in April 1998 and main activity is home gardening, referred to as HGs. While NHGs and in October 1999 in order to include refers to Non-Home Gardeners, defined here as the people engaged in both the dry and the rainy season. In activities other than home gardening, but live in the neighbourhood of the order to achieve reliable results, the data HGs (i.e. traders, tailors, plumbers, animal breeders, etc.). of the HGs were compared to a corre- sponding group of people with activities other than home gardening, (i.e. tailors, water and fuel for cooking and energy. All generating activity, especially valuable for mechanics, plumbers or traders). In addi- numbers are expressed in the local cur- people with little formal education – home tion, these “non-home gardeners” (NHGs, rency which is the CFAF (Franc gardeners had an illiteracy rate of 76%, see box) lived in the neighbourhood of the Communauté Financière Africaine). In which was significantly higher than that of home gardeners. October 1999, the exchange rate was the NHG group (at 50%) - and mainly agri- CFAF 600 = US $1. cultural skills. Information was collected on the eco- nomic status of HG households and com- AN INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITY Two home gardeners explained their situ- pared with that of NHG households in All of the home gardeners interviewed ation as follows: the same area through a questionnaire. sold the majority of their vegetables and “Our total income comes from home gar- The focus was on income, expenditure did not use them for their own consump- dening. Because we do nothing other than and socio-economic status of the house- tion only. However, their average monthly this activity, our daily living depends holds. Monthly income was assessed by income was lower than in NHG house- exclusively from home gardening. asking the interviewees about their holds in all three sites and during the dry Exclusively means: new clothes, food, free income from main and side activities, and rainy seasons. On average, only nine time, health...” both in the rainy and in the dry seasons percent of the NHG households earned (male, aged 23) (“directly estimated average monthly less than CFAF 14,100 in the rainy season, income”), and in addition (for the HGs) while the indirectly estimated average “With the money obtained by home gar- by looking at the prices obtained for their monthly income of all HG households dening I’m able to look after my amily. ... products (“indirectly estimated average was CFAF 8,300, which was still higher [ ]...It’s this money that helps me to pay the monthly income”). Monthly expenditure than their directly estimated average expenditures of food, health and clothes.” was assessed by asking both groups monthly income. The directly estimated (female, aged 34) about money spent on food, drinking average monthly income of NHG house- holds was CFAF 37,500. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF URBAN However, home gardening in AGRICULTURE VARIES ACCORDING Ouagadougou provides a cash income TO LOCATION AND SEASON (1) Home income was not only low KOSSODO but it also differed between the three HG sites examined. The sites with better water quality for irrigation, and a veg- etable pattern focusing on European veg- etables(2) generated a higher income than the sites with lower water quality and mainly a traditional vegetable(3) pattern. In Ouagadougou, the purchase price of TANGHIN European vegetables was five times high-

BOULMIOUGOU

Sabine Gerstl centre (sectors) peripheral home gardening sites

Figure 1: Ouagadougou with its administrative urban units and the home (dots)

August 2002 13 home gardening reduced vulnerability to food crises er than the purchase price of traditional vegetables (Adama et al. 1997). According to Djimasbe (1995/96) the HGs charge the “We start with this [further activity other a night guard or animal breeder). None of same prices in all home gardening sites in than home gardening] when the water the gardeners had a third activity. town. runs out and we have to stop irrigating the In addition, the income was also sub- fields. We do these activities until we can FOOD SECURITY IN HOME jected to seasonal variations. During and resume home gardening again.” GARDEN HOUSEHOLDS shortly after the rainy season (mainly A projection of HG income based on the Both HG and NHG households spent between July and the end of September) amounts of solely the dry or solely the 73% in the dry season and 69% in the the fields were often inundated by water, rainy season would not reflect the real rainy season of their household preventing sowing and weeding. One income situation, since their household’s expenditures on food. This importance woman in Tanghin showed this clearly: economic situation was not stable was confirmed by a home gardener throughout the year. It therefore depends (male, aged 37), who stated: “Home gardening helps us somewhat, but on the different seasonal conditions, which “Our greatest expense is buying food. For with the variable rainfall it is not very prof- can mainly be brought down to availability the treatment of illnesses, you also need to itable. There are three months in which we of water. Home gardener households could spend a lot – but that is not on a daily cannot work [as there is no water to irri- not count on a predictable economic situa- basis, whereas you are hungry every day.” gate the fields]. And here where we are tion over a long period of time. This made sowing, we could very well suffer a flood at it very difficult for them to maintain a In the rainy season, HG households spent the end of the rainy season.” secure economic situation in their house- CFAF 9,700, a significantly lower expendi- holds, as there were no opportunities to ture on food than in the dry season (at The cold, dry season (mainly between save money for unpredictable future costs. CFAF 21,000). In this season, the monthly December and February) is the peak work In contrast, the NHG households had a expenditures for food differed significant- season. At that time, the fields are not predictable and stable economic situation ly between HG and NHG households inundated anymore and there is still suffi- at home, as neither their activities nor the (CFAF 17,500). However, in the dry season, cient water for irrigation available. All HGs related incomes were subject to seasonal HG (at CFAF 21,000) and NHG (at CFAF earned on average more money in the dry variations. 21,400) households spent more or less the season than in the rainy season. It varied This was also confirmed regarding fur- same amount per month on food. The cul- significantly in Boulmiougou, between ther activities in both household groups. tivation cycle of vegetables and cereals in CFAF 20,000 in the dry season and CFAF Only few non-home gardeners had a sec- sub-Sahelian countries explains seasonal 9,600 in the rainy season (p<0.001), and in ond activity both in the rainy and in the variations in food expenditures in home Kossodo between CFAF 8,300 to CFAF dry season. However, in the rainy season gardening households. On average, the 3,000 (p<0.001). Only in Tanghin was the almost all home gardeners had a second water runs dry at the end of April. Then in directly estimated average monthly activity, which was mostly cultivation. Up the hot, dry season between April and income, at 10.800 CFAF, equivalent in both to 23% had a third activity as well. During June, the (subsistence) production of veg- seasons. As soon as water to irrigate the the dry season, the HGs spent most of etables is interrupted. HG households then fields runs dry, which happens normally at their working hours on their fields. To run out of stored food and have to pur- the end of the cold, dry season in April, raise the monthly household income, only chase food every day at a time when mar- home gardeners had to stop their activi- up to one third practised second activities, ket prices are at their highest point. As not ties. This is vividly described by one gar- which could be carried out outside of the only subsistence production but also the dener (aged 36, female) in Tanghin: working hours of home gardening (e.g. as whole local production of vegetables in both rural and urban areas come to a com- plete halt at this time, vegetables must be imported. According to the average price estimation of 100 different households in Ouagadougou (2000), European vegeta- bles cost up to four times more in the dry season than in the rainy season and tradi- tional vegetables are also priced slightly higher on local markets.

Home gardening reduced vulnerability (4) to food crises in home gardener house- holds, but this has only been confirmed for the rainy season in Ouagadougou. However, as HG households in Ouagadougou belonged to the lower

Sabine Gerstl socio-economic classes with little formal Focus group discussion held with market vendors at a daily roadside market education, urban agriculture assists them in Ouagadougou, 1999 to improve the quantity, quality and type

14 UA-Magazine should be extended to strengthen HG activities relating to urban agriculture. The aim of the micro-credits should be to increase the annual income of home gar- deners by increasing the productivity of the sites. Seeding more profitable European vegetables, cultivating short-cycle vegeta- bles (5) and investing in the equipment for home gardening appear most feasible.

For sites where the external conditions are unfavourable and where urban agriculture is used more for subsistence production rather than for income generation, micro- credits should be used to help gardeners start a new activity, which brings more profits the whole year through. Income becomes relatively higher for activities other than home gardening, when the gar- dening is practised on sites with unfavourable external conditions. Initial

Sabine Gerstl successes with micro-projects have Micro-credit project: food stand in Kossodo, 1999 already been seen in Ouagadougou. HG women used micro-credits to establish second and alternative income-generating REFERENCES activities to home gardening, such as a - Adama TW, H Hima, Y Kaboré, M Samandoulgou, K Sanon, M Hassane Djibo and NS Ido. 1997. La commercialisation des produits du site maraîcher de Tanghin. Une MARP (méthode accélérée de recherche participative) thématique effectuée par des étudiants de sociologie food stand, animal breeding or making sous la direction de Ouedraogo, Boureima. Ouagadougou: Faculté des langues, des lettres, des arts, des sciences humaines et sociales. “tresses” (hair extensions?) for hair- Département de Sociologie, Université de Ouagadougou. - Brown KH and Jameton AL. 2000. Public health implications of urban agriculture. Journal of public health policy 21(1): 20-39. dressers. - Chambers R and Guijt I. 2000. PRA–five years later. Where are we now? Forests, trees and people. Newsletters 26/27. - Cissé G. 1997. Impact sanitaire de l’utilisation d’eaux polluées en agriculture urbaine. Cas du maraîchage à Ouagadougou. PhD thesis, EPFL, Lausanne. Macro-level - Desconnets S. 1998. Qualité des eaux usées d’une tannerie et d’une industrie textile au Burkina Faso. Info CREPA 19. - Djimasbe NF. 1995/96. Les activités de type primaire en ville: le cas du maraîchage à Ouagadougou. Ouagadougou: Faculté des langues, Urban agriculture has come to be recog- des lettres, des arts, des sciences humaines et sociales. Departement de Sociologie. Université de Ouagadougou. nised as an important survival strategy for - Gerstl S. 2001. The economic costs and impact of home gardening in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. PhD thesis, Swiss Tropical Institute, Bale. the poor and should, therefore, be regarded - INSD. 1994. Analyse des résultats de l’enquête démographique 1991. Institut national de la statistique et de la démographie. INSD. as an important economic activity in an Ouagadougou: Ministère de l’économie, des finances et du plan. - Ndero FD. 1996. Les activités de type primaire en ville: Le cas du maraîchage à Ouagadougou. Mémoire de maîtrise en Sociologie, urban setting by government. This could Université de Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou. - Quon S. 1999. Planning for urban agriculture: A review of tools and strategies for urban planners. IDRC: CFP Report Series. Report 28. be obtained by organising ‘information- - Smit J. 1996. Urban agriculture, progress and prospect: 1975–2005. IDRC: CFP Report Series. Report 18. education-communication’ campaigns - Traoré R. 1999. Rétrospective de l’approche méthodologique RAF de la campagne maraîchère 97/98 sur le site de Boulmiougou. Rapport du projet école inter-états d’ingénieurs de l’équipement rural (EIER), Ouagadougou. (i.e.,Chambers & Guijt 2000), which will bring together decision-makers, represen- tatives of the town and municipality, and the gardeners themselves. of food, at least for half of the year, with- Already today, urban agriculture provides out spending too much money (Gerstl an opportunity for many city dwellers, 2001). Two women, working on the home especially in low advantaged segments, to gardening fields of Ouagadougou, earn some money and to obtain food for Notes explained: their families through subsistence produc- 1) Seasonality is the seasonal dimension of poverty, such as “Home garden products allow us to tion. However, families who depend entire- adverse factors which may coincide with the rainy or dry prepare our daily food.” ly on home gardening for their livelihood season including shortage of food, scarcity of money, difficult conditions for agricultural work, and scarcity of water. “Home gardening helps me to cover some have a precarious existence. 2) European Vegetables are those crops of which the seeds and basic needs, and moreover it provides my cuttings were first brought to Africa at the end of the last whole family with vegetables.” Micro-level century by the European colonial powers and the Western missionaries; e.g. aubergines, tomatoes, courgettes, carrots and It seems appropriate to establish local lettuce). RECOMMENDATIONS micro-credit systems in order to improve 3) Traditional Vegetables are local vegetables which were planted This study has confirmed the economic and the economic situation of HG households. originally in sub-Saharan Africa and have already existed there for centuries; i.e., oseille, boulmboula, boulvanka, gombo. nutritional benefits of urban agriculture In home gardening sites where external 4) Vulnerability is defined here as the defenselessness and (see for example Smit 1996, Brown & factors are acceptable and where the pro- exposure to external risks and lack of means (capacity) to cope Jameton 2000). The strengths of urban agri- duction of vegetables has the potential to (potential) with damaging losses. 5) Short-Cycle Vegetables (e.g. cauliflower, , salads) have a culture overshadow the risks of seasonality lead to economic growth for the house- growth cycle of less than 110 days. Three to five harvests during of home gardening in Ouagadougou. holds and people involved, micro-credits the home gardening season are possible. Long-Cycle Vegetables (e.g. aubergines, carrots and tomatoes) need more than 110 days for growth. One to two harvests during the home gardening season are possible. August 2002 15 Economic Impact Ramon Soriano of agro biodiversity Characteristic view of a series of chinampa plots in the chinampa sub urban system

A study was carried out in order to assess the during a twelve-week period, in for the presence of a diversity of economic performance of the periurban agro- order to know their main econom- non-domesticated plants that are ecosystem known as “chinampa”. Chinampa is a ic inputs and outputs. Two of used for food, green fertilisers, ani- small piece of land of irregular form, of them were from the San Gregorio mal feed, and for medicinal and pre-Hispanic origin, where habitants from the Atlapulco village and two from culinary purposes. The four chi- still produced a diversity of , both within the namperos who were formed our plants for the city. These were built in a lacustrine Xochimilco Delegation of the case studies cultivated a total of 43 setting by reclaiming land bordering a lake and Federal District, also known as different species that included building the plots and a network of channels. . Quantities were vegetables, maize, legumes, flow- adjusted to a hectare to have a ers, ornamental, medicinal and comparison basis. Although data culinary plants. This included four he Chinampa agroecosystem were collected from January to examples of plants, which were has been characterised as March of 1996, no big changes representative of the genetic and T diverse (Jiménez et al.1990) have occurred in the chinampa economic potential still unveiled and in which a high percentage of since then. Monetary values where in the area. seeds are locally produced expressed in US dollars. (Soriano 1998). Losada et al. (1998) The first one constitutes it the described the chinampa as a sub- THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE edible “verdolaga” (Portulaca oler- urban production system due to CHINAMPA SYSTEM acea), which until few years ago its geographical position within The chinampa has been charac- Mexico City. The objective of this terised as a model that incorpo- work was to evaluate the econom- rates modern and traditional tech- Market opportunities ic impact on the economy of the nologies (Soriano 1998). A high create conditions for chinamperos (a Chinampero is a proportion of the interviewed chi- new commercial crops chinampa cultivator) due to the namperos (76.5%) used utilisation of local agrodiversity. germplasm selected from their own parcels whilst the rest bought was considered only an eatable THE SURVEY improved seed. Also, a high pro- weed. Today it is broadly cultivat- The survey was aimed at charac- portion of the cultivators ed in greenhouses at San Gregorio terising social, economic, and exchanged their local seeds by Atlapulco. Second example was environmental features of produc- labour, other seeds and several the culinary “epazote” (Cheno- tion, and was applied to 150 chi- types of inputs with other chinam- podium ambrosioides L.) It is namperos. Furthermore, field vis- peros. The traditional handling of cultivated in small commercial its along with structured and seeds also included a diversity of scale in the chinampas area. A informal interviews were applied selection criteria based on the third interesting example was the to a sample of four chinamperos qualitative appreciation of the chi- “romerito” (Suaeda torreyana). namperos. These can be sum- This plant is broadly consumed ______marised within four main cate- during Christmas and Easter thus R. Soriano, Metropolitan Autonomous University. México, gories: 1) beauty of the seed; 2) the being a crop linked to local cul- D.F. ✉ [email protected] best seed; 3) the biggest seed; and ture. For its cultivation, the seed is J.D. Leaver and G Woodgate, Imperial College at Wye, 4) seed from strong plants. The gathered in the marshy areas of University of London, Wye, UK chinampa area is very well-known the chinampas, from wild plants. H. Losada, Metropolitan Autonomous University, México, D.F.

16 UA-Magazine Table 1. Quotient gross margin per hectare/variable costs in the four studied chinampas. Although chinampero number 2 used a minimum amount of external inputs, he Chinampas Net margin/ha Gross margin /ha. Variable costs Quotient obtained results similar to that of produc- er number 3. A similar situation could be 1 6303.45 6789.0 485.55 1.39 observed in the chinampas number 1 and 2 4074.77 4086.5 11.73 34.84 4. The net margins obtained by these were 3 3681.93 3900 218.07 1.79 similar although the variable costs were 4 6897.30 7000.0 102.7 6.82 almost five times bigger in the case of Chinampa number 1.

This cycle of gathering-sown-harvest is importance recently, having been used as Variable costs were largely influenced by repeated year after year. The fourth an edible weed for many years. the use of improved seeds, which repre- example is represented by the plant as sented 76.2% of the variable costs in the known cow ´s tongue (Rumex spp) that is Miguel Flores is a retired primary school case of chinampa number 3 and 39.5% for used as eatable for humans and as forage teacher who owns and cultivates plot 1. Regarding the remaining two plots, for cattle. Chinampa number 4. Following his retire- the cost of seeds was null since they pro- ment five years ago, at the age of fifty, he duced their own. THE CASE STUDIES decided to take up chinampa production, Chinampa number 1 is owned by which he had learnt as a child from his Francisco Rosales, a 58 year-old man with father, who was a chinampero. Mr Flores Transport of produce and three years of primary school studies. He hoped as a chinampero to keep himself inputs is is borrowing (inherited?) his chinampa busy, grow part of his family’s food in a done using from his father and has cultivated the land healthy way and raise some money. He locally most of his life. At present, Mr Rosales is also has some pigs and a cow in his back- constructed obtaining all of his income from this plot yard and owns four small plots of different canoes of 4,158 m2. He dedicates an average of sizes. Miguel Flores grows a variety of dif- eight hours per day to agriculture and his ferent crops. At the time of this study, his wife sells all the produce in the local mar- crops included beetroot (Beta vulgaris var ket place of Xochimilco. Mr Rosales crassa), romerito (Suaeda torreyana Watts.), employs chemical fertilisers and on rare sweet pea flowers (Lathyrus odoratus), ver- occasions, some pesticides. His main crops dolaga (Portulaca oleracea), lettuce (Lactuca are spinach and celery and for part of the sativa) and squash ( pepo L.). year he cultivates maize and verdolaga Crops in other seasons of the year includ- (Portulaca oleracea). ed parsley (Petroselinim crispum Hoffm.), celery (Apium graveolens L.) and broccoli Mr Hilarion, the owner of Chinampa (Brasica oleracea var. auliflora). Pest control number 2 has his plot in the barrio of San is done manually; when a pest is detected, Marcos, Xochimilco. At present, he works Mr Flores and his two sons squeeze the part-time for the government in the eggs or the insects by hand. Federal District Rural Development Coordinating Commission (COCODER). His ECONOMIC IMPACT job is connected with the chinampas of All of the chinamperos used external Xochimilco and consists of supporting the inputs although in differing quantity. This COCODER reforestation schemes. These influenced the variable costs, which were

aim to replant the willow species, Salix lower in chinampas 2 and 4 and higher for Ramon Soriano bomplandiana, for anchoring the chinampa the parcels 1 and 3. The net margins per The human workforce is of great plots to the bottom of the channels. hectare were lower in chinampas 2 and 3. importance in the chinampa system

Chinampa number 3 belongs to the Saavedra family, who works a plot of 1,500 Main social features of the chinampa producers m2, cultivating verdolaga and spinach. Chinampa plot owners have public services available (100% electricity, 89.1% Most of their inputs come from external drainage and 74.8% paved roads). Average family size is 5.9±2.41 members and sources. Nevertheless, land preparation is their main occupation is agriculture 56.5%) and 82.3% of land is private property. still carried out by hand, using a hoe. They Mean size of plots is 2,206.39 m2 and the years of formal education reach 5.5 per employ improved seeds for both of their member of the family. Chinamperos hire 0.64 workers per hectare and employ 2.1 crops, as well as pesticides and chemical members of the family, whilst 58.7% of the total family income is obtained from the fertilisers. For verdolaga, they use polytun- plots. Chinamperos sell their produce in the local market place (62.6% of producers) nels so that they can produce it in winter 9.5 % in the central food depot o f Mexico City and 13.6% to the middleman. and, in general, in the dry season. Production is based on the use of chemical fertiliser by 30% of the interviewed Verdolaga has increased in commercial whilst 70% used organic sources of plant nutrients.

August 2002 17 The authors wish to thank the chinamper- Mixing traditional with modern os of Xochimilco and technologies: San Gregorio use of Atlapulco for their polytunnels collaboration in this in the work and to the chinampa authorities of the system UAM for the facilities provided.

cases had other employment in the city that allowed them to supplement their household incomes in order to achieve a standard quality of life.

Another indicator of resource manage-

Ramon Soriano ment and sustainability is the exchange of seeds with other chinamperos. Genetic material was often replaced by other types The environmental and social benefits of seeds, work force, manure or other compensate for the differences in productivity inputs. This aspect relates to the socio- economic sustainability of the Chinampa, allowing the reduction of production costs Another form of comparing the effects of and goes even further to link economic, while also keeping the social cohesion low input use was obtaining the quotient social and environmental indicators; suit- mechanisms active. While the improved of the gross margin for hectare among the able as evidenced by this paper. seeds are rarely exchanged due to their variable costs. Table 1 shows this analysis. high price, the local seeds were exchanged Another aspect to discuss is the method to with great ease. In a situation of constant As can be observed, the chinampas that analyse the economic performance of an economic crisis, Mexican farmers fre- used fewer external inputs showed a more agroecosystem. Analysing economic quently appeal to strategies to diminish favourable quotient. This means that for returns for the chinampa agroecosystem costs of production, such as reducing the each invested dollar, the chinampas num- by means of gross margins proved to be a use of imported inputs like improved ber two and four obtained 34.8 and 6.8 useful tool. seeds and chemical fertilisers. Such a strat- dollars return respectively. In addition, egy is very important for the economy of chinampas one and two obtained similar It has been stated that some forms of the chinamperos since they are not eligible and comparatively lower returns in rela- urban agriculture do not necessarily for credits or subsidies because many do tion to the other two examples. respond to market schemes. This begs the not possess property titles for their chi- question: what government policies nampas. A last aspect to highlight is that DISCUSSION would be necessary to encourage small- although the productivity of the chinam- The results show the positive effect on scale production systems that use few pas with lower variable costs was smaller, returns when local germplasm is used in inputs, and to strengthen their competi- the environmental and social benefits the chinampas. Other aspects are also tive edge against the highly industrialised might compensate for the differences in worth a discussion, since traditional prac- and unsustainable production systems? productivity. One example of this com- tices were, according to the results pre- Although the earnings of the four chinam- pensation is that the chinamperos histori- sented, directly related to a positive impact pa producers where different, the lowest cally have been able to achieve their social on the economies of the chinamperos. ones fell below minimum wage and cost reproduction through cultivating the earth of living in Mexico. Besides this, all of the in a semi-traditional way. For years, produce from the chinampas was used for personal consumption. However, market opportunities and facili- REFERENCES ties from the city created the conditions - Altieri MA. 1995. : The science of . Colorado, USA: for the rise of new commercial crops. Westview Press. - Bellon MR. 1995. Farmer’s knowledge and sustainable agroecosystem management: An Increased biodiversity contributes to operational definition and example from Chiapas, Mexico. Human Organisation. 54(3): 263- the stability of agroecosystems (Altieri 272. - Castillo CI. 1986. Identificación y determinación de la composición química de las malezas 1995). In this sense, the stability of an agri- acuáticas de importancia forrajera en la zona de Xochimilco. Thesis. Faculty of Veterinary Medicines and Zoology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico. cultural system is a factor that contributes - Jiménez-Osornio J, T Rojas, S Del Amo and A Gómez-Pompa. 1990. Past, Present and to its sustainability. Bellon (1995) pro- future of the chinampas. Maya sustainability. Riverside: University of California, USA. - Losada H., H Martínez, J Vieyra, R Pealing, R Zavala and J Cortés. 1998. Urban agriculture posed an evaluation of agrodiversity in the metropolitan zone of Mexico City: changes over time in urban, suburban and periur- based on the management of resources ban areas. Environment and Urbanization. 10(2): 37-54. - Soriano R. 1999. The Chinampa system as a model of sustainable agriculture. PhD Thesis. rather than using a reductionist method. Wye College, University of London, UK. This research validates such an approach

18 UA-Magazine Urban agriculture is an important economic activity both for poor and commercial urban farmers. Urban agriculture constitutes Pig shed

an important food Caleb Mireri at an security strategy for urban farm in Nairobi poor urban farming families. Commercial urban agriculture makes a significant contribution to employment and income generation. The role of urban agriculture has become even more critical in Kenya because of the deteriorating urban poverty situation. Kenyan urban poverty is estimated at 50 per cent and it is feared that the situation will deteriorate in the future (Republic of Kenya 2002). Private Investment in Urban Agriculture in Nairobi, Kenya

ack of credit is one of the been ineffective in the support of ing, processing and marketing. It major problems facing the urban agriculture. For example, has 40 contract farmers in Nairobi L development of urban agricul- there is no functioning govern- city and a further 200 farmers ture in Nairobi, the capital of ment’s poultry and pig farming within the hinterland of the city. This paper is based on two Kenya. National planning regula- extension services in Nairobi. Farmer’s Choice offers the follow- key case studies: Kenchic tions exclude urban agriculture Kenchic Ltd has 60 contract ing support services to contract Ltd and Farmer’s Choice from the formal urban land-use farmers and supports numerous farmers: guaranteed market; free Ltd. These two private system. Most urban farmers prac- independent farmers (1,250) with- technical advice; supply of quality companies are important tise on public land (road reserves in Nairobi. The independent farm- breeding stock and feed at the players in the Kenyan poul- and river banks) with insecure ers raise between 50 and 25,000 market rate; collection of mature try and pig industries, landholdings. The promotion of chicks per farm. To qualify for con- pigs from the farms; and offers respectively. They support credit and investment in urban tract farming, the applicant must farmers recommendation letters in successful agriculture in agriculture will require initiatives meet the following requirements: support of financial credit applica- Nairobi city. Discussions specific to the sector. have adequate space for 3,000 tions. Farmer’s Choice often indi- were held with Dr Yamo chicks; meet the cost of labour, (Kenchic veterinarian) and THE NATURE OF CREDIT water and electricity; have ade- Mr Kairu (Farmer’s Choice AND INVESTMENT SCHEMES quate feeders and drinkers; and Lack of credit pig procurement manager). Kenchic Ltd and Farmer’s Choice raise a minimum deposit of US$ is one of the Ltd are two agro-industries that 0.8 per chick. In return, Kenchic major problems support the development of com- offers them a guaranteed market; mercial urban agriculture in supply of quality feed and chicks Nairobi. They offer material and on credit; and free active technical cates that a guaranteed market is a technical support services to both support to farmers. Kenchic also strong case for creditworthiness. contract and non-contract farm- supplies chicks to non-contract Contract farmers must raise the ______ers. Contract farmers enjoy much farmers and lends some support. required capital to purchase the Caleb Mireri, Dept of greater support, but the non-con- This arrangement ensures effec- breeding sows; build a shed; meet Environmental Planning & tract farmers receive enough sup- tive participation of farmers. the cost of clinical services and Management, Kenyatta port to guarantee them success. The credit and investment supplied feed. University, Nairobi, Kenya, The companies restrict the num- scheme in the pig industry is simi- Material support constitutes a ✉ [email protected] ber of contract farmers to their lar to that of . significant aspect of the cost of production capacity and market Farmer’s Choice Ltd is a leading farm production. The material requirement. The government has agro-based enterprise in pig farm- support can be received on credit

August 2002 19 Contract farming has (poultry contract farmers) or at market inherent weaknessess rates (pig farmers). The material support offered to the farmers consists of feed, vaccines, chicks (poultry farms) and own savings or have the required collater- recognised in the Kenyan urban develop- breeding sows (pig farms). The materials al security to obtain credit from the finan- ment policy, critical support services are supplied by agro-based industries con- cial institutions. Since there are no special lacking in the city. In addition, the existing form to the required quality standards that credit schemes for urban farmers, com- credit and investment support services enhance farmers’ returns on investment. mercial urban farmers can seek credit mostly favour farmers with initial capital, Contract farmers have better material sup- from the commercial and agro-based adequate and secure landholding. Such port than the independent farmers. The financial institutions. The high cost of bor- farmers can source the critical technical poultry contract farmers receive chicks rowing and the stringent collateral services, quality feed and other inputs and feed on credit. The support of farmers requirements of the financial institutions needed, and can adopt efficient farm man- is part of the business initiatives of the two make credit access a major problem in the agement systems. agro-based industries. This enables farm- promotion of urban agriculture. Nevertheless, contract farming has ers to conform to the best production inherent weaknesses that put the farmer standards that guarantee quality final THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE at a greater risk than agro-based enter- products. Dr. Yamo noted that the success CREDIT AND INVESTMENT prise when farming or marketing prob- of poultry farmers is an important means SCHEMES lems occur. If there is a major decline in of expanding the market for the chicks. The technical and material support the demand for the final product, the Apart from chicken production, produc- offered by the agro-based industries enterprise will most likely reduce the rate tion of chicks is one of the core businesses enables contract farmers to undertake suc- of production causing financial loss to the of Kenchic Ltd. It supplies chicks to both cessful urban agriculture. However, the farmer. contract and non contract farmers. agro-industries supporting urban agricul- Urban farmers, like any other enter- ture cannot cope with the enormous pop- Non-contract urban farmers are further- prise, can source investment capital from ular demand for contract farming – long more at a disadvantage in several ways. the credit market. Farmers can seek credit waiting lists exist that far outstrip the They have no access to the necessary tech- from conventional financial institutions capacity of the existing agro-industrial pri- nical services. It is not possible, for exam- such as Barclays Bank, Kenya Commercial vate enterprises. These industries restrict ple, for Kenchic to visit the independent Bank and National Bank of Kenya. This contract farming to their production poultry farmers regularly because they are favours middle- and high-income farmers capacity and the prevailing market situa- too many. However, the company does who can raise initial capital from their tion. As urban agriculture is not officially normally deal with problems reported by farmers within 24 hours. Apart from tech- nical support problems, the farmers must Approximate initial capital requirement to establish viable economic units of urban contend with marketing problems. agriculture, was calculated. The following estimates are based on the current prices Independent (small) farmers cannot indi- and excludes the cost of land. vidually effectively undertake the critical aspect of marketing, particularly when a An economically minimum viable small-scale poultry farm requires 300 chicks either “ready” market is non-existent. This prob- for laying eggs or chicken. Each poultry unit requires a 0.09m2 space amounting to lem could be overcome if farmers were to 27m2 space for the 300 chicks. It is estimated that a farmer requires an initial capital of organise a marketing cooperative society. US$ 980 and 1870 for chicken and eggs production respectively. This would cover all Our case study survey reveals that the required inputs and operational expenses for a 300 unit poultry farm up to the commercial urban agriculture plays an initial sale. It is much cheaper to undertake chicken production because it requires important role in the urban economy. It is only 6 weeks for chicks to mature for meat, while chicks require 6 months to start an important source of income and laying eggs. Each mature chicken generates a net profit of about US$ 0.4 amounting employment. The resource persons state to a total profit of about US$ 120 from 300 chicken after every six weeks. This that urban farming is a profitable venture indicates that a poultry farmer (meat) can get a return on his capital within 18 months. and guarantees a quick return on capital. The investment capital is comparatively Pig farming requires much higher initial capital outlay than poultry farming. To be able low for both pig and poultry farming and to undertake viable pig farming involving a minimum of 5 breeding mothers, a farmer one can get a good return within a period requires an initial capital of about US$ 2933. This would cover all the required inputs of two to three years. and operational expenses for a five breeding mothers’ pig farm up to the initial sale. Five breeding mothers is the minimum viable economic pig farming unit. Each pig Each pig that matures after 6 months requires 30cm-wide feeding space, so a space of about 29.7m2 can support pig earns a net profit of US $27 (US $1 = farming. The feeding mothers are expensive (US$ 187), but each mother delivers Kenya shilling 75). A chick matures with- about 10 piglets 2.5 times a year. A pig matures after 6 months, so within one year a in six weeks and each chick earns a net farmer can get 100 mature pigs from 5 breeding mothers. Each pig earns a net profit profit in the range of US $0.2 and 0.6, of US$ 27. Therefore a pig farmer with 5 breading mothers can earn a net profit of depending on the management system. US$ 2667 per year. According to this estimate, a pig farmer gets a return on his Therefore a contracted poultry farm can investment within a period of 18 months. earn a net profit of about US $1333 with-

20 UA-Magazine René van Veenhuizen Profitable farming can be practised on small parcels of land

in six weeks, which translates into about REFERENCES US $9,333 per year. In addition, urban - IDRC. 1994. Cities Feeding People: An examination of agriculture is an important source of urban agriculture in East Africa. Ottawa: International direct and indirect employment. Apart Caleb Mireri Development Research from family labour, low skilled labourers Centre. Viable pig farming involves a minimum of five breeding sows - Madden JP and Chaplowe are employed by the commercial urban SG (eds). 1997. For All agriculture and the agro-based industries Generations: Making world agriculture more sustainable. that supply it. Glendale: OM Publishing. The government has an - Freeman DB. 1991. A city of invaluable role to play Farmers: Urban agriculture - Furthermore, profitable farming can be Kenya. Quebec City: McGill- Queen’s University Press. practised on small parcels of land in the - Maxwell DG. 1994. Internal urban areas. Although most poor families Struggles over Resources, able support services. Through an appro- External Struggles for rarely have sufficient space for profitable Survival: Urban Agriculture as priate urban farmers’ association, farming within their homesteads, a size- and Economic Strategy in avenues can be created to disseminate Kampala. Unpublished con- able proportion of middle- and high- ference paper. important information to farmers on the income families have adequate land for - Republic of Kenya. 2001. available support services. Economic Survey. Nairobi: urban agriculture. Many households in Government Printer. Our case study survey showed that - Republic of Kenya. 2000. periurban Nairobi have relatively better Economic Survey. Nairobi: urban agriculture can lead to a return on access to land and could be active partici- Government Printer. capital within a short period of time - Republic of Kenya. 1986. pants in commercial agriculture. Economic Management for (between 2 and 3 years). An effective Renewed Growth. Sessional management of a temporary lease agree- Paper No. 1. Nairobi: POLICY OPTIONS FOR SUSTAIN- Government Printer. ment on public and private land can ABLE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMER- - UNDP. 1996. Urban enable urban farmers to undertake Agriculture: Food, jobs and CIAL URBAN AGRICULTURE sustainable Cities. New York: investment and earn income from farm- The case study results show that commer- UNDP. ing. Temporary lease agreement will cre- cial urban agriculture is a viable economic ate some order and security among the activity in the city of Nairobi. It is an most vulnerable (poor) urban farmers. important source of income and employ- agriculture. The integration of urban These farmers could then source techni- ment; for example, a contract poultry agriculture in the urban land-use system cal and material support. farming family earns a net profit of about and the creation of a favourable policy Savings and Credit Cooperative US $1,000 per month. Also, urban agricul- environment are critical steps in the Societies can be effective means of mobil- ture is an important component of food development of the sector. Furthermore, ising resources for the development of security for poor urban farming families. there is a need to form farmers’ associa- commercial urban agriculture. This can Urban agriculture includes both crop (hor- tions and marketing cooperative soci- only succeed in an organised urban farm- ticulture) and livestock (poultry, dairy and eties. A strong farmers’ association can ing system. The formation of a savings pig) production. However, the sector has articulate and lobby for necessary gov- and credit cooperative society is a long- limited credit and investment opportuni- ernment recognition and general devel- term commitment that would favour ties that cannot effectively spur its growth opment of the sector. Marketing of coop- long-term urban farmers operating on and development. The existing support erative societies can effectively address their own land. systems are by far inadequate to meet the marketing problems, thus enhance the enormous demand. profitability of urban farming. Also, The government has an invaluable urban farmers lack critical information role to play in the promotion of urban on the best farming practices and avail-

August 2002 21 This question has been answered (on paper) by the Southside Chamber of Commerce in the city of Brisbane, in sub-tropical Australia. The chamber calculated that with a little more than A $200,000, a “rooftop microfarm” based on waste management could yield around 20% return on invested capital, and employ three to four people. The Southside Chamber of Commerce Urban Agriculture Group is now considering how to fund a pilot project in Mt Gravatt Central in Brisbane, in the state of Queensland to prove the feasibility study findings. Geoff Wilson Portable organic hydroponic structures for tomatoes Can Urban Rooftop Microfarms be profitable?

he urban rooftop microfarm It will entail the following recycling THE FEASIBILITY STUDY project proposed at Mt activities (see Figure 1): The Urban Rooftop Microfarm T Gravatt is best described as a ❖ collecting of food wastes from concept of the Southside Chamber nutrient capture system that offers restaurants within half a kilometre differs from many previous studies organic waste recycling as one radius of Mt Gravatt Central; in that it involved an urban micro- important community benefit, and ❖ pulverising and heat-sterilising farm with three objectives: reduction of the gas, of these wastes, and perhaps ❖ Production of food in a way Geoff Wilson is also methane, as another. It also adding supplementary organic that contributes actively to a better Editor and Publisher of provides income and employment material or minerals for nutrient environment using minimal space “Urban Agriculture Online” The project in suburban balance; ❖ Provision of employment magazine Brisbane’s Mt Gravatt Central will ❖ feeding of the pulverised food opportunities for people disadvan- (Website: www.urbanag.info) further develop and test organic wastes to an innovative worm taged in the labour market hydroponics and integrate farm that provides a continuous ❖ Achievement of sustainability with hydroponics flow of output rather than a batch through the profitable sale of (“”) to offer local restau- process, including: (a) liquid nutri- produce. rants a range of “organic” produce. ent for organic hydroponics; (b) worm castings for containerised The project studied how a micro- growing of fruits; and (c) surplus farm could be a business serving a RESTAU- Waste RANT worms to be frozen and subse- market within a small radius of a quently fed to fish or crustaceans shopping centre – perhaps only (crab, lobster); half a kilometre from the micro- ❖ production of salad vegetables farm site. This included: Grinder Castings Fruits and herbs from organic hydropon- ❖ the collection of waste food ics, fruits in containers; and aqua- from nearby restaurants, hospitals A culture; and and clubs; Vermi- ❖ selling of the produce to the ❖ the use of this waste in the Sterilising culture Worms Freezer Fish tanks Fish kettle same restaurants. worm farm. unit ❖ the microfarm concept situated B The Southside Chamber, of which on rooftops of commercial build- Hydro- the author is currently President, ings or at ground level in Mt Nutrient ponic Crops liquor sought and obtained a A$20,000 Gravatt Central, growing salad units grant from the Australian Federal vegetables and herbs; and C Government of Employment Workplace Relations and Small Figure 1: Flow diagram of the proposed urban rooftop Business in 1998 for its Urban Food wastes that normally go to microfarm Microfarm Feasibility Study in Mt landfill and then cause methane Gravatt Central. The commercial emissions can be reduced by microfarm concept was tested in earthworms to their soluble nutri- ______1999 by Integrated Skills ent form for recycling via horticul- Geoff Wilson, Urban Agriculture Network-Western Pacific, Consulting Pty Ltd, of Brisbane. ture. Methane is some 21 times ✉ [email protected] worse for the environment than carbon dioxide. 22 Table 1 Amount of funding required to launch the project successfully ❖ Assess any support/concerns from the Set up and management facilitation A $ 30,000 general and business community. Noise Capital assets purchase/installation A $ 115,455 and smell were found to be concerns, but Initial working capital A $ 67,000 support potential was excellent. ❖ Identify markets, supply sources, prod- TOTAL FUNDS REQUIRED A $ 212,455 uct acceptability. Indicated markets within 1 US $ = 1,85 A $ a kilometre were generally most enthusi- astic because of the waste management advantage. Table 2: Estimated financial performance for three revenue-earning ❖ Determine commercial viability via a enterprises over 30 months business plan outline. This was proved – at least on paper. First 6 months Year 2 Year 3 ❖ Examine benefits for the built and nat- Hydroponics A $ 36,360 A $ 108,125 A $ 108,125 ural environments and identify issues of Aquaculture A $ 32,575 A $ 130,300 A $ 130,300 concern to authorities. Vermiculture A $ 5,100 A $ 15,610 A $ 15,610 ❖ Provide a skills audit. ❖ Specify potential support for funding. EST. TOTAL REVENUES A $ 74,035 A $ 254,035 A $ 254,035 ❖ Review training needs. ❖ Examine effects on current suppliers EST. GROSS PROFIT A $ 47,840 A $ 199,865 A $ 199,865 (e.g. rural farmers). EST. NET PROFIT -A $ 32,430 +A $ 34,016 +A $ 35,015 While there are conventional farms in the periurban areas of Brisbane, these remain ❖ the selling of salad vegetables, herbs being achieved, and on the following of a under threat from urban expansion, which and fish back to the same restaurants, hos- recommended marketing plan. Key factors brings up the environmental concerns pitals and clubs. were proximity to markets, consistent about the use of fertiliser and pesticides/ supply of high quality fresh produce and fungicides and rising production costs Integrated Skills Consulting concluded stable pricing. related to land value. The study took the that with a total funding of A$212,000, a view that an Urban Rooftop Microfarm microfarm on a Mt Gravatt commercial The study set out specifically to: must avoid such problems by adopting a rooftop (or equivalent urban space) could ❖ Identify the project’s technical platform different approach, using urban spaces not be profitable after 17 months of operation. components, cost and availability. The normally considered for farming. It could then provide a return of around three were (a) horticulture which cost It was clear that the expense of this 20% a year on invested capital. It could about A $50,000 to set up, (b) aquaculture approach (cost of urban land) could be off- provide three to four new jobs for each which cost about A $14,000 to set up, and set by greatly reduced costs in transport microfarm, possibly jobs suited to people (c) vermiculture which would cost about and energy use and by providing high with a disability. A $5,000 to set up – the total being around quality produce for a premium price, A $70,000 for equipment specific to these where it is needed. The consultants said that a capital invest- enterprises, but not including shared Many potential customers interviewed ment of A $212,455 would ensure that the equipment such as a motor vehicle. said they were prepared to pay about 10% project would not run short of funds at ❖ Identify job and business opportunities more for organically grown local produce any stage, but the figure did not give a and local target groups for those opportu- that was harvested for same day sale. The margin for error. nities. It was estimated that three to four 10% was elicited as a fair “premium” to jobs would be created. pay, and probably was a response based Cashflow projections were indicative only, because total annual costing was applied evenly on a monthly basis. Nevertheless, the consultants reported that the cash flow Portable vertical showed the expected generation of rev- structures for enue and expenditure under the economic lettuce and herbs, conditions in Brisbane, Australia in 1999, using oval-pipe over the first 30 months, and with progres- organic hydro- sive repayment of A $32,000 in working ponic techology capital required to tide the enterprise dur- ing the start-up period (see Table 2).

The consultants emphasised that the resultant achievement of 19.4% return on capital invested was conditional on rela- tively conservative production targets Geoff Wilson

August 2002 23 Worm liquor is less capable of precise specification than are inorganic chemical solutions, because the nutrient content varies according to the nutrient value derived from different worm food on existing premium expectations report- The other equipment was a shredding sources – in this case from Chinese, ed widely in technical and consumer news machine to reduce worm bed material and Italian and Australian styles of cooking. media. They were also comfortable with vegetable matter to a finely ground mulch, However, the nutrient balance of worm the concept of organic hydroponics via a boiler to heat the mulch to remove liquor can be adjusted by adding rock worm liquor developed from restaurant pathogens, small pumping systems to re- dust, a natural mineral-rich product, or food wastes. circulate the liquid passing through the specific organic materials (such as The study identified by-products of worm beds, storage for the worm liquor pineapple tops for extra magnesium). vermiculture as being important to the and a worm/castings separator. An assort- Some additional, simple heat processing final mix of products to be offered back to ment of minor tools and equipment to would be required to ensure pathogen- restaurants. Worm castings could be used assist in this process would also be free and readily digested waste matter in containerised growing on rooftops, or required. for the worms. sold as a valuable soil additive sought by Aquaculture is an established technology local home gardeners. Also, surplus and there are many examples of successful worms produced would be used as a food fish farms operating in Queensland, which project appears to positively address all of the source in the secondary food production could supply mature fish or crustaceans to issues and should therefore be accordingly stage involving holding mature fish or be held ready for local restaurants to pur- judged as a feasible venture,” crustaceans in tanks after being bought chase. The fish species recommended was from rural aquaculture farms. “Silver Perch” an Australian native fresh- The Southside Chamber’s feasibility study water fish, which is ideal for the restaurant also revealed a number of issues requiring The proposal required maximum produc- and retail markets. The use of aquaculture resolution in setting up an Urban Rooftop tion from a minimal area “footprint”. The to grow silver perch thus completes the Microfarm. They included: site size chosen for the study was 600 circle of this proposal. But “Jade Perch” ❖ zoning issues: in Brisbane and other square metres because such a rooftop size (previously named “Barcoo Grunter”) parts of Australia commercial enterprises in Mt Gravatt was more readily available would be an easier option. are generally banned from residential than sites of 1000 square metres or more. zones, while in commercial zones there Of the various hydroponic systems The feasibility study concluded that: can be problems with perceived noise and reviewed in the feasibility study and expe- “the above systems combine to present a viable smell issues; rience of a number of commercial grow- means of growing a range of hydroponic ❖ production facility operation issues ers, it was considered that the locally- vegetables, fruit, fish and worms. The system such as noise; smell; traffic; effluent and developed Boxsell “Ell-Grow” system of components are either commercially available, waste & exhausted nutrient solution dis- oval-channels most readily met the needs incorporating proven technology, or where posal; lighting impact and restrictions; sig- of this project (in a sub-tropical climate). they need to be purpose built, they can use nage and aesthetics; The proposed layout for the hydropon- proven elements that offer reliable results.(…) ❖ space and site management issues; ics occupied 450 of the 600 square metres, It must be recognised that in the use of organic ❖ health, hygiene and sanitation regula- with six rows of eight 3 x 2 metre tables, all nutrient from vermiculture processes as tions compliance; covered with hail mesh and insect screen- described, there is a less precise degree of ❖ food waste delivery and storage issues, ing. While the actual growing units formed control of nutrient content than would be the which focused on the regulations govern- the core of the system and represented the case with inorganic fertilisers. This is not ing the handling, transport and storage of largest single cost element, other compo- considered to be a problem as plants naturally food waste in Australia. These concern nents were needed to complete the whole take up what they require for growth from the both human hygiene and animal protec- system. Using commercial worm beds as a available medium and the worm liquor tion from exotic diseases, such as Foot and basis, a purpose-built system can be con- analysis shows that such an organic nutrient is Mouth disease; figured by stacking a number of them in a rich in what they require. The main difference ❖ workplace health and safety issues; robust pallet frame in such a way that they will be that all of the nutrient available may ❖ benefits accruing to the built/natural can be rolled out and back for access like a not be taken up and some will go to waste. (.. ) environment; and series of filing drawers. On balance The Urban Rooftop Microfarm ❖ compliance with municipal, state and federal regulations – particularly in food safety for consumers. Containerised growing of fruit, using worm The Southside Chamber of Commerce sells castings copies of its full report of 156 pages for A $35 and cycling plus A $15 postage and packing – total of worm A $50. A 25-page summary of the report is liquor available for A $5 per view at www.urbanag.info or www.L-COCO.info Geoff Wilson 24 UA-Magazine Impact of Urban Agriculture reduced prices in Havana

Urban agriculture emerged in Cuba, and specifically in Havana, from the elsewhere in Cuba since 1994, at which critical economic crisis of 1989, as a response to food insecurity. Today, time the provincial group for urban it has become one of the largest sources of employment in Havana, agriculture was established in Havana. improving the supply of fresh produce and ensuring greater stability and The reasons for this impact are related to availability of, especially, leafy vegetables. Until the emergence of urban the direct communication between agriculture, the agricultural markets (numbering 58 in April 2000) were producers and consumers, which avoids the only option for unregulated agricultural produce, gradually becoming the involvement of intermediaries and a reference point for prices in the domestic economy. the costs involved; and selling the produce directly where it is grown, which also helps to cut costs and transportation he shift from producing primarily for sell their produce. In the year 2000, more losses. personal consumption and than 550 of these marketing sites were T subsistence needs to a market- scattered throughout the capital. Although food prices continue to be high oriented agricultural sector fostered the for a large majority of residents, and food amendment of city legislation. This Intensive urban production methods and is still a major concern for the consumers allowed for marketing to happen both at direct marketing have influenced the and the authorities, the drop in prices has the production sites and at specific prices of agricultural products in Havana. led to a situation in which more people locations where groups of horticulturists, Figure 1 illustrates how prices of four can afford products that are of better cooperatives, and intensive and products have dropped at the large quality. “organoponic” garden growers came to agricultural markets in the city and

45.0 6.0 Average prices: fruit Average prices: pork 40.0 5.0 35.0

4.0 30.0 25.0 3.0 20.0

2.0 15.0 10.0 1.0 5.0 0 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

6.0 Average prices: tomatoes 16.0 Average prices: onions 14.0 5.0 12.0 4.0 10.0

3.0 8.0

6.0 2.0 4.0 1.0 2.0

0 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Nación C. Habana

Figure: Price differentials of four agricultural products between 1994 and 1999 [Source: Charts are based on information provided by the National Statistics Office (2000)]

______Mario González Novo, REFERENCES - González Novo M. 2000. Institucionalización de la Agricultura Urbana en la Ciudad de La Habana. Havana, Cuba. Red Latinoamericana de Investigaciones - Cruz MC and Sánchez Medina R. 2001. Agricultura y Ciudad: Una clave para la sustentabilidad. Havana. - National Statistics Office. 2000. Agricultural Market: 1994-1999, Cuba. Havana: National Statistics Office. en Agricultura Urbana, Peru, ✉ [email protected]

August 2002 25 One principal factor for the slow devel- opment of the urban and peri-urban agricultural sector in Zimbabwe is the inadequate, or in some cases total absence of financing arrangements, especially from the formal sector. There are two explanations for this state of affairs, first that the rapid rise in urban

agriculture is a fairly new phenomenon, Shingi Mushamba and second, that it has also retained the Demonstration plot tag of an illegal activity in most urban settlements. As such, funds that have been avail- for Musikavanhu able to other sectors from especially non-governmental organisations and international Project in Mabvuku development agencies have not been extended to urban and peri-urban agriculture.

Different Kinds of Investment Kintyre Lake County and Musikavanhu Project experiences in Urban Agriculture

imbabwe has an agro-based for agricultural purposes in like the Municipal Development economy with a well-devel- Zimbabwe has been classified as Programme (MDP) and Fambid- Z oped agriculture sector. This ‘on-plot’ and ‘off-plot’ types. zanai Centre are sector is categorised into five lev- The on-plot type is usually seeking ways to work together els: large-, medium- and small- practised on the residential stand productively with urban farmers to scale commercial farming, com- itself and is usually limited to the promote sustainable and environ- munal farming and more recently production of vegetables. There ment-friendly urban agriculture. the category of resettled farmers are three main types of residential Commercial farmers practise [which can also be categorised plots in urban Zimbabwe, based high value intensive peri-urban on size as follows: high density agriculture on farms surrounding (150 – 300 m2); medium density the city. Peri-urban communal There is a need for a tier (300 – 1,000 m2), and low density production is also practised in of local institutions to emerge (1000 m2 and above). The off-plot satellite areas to Harare, such agricultural activities on the other as Seke and Domboshawa, from hand take place on open spaces which tomatoes and other into large, medium and small reserved for future uses, and along vegetables are drawn. scale]. Urban agriculture can be riverbanks, dams and catchment considered to be a recent addition areas, along roadsides, railway This article draws on the experi- to these categories, although it is reserves and hills. These types of ences of two schemes in Harare not exactly a new phenomenon. activities can either be legal or ille- – Musikavanhu Project and the The areas under cultivation have gal depending on whether permis- Kintyre Lake Country (KLC) increased by over 100% since sion from the local authority has Development. The former is a independence in 1980. The last been granted or not. Until recently, fairly well established co-opera- increase is attributed to the local authorities have viewed tive scheme for the urban impact of the economic structural urban agriculture as demanding a resource-poor that has been in adjustment programme (ESAP) large portion of urban land and existence since 1998 while the lat- introduced in the early 1990s. having negative environmental ter is a land development scheme Under ESAP, urban agriculture and health impacts. The authori- implemented by the private sec- has become an important coping ties therefore tried to deter or tor since 1999. The two provide strategy for resource-poor fami- stop agricultural activities from useful information on which to lies. The use of the urban space continuing, though this attitude evaluate the prospects for financ- has since changed. Now, urban ing urban and peri-urban agricul- ______local authorities, with the help of ture for the different income Shingirayi Mushamba, Municipal Development non-governmental organisations groups. Programme Eastern and Southern Africa ✉ [email protected] 26 UA-Magazine KINTYRE LAKE COUNTY The co-operative has had DEVELOPMENT no major investors Kintyre Lake County Development (KLC), formerly Kintyre Estates, is a land devel- opment project that integrates urban structural development. The development in Africa after Kenya. The owners of plots agriculture and other traditional urban of residential and commercial properties shall be the direct beneficiaries as they will land uses. The project is situated 27 km will be financed from savings or mortgage earn income realised from the production. from central Harare along the Bulawayo financing from building societies. KLC is The EPZ is set to earn Zimbabwe US$50 road. It is a multi-faceted peri-urban an economic venture that aims in the first million in foreign currency annually from development project valued in excess of instance at enterprise development in the proceeds of the exports. Z $2.4 billion(1). When the project is com- agriculture. The area has 50 plots, with a plete, it will have 50 intensive agricultural minimum of 10 hectares, which can MUSIKAVANHU PROJECT plots and 86 mountainside residential be utilised for agricultural purposes. The Residents from a low-income suburb of units for executive homes, a holiday resort agricultural component will specialise in Budiriro in Harare initiated the centre comprising an upmarket hotel and intensive horticulture and , Musikavanhu Project in 1999, with the aim casino, a business centre with food courts some within greenhouses. Marketing is of improving the living standards of the and retail shops, and an on-site Export facilitated by the establishment or confer- urban resource-poor from urban farming. Processing Zone, among others. ring of export-processing-zone status, The project was a direct response to a call meaning that the small-scale agricultural by the city authorities for urban farmers to There is a demand for peri-urban plots by concerns in the area will be able to enjoy be organised so that the Harare City the urban elites and KLC is filling in the incentives to export their produce. Council could engage with them on issues gap for this niche market. The purpose of Furthermore, the area has easy access to of urban farming. Some of the objectives of the project is to provide land and other th main road. the project are to lobby for land, mobilise development opportunities to high- other resources and inputs, and facilitate income earners. The project was con- The impact of this project is both at city networking with key stakeholders in order ceived as a direct call by the Government and regional level. When fully developed, to improve food security and incomes and of Zimbabwe to intensify the export drive the project shall increase food security for empowerment of its members. and facilitate economic empowerment. the towns in the vicinity; generate The plots are on freehold tenure. employment; and revenue through taxes.. During its formation, the project engaged The agricultural component of the project in a land and membership mobilisation Although the project is in its infancy, it has shall create employment for thousands of exercise. By promising urban farmers that generated substantial interest from local, Zimbabweans in the production, market- were already cultivating in open spaces regional and international investors. ing and manufacturing of agricultural that they would retain the use of their Investors regard the project as an oppor- products. The Export Processing Zone will plots if they joined, and that they would tunity to increase their portfolio. benefit the Zimbabwean economy by benefit from its wide network of support- increasing foreign currency earnings from ers, including the government, it attracted Several institutional and private sector the production of flowers of which urban farmers in the suburbs targeted to investors supported the project’s infra- Zimbabwe is the second largest exporter join in. The Project’s activities have spread to other low-income suburbs of Harare that include Glen Norah, Tafara, Mabvuku, Mufakose and Kuwadzana. The group

arare has an acclaimed membership of twenty to H thousand in Harare alone. The project practises both on-plot and off-plot cultiva- tion, and specialises in staple and cash crop production using both mechanical and manual methods. There are also plans to launch the project in other cities in the country.

The project members are organised in groups of thirty families each, called phas- es. Committees, whose chairpersons are Agricultural plots members of the project’s overall executive Lake Chivero Residential plots body, run these groups. Free inputs for Commercial zone demonstration purposes are mobilised from well-wishers and provided to all groups. Each group has a demonstration to Bulawayo plot, and in total the project has an esti- Figure 1: Lay out of Kintyse Lake Country mated 10 acres of demonstration plots

August 2002 27 around the city. Project members have that formal jobs will be difficult to come CONCLUSIONS todate received extension services from by, some men have joined the project. The indications from the KLC the Department of Agriculture’s Technical However, the effective participation of Development case study are that high val- and Extension Services, Seed Company women is still limited by their other ue, intensive urban agriculture in periur- [SEEDCO] and Agricura and Monsanto domestic duties. Whilst women form a ban areas and on large plots will attract Zimbabwe very large majority of the members of sufficient funding for development and Musikavanhu, the leadership is largely growth, especially from the private sav- Each household has a plot allocated to it made up of men. ings and traditional agribusiness finance for growing vegetables during the dry sea- institutions. The freehold tenure that it son and maize production during the The project has succeeded in demonstrat- enjoys, or in some cases long lease, the rainy season. During the 2001/2 farming ing that it is possible to practise organised potential for high returns and the long season, members of the co-operative indi- and sustainable urban agriculture with the established tradition of financing such vidually benefited from the government- support of the local authority. The project projects are fundamental for facilitating sponsored input credit scheme. beneficiaries are the urban poor and availability of financial support services. unemployed. There are approximately Investors view the project as low risk and The project has had no major investors. 20,000 people who benefit directly as thus are prepared to invest large sums of Currently, it draws income from member- members in the form of income and food money. The project even has approval from the government seen by the issuing of an agricultural subdivision permit from The project was initially the Ministry of Local Government and dominated by women National Housing.

Unlike KLC, Musikavanhu Project’s con- s’subscription fees. Each member pays an supplies. The average size of a family in tribution to the city’s local economy is still initial membership fee of Z$300 (1) and Zimbabwe is six, which means that there ignored. The fact that City of Harare has thereafter an annual subscription fee of are about 100,000 more people who bene- not yet reviewed its by-laws to make Z $150. However, most members are not fit indirectly from the activities. Family urban agriculture a legal urban land use up-to-date with their payments, a result of income is increased and the food security does not provide incentives to, especially the economic hardships. Many members situation in the member households is institutional actors to invest in it because stopped paying once they were allocated improved. of the perceived high risk involved. the plots. Only about 20% of the members However, the project has managed to pay their subscription fees each year. The impacts of the project are diverse. attract a large membership and growing This has been tolerated because the bulk The objectives of ensuring food security, support from a some institutions. of the membership is unemployed. income, good nutrition and providing employment for the urban poor are slowly Traditionally, household savings have The leadership of the project has but surely being achieved. Urban agricul- financed on-plot urban agriculture activi- approached many organisations for ture stakeholders have been conscientised ties in Zimbabwe. On fairly large plots financial and material support. The sole on the importance of this activity in pover- where external resources are required, agricultural bank in Zimbabwe, Agribank, ty alleviation. This has seen input supply informal networks have been very useful. was approached for financial assistance in companies, government, AGRITEX, the In the case of high-density residential sub- March 2001 but has todate not responded. Department of Natural Resources, the city urbs, the availability of on-plot land is very Most sponsors are reluctant to support council and the police beginning to appre- limited, to the extent that no significant the project because urban agriculture is ciate that urban agriculture is an alterna- investment for on-plot urban agriculture still perceived as an illegal practice and not tive way of using idle urban land. Women is required. It is on the open spaces that as an alternative form of urban land use. have also been empowered and can now urban agriculture that can benefit the Input suppliers provide assistance as a make decisions on using and contributing urban poor requires significant invest- marketing strategy. Recently, to the family income. ments. The key question that needs an Environment Africa and Nico Orgo, a answer is how open space cultivation can organic fertiliser manufacturing company The work of Musikavanhu Project was be supported and financed in order to have committed themselves to support the greatly enhanced by the prevailing harsh benefit the urban poor. project. economic conditions in the country. The high retrenchments meant that There is a need for a tier of local institu- The Musikavanhu project covers several most people lost their jobs and had to tions to emerge and provide support ser- thematic areas. These range from poverty engage in alternative production systems, vices, including financing mechanisms for alleviation, social services and environ- especiually in the informal sector. open space cultivation in Zimbabwe. mental management. The project was ini- The project offered hope in giving them tially dominated by women as men felt a chance to produce their own food Notes that urban agriculture was not a lucrative and so reduce their household budgets 1) The current official exchange rate for the Zimbabwe dollar against the US dollar is 1:55. activity for them. However, with the on this item and meet other basic needs. However, on the thriving parallel market, demonstrated results and the realisation the rate is 1:550.

28 UA-Magazine Maximising Private and Social Gains of Wastewater Agriculture in Haroonabad

Data Collection Data were collected in 2001 from 20 wastewater farms at the main disposal site of Haroonabad, and 20 canal water farms located with- in a radius of 5 kilometres from the centre of the town. The data were collected through weekly panel interviews with the respondents, on-site water measurements, and secondary sources like the market Wastewater Disposal Station at Chak 73/4-R, Haroonabad committee and key informants. The use of inputs, costs of pro- duction and value of production In many countries, using wastewater for irrigation purposes originated as and has were calculated and compared. remained an unplanned activity, practised for centuries by poor farmers in urban and The details of the methodology periurban areas. It has also become a widely accepted, though unregulated, practice are described elsewhere (Van der in many countries. Due to growing populations, weak financial health of municipali- Hoek et al., forthcoming). T-statis- ties and weak or non-existing institutional and regulatory mechanisms, it is likely to tics were used to compare means continue as the main wastewater treatment strategy in the developing world. wherever possible.

hile irrigation with untreat- This comparative study sum- tion water from the nearby Hakra- ed wastewater certainly has marises the private and social 4/R Distributary Canal. W health and environmental costs and benefits of wastewater risks, it may have important eco- irrigation vis-à-vis canal irrigation While the main population lives nomic and environmental benefits in a small town setting of a water in the central parts of town, for both farmers as well as the scarce area of Pakistan. The cur- recent decades have witnessed society. The societies may benefit rent arrangements for waste- new colonies emerging as satel- The work reported here from limiting pollution to water disposal and use are lites around the town, each hav- was part of a larger study localised areas, instead of pollut- analysed with a view to identify- ing a separate water disposal unit. that assessed the ing surface waters through ing an alternative approach to Some of these sites have only economic, health and untreated wastewater disposal. wastewater use planning and dis- recently been irrigated with environmental costs and The farmers themselves conserve posal which maximises benefits wastewater, while others, includ- benefits of wastewater nutrients, reducing the need for and minimises costs. ing the main site have been prac- irrigation artificial fertilisers, and increase tising wastewater irrigation for (Van de Hoek, et al., forthcoming.) crop yields. They may also be able SITE CHARACTERISATION the past thirty-five years. to “save” fresh water for other AND INSTITUTIONAL users and uses by meeting their SETTING The approach to wastewater dis- irrigation demands through This study was carried out in posal has not changed over the wastewater irrigation. Farmers Haroonabad town in the southern years, however. The effluent is may also have more reliable water Punjab province of Pakistan. mainly used to irrigate an area of supply from the wastewater than Haroonabad had a population of 120 ha at the main site and an that supplied through poorly 63,000 in 2001. Rainfall is mainly area of 25 ha at the two smaller managed canal systems. limited to the monsoon periods of schemes. The total volume of dis- July and August and is quite posed water approximated over ______scanty, averaging 160 mm a year. 4,600 m3 of raw sewage a day at Mehmood Ul Hassan, International Water Management Groundwater is brackish and the time of our study. Institute, Central Asia and Caucasus Sub-office, Uzbekistan, therefore water supply to the town ✉ [email protected] and crops is dependent on irriga- The municipality is responsible for

August 2002 29 The surplus of individual farmers was too small to export to large city markets BENEFITS AND COSTS OF USING WASTEWATER AGRICULTURE TO FARMERS provision of water and its disposal, whose ment for organising farmers for promoting The wastewater farmers saved on the responsibilities end at the disposal station, collective action for wastewater irrigation most important costs, which need to be at which point the farmers take over the did exist, however (1). paid in cash, such as groundwater, fertilis- management and use of the wastewater. ers, and hired labour. This made their total Only those farmers whose land was locat- Land ownership is found to be a symbol costs slightly lower than those of the ed in the vicinity of the disposal stations of prestige in the area. Working with canal-irrigated farms (see Table 1). and were connected to the wastewater wastewater is seen as an inferior occupa- However, the difference of the total cash disposal channel were able to use it for tion. Therefore, richer landowners do not costs was statistically insignificant. The irrigation purposes. Other farmers had to engage in direct farm operations at the major advantage of the wastewater farms seek agreements to trespass wastewater- wastewater-irrigated farms, and prefer to was in the higher production and, the connected lands in order to connect their lease their land out. The lessees tend to gross value of their products remained sig- watercourses to the disposal channel. The operate larger consolidated holdings by nificantly higher than the canal farms. The permission is not generally granted, how- arranging leases with more landowners. gross margins of wastewater farmers were ever. The farmers using wastewater have Since wastewater farming in the area also significantly higher than those of the evolved mechanisms of cooperating with mainly concerns intensive vegetable cul- canal-water farmers, because vegetables each other. All farmers have rights to the tivation, it requires more labour inputs brought higher returns to wastewater canal water, but they do not presently use during land preparation, seed sowing, farmers. canal water at these sites. and harvesting. There is a general ten- dency among the lessees to share out The majority (80%) of the wastewater-irri- In Haroonabad, the wastewater channel small parcels of 1-2 ha to the tenants gating farmers viewed water availability as is state property. To connect this channel with larger families, who could provide sufficient to raise crops they had planted, to other farms is not possible without the family labour for farm operations. Water while 70% of the canal-irrigating farmers consent of all farmers owning lands con- rights are automatically transferred with felt that the water supply remained insuf- nected to the channel, which can be land, but day-to-day distribution of water ficient. The average annual water avail- obtained through a process of negotia- among various tenants has taken place ability for the wastewater irrigators was tion, dialogue, and other social mobilisa- with mutual cooperation and under- 1,516 cubic meters/ha compared to the tion processes. No institutional arrange- standing. canal irrigators who could only use 942 cubic meters/ha. The cost of irrigation water, which include the cost of surface Table 1: Comparison of inputs, costs, and Value of Product on wastewater and canal and groundwater, and the water tax on water irrigated farms crops, was significantly higher for the canal irrigators than for the wastewater Description of Variable (unit) Canal Water Wastewater t-value irrigators. Irrigated Farms Irrigated Farms (n=20) (n=20) The wastewater farmers grew high value, short duration crops such as vegetables Average cost of land preparation (Rs/ha) 2897 4734 4.54(2) (especially cauliflower) and fodder, and Average cost of Seed (Rs/ha) 2903 5409 3.44(2) had significantly higher cropping intensi- Average cost of chemical fertilizers (Rs/ha) 5484 2621 5.19(2) ties compared to the canal farms, who Average cost of farm yard manure (Rs/ha) 1626 0 could only grow wheat and cotton, or sug- Average cost of insecticides (Rs/ha) 5378 7458 2.57(2) arcane and some vegetables. Of the canal- Average volume of irrigation applied (m3/ha) 942 1516 4.22(2) irrigated farms, vegetables covered only 18 Average annual cost of irrigation water (Rs/ha) 1141(3) 200 percent of the area while wastewater area Average annual water charges (Rs/ha) 385 678 vegetables covered 83 percent of the Average cost of irrigation water (Rs/ha) 1526 878 2.24(2) cropped area. Average hired labor use (mandays /ha) 37 0 Average Family labor use (mandays/ha) 86 221 6.51(2) The wastewater farmers did not need Average Cost of hired labor (Rs/ha) 2940 0 hired labour, as they could utilise their Average total cash costs of inputs (Rs/ha) 22754 20901 0.85 family labour. The canal-water farms used Average gross value of product (Rs/ha) 57183 68118 1.89(1) on average 37 days of hired labour per Average net value of Product (Rs/ha) 34429 47217 2.50(2) year per ha. The family labour input was Gross water productivity (Rs/m3)6145 significantly higher on wastewater farms Net water productivity (Rs/m3)3731 than on the canal water-irrigated farms. The farmers at the wastewater farms used 1 US $ = 57.25 Pakistan Rupee almost eight months per ha of family Notes labour. Use of family labour saved the (1) significant at 90% confidence level wastewater farmers roughly 50% of the (2) significant at 95% confidence level (3) average cost of pumped groundwater used to supplement canal water UA-Magazine REFERENCES - Hassan MU, A Hamid, K Mahmood and S Mahmood. 2000. Farmer Organization’s Potential for Reducing Waterlogging and Salinity Through improved Equity and Reliability of Irrigation Water: Evidence from Hakra 4-R Distributary in Watercourse Southern Punjab. Proceedings of the National carrying municipal Drainage Program Seminar held on August 16-18 at Mehran University, Jamshoro, Pakistan?. effluent to - Hassan MU, Y Memon and A Hamid. 1999. agricultural lands Returns to Facilitating Farmers’ Organizations for Distributary Maintenance: Empirical results from a in Haroonabad, Pilot Project in Southern Punjab. The Pakistan Pakistan Development Review 38(3): 253-268. - Malik SM, Waheed-uz-Zaman and M Kuper. 1996. Farmers’ organized behavior in irrigated agri- culture in Pakistan’s Punjab: A Case study of six watercourse command areas in Junejwala Minor, Lower Chenab Canal System. Working paper no. 39. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Irrigation Management Institute. There is for - Van der Hoek W, MU Hassan, JHJ Ensink, S scope Feenstra, LR Sally, S Munir, R Aslam, N Ali, R increased productivity Hussain and Y Matsuno. forthcoming. Urban Wastewater: A valuable resource for irrigated agri- of wastewater culture in low-income water scarce countries. Research Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute. - Wahid MA and Hassan MU. 2000. Case studies: produce as soon as it is harvested due to indicating an opportunity for additional Case 1 - Union is strength: Participatory develop- ment experiences of Hakra 4-R Distributary farm- the very perishable nature of vegetables private and social benefits. ers in Pakistan’s Southern Punjab. Canadian Journal of Development Studies 21(Special Issue on grown. All farmers growing similar crops Participatory Development): 621-624. and selling them during the same period The overall gross and net water productiv- in a rather small market has led to excess ity of the wastewater farms was lower supply particularly during peak seasons, than that of the canal-irrigated farms. affecting prices and therefore returns to Limited canal water supplies coupled with gross margin of a canal-irrigated farm. The the farmers. At the start of the harvesting expansive and poor quality groundwater wastewater farmers viewed availability of season when supply is low, prices are high, forced canal-irrigating farmers to use less the entire family employment on the same but as production approaches its peak, the water for crops. In contrast, most of the farm as a valuable opportunity. Due to the price falls to its minimum. There is there- wastewater farmers had sufficient water significantly lower fertiliser application by fore quite a visible reaction of prices to available in a reliable and flexible manner, wastewater farmers, the costs of fertilisers production. and at almost no cost. On top of this, the were also significantly lower in waste- wastewater had almost no opportunity water farms. The value of wastewater is SOCIAL BENEFITS AND COSTS OF cost, as it could not be delivered to anoth- reflected in the land rents for wastewater WASTEWATER AGRICULTURE er farmer, alternate use or area due to the farms, which on average were 3.5 times Wastewater irrigation could potentially absence of required physical infrastruc- higher than those of the canal-water lead to bacterial and worm infections to ture. Therefore, farmers tended to over- farms. The difference was found to be sta- workers, while accumulation of materials apply wastewater, keeping the gross and tistically significant. can lead to salinisation of land (van der net value of wastewater below the canal Hoek et al. forthcoming). However, con- water. There is a scope for water savings The average cost of agricultural operations centrations of heavy metals fell within the for wastewater, and thus increasing pro- per unit of land was significantly higher at FAO standards for irrigation. ductivity of wastewater by regulating its the wastewater farms as compared to that allocation and improving the mechanisms of the canal-water farms. The data also Due to water scarcity in Haroonabad, only for conveyance and distribution. showed a statistically significant differ- two-thirds of the allocated irrigation water ence in costs on insecticides in the waste- was available to farmers bordering on the Van der Hoek et al. (forthcoming) indicate water farms as compared to the canal- canal feeding this area. The wastewater- opportunities for reducing soil pollution water farms. The wastewater farmers using farmers had however freed up some from continuous wastewater irrigation could only grow a limited number of of the canal water, while still generating through spreading wastewater thinly over crops, such as spinach, chillies, pumpkins, an additional net value. Thus, each cubic larger areas. This however requires invest- round gourds, egg plants, onions, toma- meter of wastewater used for irrigation ment, as well as interaction with and par- toes, cauliflower, and fodder. The limita- not only released three to four times the ticipation of all the farmers located in the tions included lack of freshwater for wash- amount of fresh water for use elsewhere, vicinity of disposal stations, in the plan- ing, to blackened tuber and root crops, to but it also generated an additional net ning of sewage schemes through social more vegetative growth and less fruit for- monetary gain for the society as a whole, mobilisation processes (2). mation.

In addition, the marketable surplus of Notes individual farmers in small towns was (1) Most of the tertiary irrigation channels of the canal network in the Punjab province are state channels (Sarkari found to be too small to export these veg- Khal), to which farmers connect their private channels. Earlier experiences in collective action at the tertiary level of etables to large city markets. As a result, the irrigation system in Pakistan suggest that it has been extremely difficult for farmers to cooperate on building and sharing new irrigation channels or changing the route of the channel, even with considerable facilitation from the farmers tend to sell vegetables in the the state (see for instance Malik et al. 1996), unless the channel was state property. local market, where demand is rather lim- (2) Action research around the area has already proven that if appropriate social organisation methodologies are followed, farmers show an eagerness to engage in a dialogue for water resource sharing (Hamid and Hassan 2001). ited and inelastic. Because they also lack The returns to such initiatives are usually higher than the costs involved (Hassan et al. 1999). The users’ organisa- storage facilities, farmers have to sell their tions share the natural resources more equitably under their own organizations than controlled by the state (ibid.).

August 2002 31 Among the approximately two million residents of the Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador, 45% live in conditions of The poverty, and 12% in destitution (PNUD, neighbourhood 2002). These conditions are linked to and “Musculos aggravated by the economic crisis y Rieles” in produced by the structural adjustment the periphery policies of the last three years. of Quito César Jaramillo

Trust Funds as Financing Mechanisms for Participatory Urban Agriculture

ver the course of this period the a) the generation of income and employ- Training is provided in the form of intern- process of of “dollarisation” resulted ment; ship experiences on organic farms. With O in a 120% rate of inflation, an b) forms of guaranteeing urban food secu- the goal of strengthening the programme, unemployment rate of 29.5%, and under- rity; and various agreements of co-participation employment of over 60% of the economi- c) the ecological protection of natural have been signed with national and inter- cally active population. The aggressive resources. national organisations to provide training, process of internal migration (64% of the technical assistance and seeds, and to population of the country lives in urban With the aim of increasing efficiency and assist with the commercialisation of prod- areas) has resulted in a constant and serving the community better, the metro- ucts. These organisations include the growing transfer of poverty from the politan government has decentralised its Urban Management Programme, the countryside to the city. This has resulted in work among eight Zonal Administrations, World Food Programme, the Quito an increase of unemployment and self- which are responsible for executing Forestation and Reforestation Programme, employment through activities tradition- municipal policies, managing and control- and supermarket chains, amongst others. ally considered to be part of the “informal ling urban land use, and collecting proper- economy”. ty taxes. These zones have the necessary THE “PRO-QUITO” PROGRAMME resources (human capital, land, water and For the implementation of the organic THE “AGRUPAR” PROGRAMME community organisation) to undertake the family gardens and for the development The local government has institutionalised participatory programmes involving of micro-enterprises, AGRUPAR provides initiatives to promote sustainable human organic production, processing and com- participants in the programme with cred- development and to fight poverty and mercialisation of agricultural products. it through the municipality’s “Pro-Quito” social exclusion. Beginning in January The support of the Mayor’s Office for Economic and Social Inclusion 2002, the Municipality of Quito created the programme is a guarantee for Development Fund Programme. The the Participatory Urban Agriculture favourable legislation and institutional objective of this fund is to encourage pro- Programme “AGRUPAR”, which falls motivation to facilitate access to credit, ductive investment and the creation of under the Metropolitan Department of training, and infrastructure. employment through the financing of Sustainable Human Development innovative productive activities and/or (MDSHD). AGRUPAR has begun with the implemen- services to micro-enterprises in the city. tation of communal demonstration gar- AGRUPAR aims to combat the dispropor- dens on private, public, and municipal “Pro-Quito” was born through a trust tionate impact of the economic crisis on land. In the case of gardens on private and fund (see Box 1 for definition) made up of the poorest urban populations, especially public land, land-use agreements are resources from the municipality. The female heads of household. It is designed signed to assure access to the land for at organisation of the resources is realised as a participatory tool in the formulation least two years. In the case of gardens on through Cooperatives and NGOs. A Trust and implementation of policies and pro- municipal land, a small rent is charged. Fund Board decides on resource alloca- jects, focusing on: The demonstration gardens are designed tion and determines the final beneficia- to serve as examples and training spaces ries. In this board, a delegate from the for community members participating in Mayor’s Office, the director of the ______the programme, with the idea that they MDSHD and representatives from the César Jaramillo Avila, Co-ordinator will reproduce the experience in their Technical Committees (who regulate the Municipal Programme on Urban homes of organic family gardens and the activities of each project) have a seat. The Agriculture, Quito Municipality raising of small animals. municipality contributes the funding and ✉ [email protected]

32 UA-Magazine REFERENCES - Larrea C and Sanchez J. 2002. Pobreza, empleo y equidad en el Ecuador: Perspectivas para el Desarrollo Humano collaborates with additional partners PRO-QUITO AND AGRUPAR Sustentable. Quito, Ecuador: PNUD. who can assist with resources for special The AGRUPAR Programme has sub-accounts. established a strategic alliance with the “Pro-Quito” Trust Fund for the execution The Co-operatives and NGO’s channel the of two micro-credit programmes: that of In conditions of economic crisis such as resources to individuals or groups of the family gardens and that of the those presently experienced in Ecuador, entrepreneurs living below the poverty verticalisation (commercialisation) of the effect of the provision of credit can line and who do not have access to for- excess agricultural production through moderate the, often severe, fluctuations in mal bank credit. The maximum amount communal and family micro-enterprises. access to resources at the household level. of credit for each operation is set by the “Pro-Quito” has determined various Trust Fund Board with a limit of $1,500 strategic lines of development, including For the Municipality of Quito the develop- per family for agricultural production urban agriculture, through a line of credit ment of a micro-credit program such as and $6,000 per commercialisation pro- called CREDIAGRUPAR that is designed this is a social investment. Although the ject. “Pro-Quito” counts on the Zonal to include repayment terms and direct economic returns of the program Administrations for promotion and diffu- channeling of funds based on production may not be as high as they would be on sion of the Programme, and to channel schedules and processes. This facilitates the financial market, combined with the requests for credit through the the provision and timely repayment of social returns, the investment is well Development Operators. credits, which benefits the target worthwhile. Credit programs are part of a population of AGRUPAR. larger strategy of poverty alleviation and The National Financial Corporation is the help to fulfil long-term social goals such as trustee in charge of administering the Credit facilitates the generation of self-determination, and community eco- resources directed to the development employment and the reduction of nomic independence. Although the fight economic vulnerability, which can result against poverty must take place at many in improved levels of income and levels and through many approaches, the The economic inclusion standard of living. Another impact is the use of micro-credit is a solid support and is closely linked increased level of community and family launching point from which to work. to social inclusion participation in decision-making, and providing opportunities for self- The Pro-Quito/AGRUPAR alliance is an sufficiency and increased self-esteem and effective, efficient, and opportune instru- operators. These operators are selected confidence. The economic inclusion ment to alleviate urban poverty, improve on the basis of criteria of operative effi- through access to credit is closely linked the urban environment, generate income, ciency, management capacity, resource to social inclusion. and promote citizen participation. management experience, social commit- ment, and location within the Metropolitan District. The Operators are The Trust Fund in charge of directing the operations and A trust fund is based on an act of confidence, in virtue of which an individual or legal credit, training and technical assistance, entity provides another with one or more goods with the expectation of compliance evaluating credit recipients, and manag- with a determined result, established in a trust fund contract. This result may be for ing follow-up, with a vision towards sus- the benefit of the fund contributor or of a third party, whereby as a consequence of tainability. the trust fund contract, a specialised and duly authorised entity (the trustee) agrees to undertake its best effort to achieve the result determined by the contributor. The The Pro-Quito Trust Fund recognises the trustee maintains total autonomy between its own capital and the goods received. In Municipality of the Metropolitan District addition, a separation is also maintained between the goods of each trust fund con- as the original fund contributor and pro- tract in order to avoid confusion. This is known as autonomous capital. The actors in moter of this initiative. But the Pro-Quito this mechanism are: Trust Fund guarantees transparent, ❖ the Fund Contributor; an individual or legal entity that entrusts to the trustee a responsive, and efficient management of specified management of one or more of its goods for the achievement of a result, resources, as well as the sustainability in accordance with the norms set out by the fund contributor; and realisation of the programme, as ❖ the Trustee; a special and legally recognised entity authorised to administer funds changes in political office do not affect its and trust funds and exercise legal representation, and policies and goals. In addition, it assures ❖ the Beneficiary; the person for whose benefit the trust fund is developed and the that the financial resources not used at results achieved, and who may be the very contributor or the person(s) designated the end of each fiscal period are not lost. by the contributor. Those individuals or legal entities that accept and take on the arrangements indicated As a result, the trust fund is the most suit- in the trust fund contract are additional contributors. able instrument for gaining the confi- The trust fund is a flexible and legal arrangement of extraordinary versatility that dence of public and private entities that adapts to the needs of the fund contributors and that is characterised and justified by could join as additional contributors and the development of its specifications. It is a truly adaptable tool whose conceptual provide technical and economic limit is marked by the creativity of its designer, obviously within the bounds of permis- resources. sibility and legality.

August 2002 33 Studies calculating the contribution of urban agriculture to income are unlikely to accurately estimate the quantities of food produced because informal agricultural activities are not generally included. One estimate (Blair et al. 1991) calculated that the 30,000 or so holders in London produce nearly as much fruit and vegetables in weight terms as horticultural enterprises. Prices are also difficult to Reasons for measure due to fluctuations and variations allotment

in different markets. Sustain gardening are therapy and supply of fresh produce Costs and Benefits a discussion paper of Urban Agriculture in East London

his paper explores some of The Lea Valley region of East to crises or a ‘coping strategy’ as it the current issues and eco- London typifies a declining indus- once was. Commercial activities T nomic aspects of urban and trialised horticulture. This once are primarily motivated by profit periurban agriculture in East thriving area for food production although some producers, particu- London. A formal analysis of the has shrunk since the war due to larly organic, have a ‘philosophy’ economic costs and benefits is the relative scarcity of labour and attributed to their lives and see it beyond the bounds of this paper. competition from imports from an more than simply a way to make It is intended, however, to lead to increasingly globalised food econ- money. Agricultural activities do discussion of the need to support a omy. The industry now covers an provide a way for low-income re-development of a sustainable, area of 120 hectares under glass. groups to have a supply of fresh food economy in East London, It has a high productivity with fruit and vegetables along with support for sustainable, social 200 or so horticultural enterprises many of the other benefits, con- enterprises, and a rethink of our ranging in size from less than an cities’ relationship to food. acre to 20 acres with production nearly always automated and The case of Geoff CURRENT SITUATION AND hydroponic, often in peat based Geoff Snelling has been an allotment ISSUES media and using artificial fertilis- holder for over 15 years. He has two London’s ‘ecological footprint’ (1) is ers. 10-rod plots (equivalent to twice 30’x estimated to extend to 125 times 90’ or about 9 x 27 m2) in Redbridge. the capital’s surface area with food This remnant of urban agriculture He grows a very wide range of soft fruit accounting for around 40% of this could provide an opportunity to and vegetables and all (Giradet 1995). London’s residents, redevelop, modify, and diversify waste. He tends to grow mainly higher visitors and workers, consume the industry towards a more sus- value/priced produce such as aspara- 2.4 million tonnes of food and pro- tainable system. This would entail gus, loganberries, chillies, and rare duce 883,000 tonnes of organic further improvements in technol- potato varieties. His primary reasons waste per year (Murray 1998). The ogy, conversion to organic produc- for allotment gardening are therapy and food industry makes a significant tion, development of sustainable, a supply of fresh organic produce. contribution to London’s Gross social enterprises, and production Geoff and his wife have a mainly vege- Domestic Product (GDP) with for local London markets (such as tarian diet and nearly all their fruit and around 11% of all jobs found in the Farmers’ markets) - utilising the vegetable requirements come from the food sector (Heasman 1999). existing infrastructure and chang- plot. He gives away any surplus pro- ing the modes of production and duce to his family or exchanges it ______food system in London. (barters) with other plot holders. Geoff James Petts, SUSTAIN UK spends between 30-35 hours per week ✉ [email protected] Urban agriculture in East London gardening in the summer, and between is generally no longer a response 10-15 hours in the winter. He pays £52 (=US $81 – July 2002) per year in rental for the two plots to the allotment asso- 34 ciation. Thanks to Geoff Snelling, Jenny Usher, and Claire Pritchard and Vicki Hird of Growing Communities for their contributions to the case studies. This paper and productivity. Appropriate storage is may increase the risk of fraud in the sector does not necessarily repre- important to ensure regularity and a bal- affecting sales and confidence still further. sent the views of Sustain or ance to seasonal variations. There is some The ‘organic’ label only describes the any of Sustain’s members. vertical integration both up- and down- method of production and not the journey stream from markets to production and or transformation the food has taken. vice versa (see Jenny Usher’s case). However, However, any ‘local’ or ‘sustainable’ label- tributing to household food security and this is relatively limited and more often ing/certification proposal must be nutrition. This is of particular importance enterprises and holdings are continuing to approached with caution. to communities in East London experienc- specialise in particular commodities ing problems in the availability of, and and/or areas of the food chain. The eight Although local food production in London access to, affordable fresh food sometimes farmers’ markets in London contributed currently accounts for a tiny fraction of referred to as ‘food poverty’. Recreational over £3 million last year (London Farmers’ the total amount of food consumed, it gardening and community growing initia- Markets Ltd 2001) to the income of the could potentially provide much more. One tives are not financially profitable espe- capital and more markets are opening all estimate (Garnett 1999) calculated that cially when the opportunity costs of alter- the time. Farmers must come from less urban farming in London could supply up native labour activities are considered. than 100 miles away – double the usual to 20% of Londoners’ demand for fruit and distance rule of other farmers’ markets but vegetables, along with significant amounts There are no subsidies available under the a great improvement on the 600 miles (or of other foods. European Union’s Common Agricultural 965 km), which the average vegetable Policy for horticulture or small-scale sus- travels before reaching market (Envolve tainable schemes. This factor has con- 2001). tributed to the lack of sustainable food and horticultural enterprises on the urban Urban-rural links and urban agriculture fringe producing for local London mar- could be an effective buffer in London to kets. Agriculture in the city is under external economic ‘shocks’ such as rapid extreme pressure from other, more lucra- increases in prices and problems with tive, land-use demands such as housing domestic supply caused by factors such as and work spaces. This is expected as cities disease (like Foot and Mouth disease) and grow, but partly because of planning regu- transport/energy crises. This buffer would lations this has meant holdings on the assist the region’s food security and add to urban fringe continue to be large, produc- the sustainability of the capital. It current-

ing ‘bulk’ crops (cereals, potatoes, etc.) for ly benefits the informal grower more in Sustain national and international markets, rather London because the multiples and whole- Proudly showing produce from own garden than transforming into small-scale hold- salers can easily source supplies from else- ings producing horticultural crops for where within the global food market. local food industries and markets. COSTS AND BENEFITS There is a rapid growth in the organic food Employment and training opportunities Processing and storage infrastructure, and sector in the UK but few domestic produc- could be increased in London’s food econ- markets specifically set up to deal with ers have been able to capitalise on this. omy and in auxiliary industries such as local food within a sustainable regional Domestic supply of organic produce is plant nurseries, manufacturers and auxil- system are rare and underdeveloped in increasing at a slower rate than demand iary businesses. Agricultural activities in London. However, processing enterprises with the result of more imports of organic the city, especially when organic, generally themselves need a reliable supply from foods from Europe and elsewhere (Soil have higher labour demands compared producers to ensure regularity, efficiency Association 2001). Longer supply chains with more industrialised systems. However, unemployment in East London, as in the UK as a whole, is no longer such The case of Jenny an important political issue or social prob- Jenny Usher is an organic grower in Essex, 20 miles from London. Jenny farms 3.2 lem as it was during the 1980s and 1990s hectares producing herbs, soft fruit, vegetables, greenhouse crops, and top fruit – (although there are some areas in East although no bulk crops such as potatoes, carrots, etc. Jenny’s own produce accounts London with very high unemployment for about 10% of all the produce she sells (40% in summer, 5% in winter). She buys in rates still). More critical to food enterpris- additional produce from wholesalers and sells through farm gate sales, a box delivery es is the scarcity of unskilled labour, short- scheme (30 boxes per week) and the Spitalfields’ Organic Market and other farmers’ age of skilled labour, and high wage costs. markets (accounting for 52% of turnover). The growth in the retail of organic foods by Training in horticulture, food processing, the major supermarkets is undermining the markets at which she has traditionally sold. etc. will develop labour skills and increase Jenny has a turnover of about £100,000 per annum, and usually breaks even, although participants’ ‘employability’. The close she sometimes makes a small net profit. Jenny also notes that the cost of transport and proximity to home for these gardeners loss of yields due to pests are significant threats to profitability. Jenny spends over 40 saves time and effort and reduces the inci- hours per week working, and, aside from a few casual workers, she employs one person dental costs incurred by travelling to and for 35 hours per week during the summer and 18 hours in the winter. from sites.

August 2002 35 The case of Growing Communities Growing Communities is a well-established organic box scheme in North East London. The group distributes 180 or so boxes per week mainly to families, with 20% of cus- tomers having low incomes. The group sources supplies from a farm in Oxfordshire, farmers in East Anglia, and elsewhere in the summer. The group also buys from whole- salers in the winter but has a policy of not buy-

ing produce from outside Europe except Sustain bananas. A typical ‘veggie’ box is delivered Employment and training opportunities could be increased weekly and costs £35 per month. Fruit bags cost £78 per month. The group is starting to do ‘salad bags’. Growing Communities has 8 agriculture are not generally ‘internalised’ of urban agriculture and LDA funding for part-time staff and 2-5 volunteers. The box and will accrue to other sectors. They may development of sustainable activities scheme is considered to be financially sus- also occur over a number of years and would encourage food sustainability in the tainable and makes a small surplus, which is hence are likely to be heavily discounted. capital – as would changes to, and modifi- reinvested in the scheme. cation of, ‘less sustainable’ enterprises and Other barriers to entry to urban agricul- the ‘mainstream’ food economy. The GLA ture in East London include underdevel- has recently set up a working group look- External economic benefits of urban agri- opment of downstream activities (process- ing at food and food issues in the capital, culture include cost savings to various sec- ing, storage, markets, etc.) and competi- including urban food growing. tors including waste management, and tion from food imports. The cost of trans- reduced cost of transport. Recycling organ- portation of produce to markets can also There also exists an independent net- ic wastes reduces the municipal authori- be a major factor in determining economic work in London called London Food Link ties’ potential costs associated with waste viability. which is engaged with the GLA working disposal and landfill. London’s agriculture group and which encourages sustainable could play a major role in any municipal OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES urban food production on allotments and authorities’ waste minimisation strategy as Informal food growing in London makes a fringe farms. each year disposal of organic waste (mainly significant contribution to the economy through land fill) costs the authorities and sustainability of the capital, as well as There are demand-led opportunities in approximately £66 million per year [=$110 to household food security. It is estimated London for urban agriculture and horti- million/year] (Mayor’s office, 2001). that the 30,000 or so allotment holders in culture specialising in niche and other London produce almost as many vegeta- products such as; fruit and vegetables, Further cost savings may accrue to munic- bles as commercial activities at about eggs, dairy, poultry, meat and fish (Garnett ipal authorities and the private sector 7,460,000 tonnes per year whilst many 1999). The demand-led opportunities through the reduced need for storm water people also grow food in back gardens and need to be matched, however, by supply- infrastructure, water treatment, and regu- window boxes (Garnett 1999) Policies are led growth in more deprived areas to latory systems, and lead to possible needed however to address the concerns encourage equity of access and affordabili- improvements in the health of the popula- of urban gardeners, including soil contam- ty between different social groups. tion and productivity of labour. Thames ination, security of land tenure, municipal Water has recently spent £350 million on support, and distribution of, and access to, A major investment programme in the an Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) sys- areas for food production. derelict and dilapidated infrastructure of tem together with a pesticide reduction the Lea Valley region and other traditional campaign to reduce the number of pesti- Strategic support from local and regional areas for food production is necessary to cide test failures in drinking water authorities including the Greater London revitalise this once thriving industry. (Thames Water Ltd 2001). The internalisa- Authority (GLA) and London Note tion of these external costs would produce Development Agency (LDA) is essential. (1) Ecological Footprint –the area and resources cost savings to households and the munic- GLA strategies, monitoring and research providing goods and services to a city or region ipal authorities, and encourage more sus- tainable forms of farming.

New agricultural enterprises in the city REFERENCES - Blair D, CC Giesecke and S Sherman. 1991. A dietary, social and economic evaluation of the Philadelphia urban gar- may incur very high initial start-up costs. dening project. Journal of Nutrition Education 23(4): 161-167. The cost of land, machinery, labour, and - Envolve website. 2001. (May). - Garnett T. 1999. City Harvest: the feasibility of growing more food in London. London: Sustain. other inputs can be a significant barrier to - Giradet H. 1995. Urban Growth and the Environment. Congress Report, Hong Kong. - Mayor’s Draft Municipal Waste Strategy. 2001?. London. entry because high initial capital and - Murray R. Reinventing Waste: towards a London waste strategy. Lancaster: Ecologika. labour inputs are needed to be able to - Heasman M. 1999. Getting a Quart from a Pint Pot: Restructuring and the UK Food Industry. The Impact on the West London Food Economy. London: West London Training and Enterprise Council. compete with existing enterprises and - London Farmers’ Markets Ltd. 2001. London: LFM Ltd. imported produce. Cost savings of urban - Soil Association. 2001. Organic Food and Farming Report. Bristol: Soil Association. - Thames Water Ltd. 2001. Annual Report. London: Thames Water Ltd.

36 UA-Magazine http://www.ernasia.org/index.php www.ifpri.cgiar.org/training/newsletter/2002/train_news_020 ERNASIA (Environmental Research Network Asia) is an indepen- 4.htm dent, multi-disciplinary research network that provides an inter- Information provided in this newsletter is a service of IFPRI national forum for academic co-operation, exchange and debate (International Food Policy Research Institute) and is retrieved on environmental problems in Asia. On this website, information from brochures, websites, list servers, or list server members. is provided on research projects, conferences, seminars and other To receive the information by e-mail: join the list server and events. In addition, you can search in, and submit to, expert and send an e-mail message to [email protected]. In The reference databases, as well as subscribe to the ERNASIA body of the message write SUBSCRIBE IFPRI-TCSP . or contact either Valerie Rhoe at [email protected] or Suresh Babu at [email protected]. www.urbanag.info Urban Agriculture Online is a new magazine and will feature two http://www.wiwi.uni-bremen.de/iwim/africa/index.htm principal streams of information: in-depth articles on commercial This year´s edition, volume 9, of the “African Development urban agriculture and articles on science and technology and pol- Perspective Yearbook” will deal with “African entrepreneurs and icy-making in urban agriculture. The philosophy is that a great Private Sector Development”. On this site you will find the call for deal of valuable information is currently denied to Internet pub- papers and back issues. lishing because of the copyright protection issue. “Urban Agri- culture Online” will be available on subscription from July 1, 2002. http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/Kumasi/ This part of the website of the Centre for Developing Areas www.fao.org/wssd/SARD/SARD3_en.htm Research (CEDAR), of Royal Holloway University of London, In preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable gives information of the research in Kumasi, Ghana and the dis- Development (starting in Johannesburg on 26 August), FAO is cussion papers presented at workshops. sponsoring an electronic forum on sustainable agriculture and rural development. The forum aims at developing initiatives on www.rcdsuccess.com access to resources, good agricultural practices, and fair condi- USDA, in cooperation with the National Association of tions of employment in agriculture. Resource Conservation and Development Councils, has just launched an interactive website that will collect and make avail- www.ems-sema.org/castellano/proyectos/solidaria able Success Stories of Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry, and /ppp/eng_index.html Community Development activities and projects, both domestic The final reports from the “Program Public-Private Partnerships and international (with US Partnerships). for the Urban Environmental Management in Latin America and the Caribbean: towards new financial mechanisms and new insti- www.newvillage.net/ tutional models” are available at this site. New Village is a Journal published by the national organisation, Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility www.bestpractices.org/ (ADPSR) and is written for practitioners and citizen activists, The Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme (BLP) is a alike. Each theme-focused issue offers more than a dozen arti- global network of institutions dedicated to the identification cles, plus useful resources, on the diverse aspects of community and exchange of successful solutions for sustainable develop- building. Issue 2 deals with Community Scale Economics, with ment. The programme’s database contains over 1,150 proven the following topics on Zoning: Greenmarkets; Urban solutions from more than 125 countries to the common social, Aquaculture; Urban Agriculture. economic and environmental problems of an urbanising world. It demonstrates the practical ways in which communities, gov- www.pps.org/ ernments and the private sector are working together to Project for Public Spaces is a non-profit technical assistance, improve governance, eradicate poverty, provide access to shel- research and educational organisation. Its mission is to create and ter, land and basic services, protect the environment and sup- sustain public places that build communities. Since its founding port economic development. in 1975, the organisation has worked in over 1,000 communities within the US and abroad, helping people to make their public http://www.foodaid.org/~jmarshall/fam/main.cgi space grow into vital community places. The Food Security Resource Centre’s Online Database includes You can read the free newsletter, Making Places at more than 8,000 items on food aid management. It contains http://www.pps.org/newsletter/ current.htm materials on food security, monitoring and evaluation, monetisa- tion, local capacity building, participatory approaches, agricul- www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blp/awards

sites ture, integrated pest management, commodity management, Every two years, up to 10 outstanding initiatives receive the maternal/child health, nutrition, child survival, water and sanita- Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the tion, ethics, and biotechnology. Living Environment (DIABP), a biennial environmental award established in 1995 by the Municipality of Dubai, United Arab www.ipes.org/aguila/ Emirates. Those initiatives meeting the criteria for a Best The new website of the Latin American Network on Research in Practice are included in the Best Practices database. Urban Agriculture, AGUILA, is now accessible. Also on this site, You are encouraged to disseminate information on Dubai you can view and download the Spanish version of the UA- International Awards for 2002 to all your partners and

Web Magazine. contacts.

37 EVENTS Association, invite leaders and stakeholders to discuss the following subjects: Sustainable Urban Greening and Sustainable Development; Social Implications; Poverty Alleviation and Economics; Technical Aspects. FIFTH MEETING ON ORGANIC For more information, contact the Green Cities Congress Secretariat: Van der AGRICULTURE (HAVANA, CUBA) Walt & Co, Randburg, South Africa: Tel: +27 11 789-1384; Fax: +27 11 789-1385; 27-30 May 2003 e-mail [email protected]; www.ierm.org.za/greencities/ Organised by the ACTAF (Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Engineers), this confer- GREAT MARKETS, GREAT CITIES CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK CITY ence will discuss new experiences related to inte- (NEW YORK, USA) grated systems of natural resource management, November 9-11, 2002 appropriate technologies, social and economic The 5th International Public Market Conference of the Project for Public Spaces aspects, environmental aspects, and the contribu- will be held this November in New York City. The conference will celebrate the tion of (organic) urban agriculture to sustainable role of farmers markets and indoor public markets in revitalizing towns and urban development. The language is Spanish. cities across the U.S. Three hundred and fifty participants are expected for the More information: Nilda Pérez Consuegra: three day event. The conference is sponsored by the Ford Foundation. “Great [email protected] Markets, Great Cities”: http://208.45.47.25/PMC.htm

WATER, POVERTY, AND PRODUCTIVE USES INTERNATIONAL LEARNING WORKSHOP ON FARMER FIELD OF WATER AT THE HOUSEHOLD LEVEL SCHOOLS (FFS): EMERGING ISSUES AND CHALLENGES (JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA) (YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA) 21-23 January 2003 21-25 October 2002 This International symposium will discuss practical This international Learning Workshop aims to discuss experiences; examine experiences, new research, and policy implications, institutionalisation and up-scaling and identify opportunities for the further from innovative approaches to the provision and development of the FFS approach. Please contact the organisers CIP in Manila: use of household water supplies. From watering either by email to [email protected] or by fax to +63 49 5361662. livestock to brewing beer, in rural, urban and peri- urban environments water is a crucial enabler of THIRD MEETING OF THE REGIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE AGUILA economic activity – particularly for women and the NETWORK (LIMA, PERU) poor. Proposals for papers reporting on practical 23-25 September 2002 experiences, policy initiatives or the findings of This assembly will discuss ongoing activities and plan next year’s strategy for research projects are invited. Please contact one of the very active network on urban agriculture. See for more information: the symposium organisers: IRC International Water http://www.ipes.org/aguila and Sanitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands (Dr PB Moriarty : [email protected]); or the WORKSHOP ON URBAN AGRICULTURE (LIMA, PERU) Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, South 18-20 September 2002 Africa (B Schreiner or D Versfeld). Also in Lima, this workshop, organised by the Cities Feeding People Programme and hosted by ITDG, Peru, will review results, impacts and lessons WASTEWATER USE IN IRRIGATED learned from a second generation of urban agriculture projects in Latin America AGRICULTURE: CONFRONTING THE and the Caribbean. The proceedings of the workshop will be published in early LIVELIHOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL 2003 and copies will be available from the Cities Feeding People Program. REALITIES (HYDERABAD, INDIA) 11-14 November 2002 WORKSHOP ON POLICY BRIEFS (LIMA, PERU) The International Water Management Institute 11-13 September 2002 (IWMI) will be convening a meeting of minds The municipality of Villa Maria del Triunfo of Lima, Peru, together with IPES, workshop with the objective to critically review UMP-LAC, and IDRC, will organise a workshop to validate a series of new poli- experience with the widespread use of untreated cy briefs on urban agriculture, featuring themes such as gender, micro-credit, wastewater in agriculture focusing on livelihoods of waste and water recycling, urban planning, food security, and commercializa- the poor, and health and environmental risks. The tion. Mayors and technicians from ten Latin American municipalities will workshop will begin to bridge the divide by setting attend the event up a focused discussion on detailed case studies including the presentation of data on water EXCHANGE MEETING AND SEMINAR ON URBAN AGRICULTURE resources and quality, agricultural production, (ATH, BELGIUM) human health and ecological impacts. 23-26 September 2002 This seminar is organised by the Haute École Provinciale du Hainaut Occidental GREEN CITIES, SUSTAINABLE CITIES (Ath), Institut de la Vie (Bruxelles) and PRELUDE international (Bruxelles). It will CONGRESS (MIDRAND - JOHANNESBURG, bring together about 30 farmers and experts from East, Central and West Africa SOUTH AFRICA) and from the North with the intention to share experiences in urban agriculture, 18-21 November 2002 discuss possibilities of promoting urban agriculture, and building and consoli- The congress organisers, who include the City of dating partnerships and networks. The programme foresees the presentation of Johannesburg, the Department of Water Affairs and papers and case studies, ending with the formulation of recommendations and Forestry, and the South Africa Local Government conclusions and the drafting of a common charter of Urban Agriculture.

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LEADERSHIP FOR TRANSFORMATION AND ORGANISATIONAL ment from around the world, and is open to every- CHANGE IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME: LEADERSHIP one interested in organic agriculture and sustain- SEMINAR (BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE) able development - farmers, researchers, advisors, 1-11 September 2002 food processors, traders, certifiers, policy-makers The seminar seeks to determine and devise strategies for managing change and consumers. More information at: leading to the transformation of African Agriculture in the rural as well as urban http://www.cog.ca or www.ifoam.org . environments. The seminar marks the beginning of a year-long programme aimed at equipping change agents with leadership competencies that will RUAF/IWMI ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE: enable them to effect change in the areas they work. African Case Studies and AGRICULTURAL USE OF UNTREATED Thematic Issues shall be used to address some topical issues in African URBAN WASTEWATER IN LOW INCOME Agriculture. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zimbabwe: 263 4 303211 Ext COUNTRIES 1158; E-mail [email protected] 24 June-5 July 2002 Some of the findings in the Ouagadougou work- WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (RIO EARTH shop mentioned above concur with contributions SUMMIT +10) (JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA) to this electronic conference organised by IWMI 26 August-6 September 2002 and RUAF. About 330 participants discussed the Ten years after the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio, Brazil, issue under two topics: this follow-up Summit in Johannesburg will bring together tens of thousands of ❖ Strategies to ensure proper management by farmers participants to focus the world’s attention and direct action will be focused on ❖ Strategies to reduce industrial contamination taking stock of the environmental situation in the results of agreements made, Some 140 contributions related to the first topic, to be summarised in the various chapters and subsequent conventions. and 25 to topic 2 came from researchers, NGOs and National and regional preparations are already in full swing. The UA-Magazine municipalities. These and the thematic and case is preparing a special issue on Urban Agriculture for this event. More info is study papers can be found on the RUAF website: available at: http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/ or http://www.earthsum- www.ruaf.org mit2002.org/ or http://www.fao.org/wssd/contr_en.htm WORKSHOP ON URBAN AGRICULTURE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON : (DAKAR, SENEGAL) PEOPLE, PLANTS, QUALITY OF LIFE (ZURICH, SWITZERLAND) 12-14 March 2002 2-6 September 2002 This workshop was held in Dakar and organised by The aim of the conference, organised by the University of Applied Sciences the IAGU (Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine). Waedenswil in cooperation with the International Society for Horticultural A report will be made available soon. Science, is to present and discuss visions, innovations, research themes and solution concepts for urban green areas. and plant utilisation as GARDENING IN THE CITIES OF WEST well as the interactions between people and designed nature form the central AFRICA: IMPLICATION FOR INTENSIVE themes of the conference. Specifically, the five themes are: Plants and Society; INTEGRATED PRODUCTION SYSTEMS Public Green; Plant use and Landscaping; Assortment Development, Evaluation (SAVANA-SALY PORTUDAL, SENEGAL) and Production; and Ecological Engineering. For more information, visit: 5-8 august 2001 http://www.urbanhorticulture.ch/index_en.htm or send an e-mail to: confer- (Agriculture Urbaine dans les Villes Ouest- [email protected] . Africaines: impacts des systèmes intégrés de production intensive). CONFERENCE ON URBAN AGRICULTURE AND TOURISM This workshop in, was organised by ISRA / ITC / AGRICULTURE, JOINTLY HELD BY MAINLAND CHINA AND TAIWAN CRDI and the report is presently being printed. PROVINCE (BEIJING, CHINA) September 1-4, 2002 GREEN AND PRODUCTIVE CITIES: With rapid economic growth and urbanisation since the 1990s, urban agricul- SEMINAR ON URBAN AND PERI-URBAN ture, in particular tourism agriculture has increasingly drawn attention from AGRICULTURE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN various governmental agencies, farmers, investors and scholars in China. To EUROPE (SOFIA, BULGARIA) exchange ideas and experiences in the development of urban agriculture and 20-22 June 2002 tourism agriculture between Mainland China and Taiwan, the Geographical Over sixty City officials and senior staff of sectoral Society of China, Taiwan Health & Management College and Taiwan University government organisations, NGOs and research co-organise this conference, which is sponsored and managed by the institutes from 15 countries in Central and Eastern Geographical Society of Beijing and the local Government of Yanqing County Europe gathered in Sofia to discuss the results of a (Beijing Municipality). Contact: Shenghe Liu, Email: [email protected], Tel:86- three-year project named “Soil and Water 01-64889279, or check the Website: Management in Agricultural Production in Urban http://www.gsc.org.cn/china/note/jichudili.htm (in Chinese). Areas (SWAPUA)”. Project partners from Slovenia, Russia, Bucharest, Czech Republic and Rumania IFOAM 2002 ORGANIC WORLD CONGRESS: CULTIVATING presented the results of an exploratory study on the COMMUNITIES (VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA) presence, types and impacts of urban and periurban 21-28 August 2002 small-scale farming and gardening in ten cities. The IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) Representatives of FAO’s regional office for Central international congress will bring together representatives of the organic move- Europe and WHO-Europe presented their experi-

41 ences and views on the role of urban agriculture in themselves see very little to no problem in water quality, but define quantity poverty alleviation and urban food security and and regular availability of water and products as much more important. The nutrition. Also, the experiences gained in Randstad subject of hygiene and behaviour was discussed by the participants and pro- Holland and Hanover regarding the multiple func- voked heated debates on cause and effect or transmission routes of bacterial tions of urban agriculture were presented. The par- infections. The general conclusion was that urban agriculture as a subject on its ticipants concluded, among others, that urban agri- own, is not taken sufficiently seriously by authorities, although studies are avail- culture is part of the socio-cultural, economic and able in nearly all countries in which its importance is demonstrated and even ecological system of the city that has played and can quantified. Information will soon be available on www.ruaf.org play various important functions for the urban citi- zens. Finally, a large number of recommendations NYANGA DECLARATION (NYANGA, ZIMBABWE) were formulated. Various participants announced 4-7 June 2002 that they would initiate discussion and actions on The delegates to the Urban Council Association of Zimbabwe’s 61st Annual this subject after returning to their home country, Conference, comprising of the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and since local authorities are largely unaware of the National Housing, the Minister of State for the Informal Sector, Executive Mayors many potentials of urban and periurban agriculture. and Chairpersons, Town Clerks, Council Committees, Councillors, Heads of The proceedings will be published in August on the Departments, and other representatives, and local and international NGOs. They RUAF website and in hard copy. Also, the Policy underlined that urban and periurban agriculture contributes to urban food secu- Framework that was developed by the project will rity, poverty reduction, local economic development and sustainable urban devel- be made available on the website and in hard copy. opment. In their declaration, the participants urged local authorities to promote For information on the seminar and the SWAPUA urban agriculture in their cities, to develop appropriate incentives and other poli- project, please contact: Henk de Zeeuw (ETC) at: cies necessary. It was further suggested to include urban agriculture in govern- [email protected]; +31-33-4326039; or by post: ment programmes. Non-governmental organisations and donors were requested P.O. Box 64, 3830 AB Leusden, The Netherlands to support these efforts financially and materially, and the private sector to invest in high value intensive urban and periurban agro-industries. WORLD FOOD SUMMIT: FIVE YEARS LATER (ROME, ITALY) URBAN POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF ENHANCING FOOD SECURITY 10-13 June 2002 IN AFRICAN CITIES (NAIROBI, KENYA) The World Food Summit: “Five Years Later”, was 27-31 May 2002 held from 10-13 June 2002, in Rome, Italy. A special This workshop was organised by UNHCS (HABITAT) in partnership with the issue of the UA-Magazine has been prepared on the FAO, IDRC and SIUPA (CIP-based Strategic Initiative on UPA). Some 100 partic- topic and can be downloaded in pdf format from ipants form the region, from municipalities, councils, NGOs, universities and the RUAF website (www.ruaf.org). See for more international agencies discussed the issue of Urban Food Security. Emerging information: http://www.fao.org/worldfood dynamics in sustainable urban development have given rise to new policy issues summit/english/index.html or on the NGO Forum, that need to be addressed by urban planners, managers and other relevant deci- parallel event: http://www.forumfoodsovereignty. sion-makers. The participants reviewed the contribution of urban agriculture to org/ingleseweb/inglesepage.htm the overall food needs of cities in Africa and to urban poverty reduction in gen- Also food security related materials for the Summit eral. Policy guidelines were developed along four main areas: Urban food secu- are available on the Development Gateway: http:// rity and poverty reduction; Rural-urban food flows, internal distribution infra- www.developmentgateway.org/foodsecurity/ structure and services; Urban and Periurban agriculture related issues on land tenure, land-use conflicts, planning and development (including technical STUDY VISIT/WORKSHOP: REUSE OF extension and environmental management); and Credit and investment in WASTEWATER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE, A urban and periurban agriculture. Results of the workshop are under prepara- CHALLENGE FOR MUNICIPALITIES IN WEST tion, while the output of the workshop on Credit and Financing will be dissemi- AFRICA (OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO) nated widely through policy briefs and the UA-Magazine. Contact: Urban and 3-7 June 2002 Regional Economy Unit, Urban Economy and Finance Branch, UNCHS This study visit was organised by ETC Netherlands (HABITAT), P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: +254 2 624521; in conjunction with CREPA headquarters in Fax: +254 2 623080; e-mail: [email protected]. Ouagadougou and financed by CTA Netherlands. There were 29 participants from nine West and FEEDING CITIES IN THE HORN OF AFRICA: DECLARATION OF Central African countries. Thematic and case study ADDIS ABABA (ETHIOPIA) presentations were held alternated with field visits 7-10 May 2002 to urban and periurban agriculture sites. Three ‘Urban poverty and hunger are reaching alarming levels in cities of the Horn of groups discussed health and environment related Africa. Urban populations are expected to double in the next ten years, and issues, socio-economic issues and legal institutional action by governments, local authorities and the private sector is urgently need- issues. Recommendations addressing municipali- ed to improve access to food by the urban poor.’ This was the message from ties, local organisations, the producers and the con- ministers, mayors and planners from the seven Horn of Africa countries sumers were presented. Discussion centred on the (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda), who on the definition of wastewater. Not all of this water is 10th of May signed a declaration recognising the problems and pointing to need- called or seen as wastewater since it is often a river, ed action. The signing ceremony came at the end of a three day workshop on stream or lake. Further discussions covered percep- ‘Feeding Cities in the Horn of Africa’. For further information, please contact: tions, acknowledging that farmers (and consumers) Olivio Argenti, Focal Point, Food Supply and Distribution to Cities, FAO, Rome;

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Tel: 0039-06-5705-5119; e-mail: [email protected]; or Michael Wales, NEW RUAF PARTNERS Horn of Africa Food Security Initiative, FAO Investment Centre, Rome; Tel: 0039-06-5705-5432; e-mail: [email protected]. The Resource Centre for Urban Agriculture and See also: Web story: Serious commitment to fight hunger in the Horn of Africa Forestry (RUAF) has extended its collaborative net- at: http://www.fao.org/news/2001/010705-e.htm work to include the Middle East Region and China. Summary report: The elimination of Food Insecurity in the Horn of Africa: For China, the regional partner is the Institute of http://www.fao.org/News/2000/img/HoAsum.pdf Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research (IGSNRR) of the Chinese Academy of FEEDING ASIAN CITIES: PROCEEDINGS OF THE FAO-CITYNET- Sciences, in Beijing. The current IGSNRR was estab- AFMA REGIONAL SEMINAR (BANGKOK, THAILAND) lished just three years ago by combining two former 27-30 November 2000 institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. One The proceedings can be downloaded at: is the Institute of Geography established as early as http://www.fao.org/ag/ags/agsm/sada/pages/ac/ac3701e.htm 1940 and the other is the Commission of Integrated Survey of Natural Resources established in 1956. VIRTUAL WATER FORUM The new institute is noted for its academic capability The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is chairing a session in in comprehensive researches in spatial-related eco- this forum on “Safe and sustainable reuse of urban wastewater in very low nomic analysis and natural resources studies in income countries”. The intention of the session is to take a realistic view of this China. It consists of five centres, i.e. the Centre for practice rather than ignore it presuming that all wastewater used is treated. Regional Studies and Natural Resources Economics, Together with the output of the E-conference, this session on the Virtual Water the Centre for Land-based Ecosphere and Forum will be the subject of further in-depth discussion at the workshop in Environmental Studies, the Branch of Geo-informa- Hyderabad in November 2002, leading up to a broad based session at the tion Sciences, the Branch of Ecosystem Research World Water Forum in 2003 to be held 16-23 March 2003 in Japan. and Network, and the Centre for More information: Dr Ing. Liqa Raschid-Sally. [email protected], Researches. Regional, Urban and Rural studies, International Water Management Institute, P.O.Box 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka, including Urban Agriculture, particularly in Tourism Tel +94 1 787 404; Fax +94 1 786 854, http://www.iwmi.org. Agriculture, are one of the competitive research he session can be accessed at the World Water Forum website fields in the institute, which have got national-wide http://www.worldwaterforum.org/for/ en/fshow.393 You can enter this recognition. At present, there are 220 academic session as a guest or register as a participant, in which event the WWF will send staffs and more than 100 supporting staffs in the you the necessary ID and password. institute with over 100 research projects from vari- ous funding sources. The institute is also famous for URBAN AGRICULTURE ONLINE its post-graduate education. The IGSNRR is current- As from July 2002, Urban Agriculture Online a new magazine will be available on ly working on the translation of No.1 of the subscription. The new magazine will be the world’s first user of innovative UA-Magazine in Chinese. CashforcontentTM Internet publishing-for-payment software, which protects The contact person is Dr. Jianming Cai, copyright material and intellectual property from unauthorised use. From July 1, e-mail: [email protected]. contributors can enjoy low-cost publishing that pays from 50% to 60% royalties on revenues for their valuable material. The editor, Geoff Wilson is soliciting a For the Middle and Near East Region, the regional wide range of 2,500 to 5,000-word articles for the online magazine on various partner is the Centre for Environment and urban agriculture topics; Book and report reviews; Consultancy services; new Development in the Arab Region and Europe products and services; and coming events. (CEDARE) based in Cairo, Egypt. CEDARE was Information: Geoff Wilson, e-mail: [email protected],website: established in 1992 on the basis of commitment by www.urbanag.info; Tel: 07 3349 1422; Mobile: 0417 622 779; Fax: 07 3343 8287. the main sponsors, namely the Government of Egypt, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social GAZA URBAN AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE (GUAC) Development (AFESD) and the United Nations GUAC was created by the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) in Development Programme (UNDP). CEDARE is Gaza and after the organisation of a regional workshop in December 1998 on working in the Arab Countries and the countries ‘The Future of Urban Agriculture in Gaza Strip’. Actual members of the around the Mediterranean. One of CEDARE’s committee are: PARC, Palestinian Hydrology Group Ministry of Agriculture, strategic missions is to promote collaboration and Gaza Municipality, Khan-Yunis Municipality, the Palestinian Farmers’ Union partnerships among Arab countries and between and Al-Azhar University-Gaza. GUAC conducts quarterly meetings which are them and other developing and developed coun- also attended by other potential local partners like universities. The committee tries. The Operational Programmes and Units are: puts on one yearly plan of action, which includes: The improvement of the Land and Water Management, Marine and Coastal availability and efficiency of use of water resources for urban agriculture; The Management, Urban and Human Settlement, promotion of the optimal use of available spaces for urban agriculture; To Socio-economics of Sustainable Development; enhance citizens’ and urban farmers’ awareness and knowledge of sustainable Environmental Information and Documentation; & organic urban agriculture; The establishment of extension and support CEDARE is currently working on the translation of services for urban agriculture; and Local institutional capacity development. No.1 of the Urban Agriculture Magazine into Arabic. More information: GUAC, Gaza, Palestine; Tel:08 2805041; 08 2867178; The contact person is Prof. Dr Ismail El Bagouri; Fax: 08 2805039; e-mail:[email protected]. email: [email protected]; website: www.cedare.org.

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