June and July have been very productive for RUAF, especially for the Magazine. Aside from the development of this issue, no. 7, on the Ecomomics of Urban Agriculture, we have had the Electronic Conference on "Agricultural Use of Untreated Urban Wastewater in Low Income Countries", which will be the topic for the next issue of the UA-Magazine (no.8) and two special issues of the UA-Magazine have also been published. The first one, Urban Agriculture and Food Security, was distributed at the FAO World Summit on Food Security, held in June in Rome, Italy. The second, has been prepared for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2002. Both specials can be downloaded as PDF at the bottom of this page.
Urban agriculture provides multiple functions and benefits to urban dwellers and cities. Political support is growing but further research and financial support to urban agriculture is necessary. In this issue no. 7of the UA Magazine we focus on the analysis and understanding of the economics of urban agriculture, during periods of economic recession as well as in times of a well developing economy. The Economics of Urban Agriculture is a wide area of study. Various case studies are presented in this issue analysing factors as employment, income, contribution to household food and support in access to markets and credit, both at household and/or municipal level. Investment in and support to urban agriculture is touched upon in quite a number of articles. This important issue will be elaborated upon in the UA-Magazine no. 9, to be presented to you in March 2003.
Further good news is that the RUAF partners are now complete and that thus, the editions of the UA-Magazine in Chinese and Arabic are about to be released by our colleagues of CEDARE in Cairo, Egypt and IGSNRR in China. Readers in those languages are suggested to contact these institutes. The Spanish and French editions of the UA-Magazine have both now published no. 4 on Urban Planning.
You are invited to contribute to future issues of the Urban Agriculture Magazine. Articles would ideally be up to 2,500 words in length, and preferably accompanied by illustrations (digital and of good quality), references and an abstract. As suggested by the Editorial Board, we welcome your contributions on any subject. Articles will be examined for selection by the editorial team consisting of the RUAF-based responsible editor and the external scientific advisor/co-editor.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
The Editor
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Urban agriculture provides multiple functions and benefits to urban dwellers and cities. Political support is growing and further research and financial support to enhance the contribution of urban agriculture to sustainable urban development is necessary. In this issue of the UA Magazine we focus on the analysis and understanding of the economics of urban agriculture, during periods of economic recession as well as in times of a well developing economy.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Urban Agriculture has been recognised in many cities to be a vehicle for urban environmental improvement, and for strengthening the development of productive, sustainable and democratic cities. Both financial and political legitimacy are essential to support this development and the scaling-up of positive experiences. Progress has been recorded and assessed on political support rather than on the financial one, despite a growing interest of development and financial agencies.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Market proximity is a major incentive for the intensification of farming systems or change of systems to more profitable ones. Around Kumasi, many rainfed maize-cassava farmers started dry-season vegetable production along streams to generate additional income, while in the city itself, year-round open-space vegetable production is common, especially in bottomlands with water access for irrigation. The motivation to start urban vegetable farming is largely economic, which is the subject of this article.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
The horticultural and ornamental plant production sector of the district of Moreno in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is strategically located in an urban area with direct access to the major markets of the country. Horticultural producers predominantly belong to the Bolivian colony, with scarce income, using own labour, living in extremely substandard housing. They have recently established a Local Commercialisation Market with the institutional support of the Moreno Municipal Institute of Local Economic Development (IMDEL). Growers of ornamental plants are mostly from the Japanese (herbs) and Italian (trees and shrubs) communities, who are capable of undertaking larger capital investments in their operations. They have established a local association and in 2001 organised the first Exhibit of Plants and Cut Flowers of Moreno. Both groups of producers have benefited from the National Employment Emergency Plan. IMDEL offered the producers micro-credits at low rates. The experiences are described here.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
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 other public services. In 1981, the Association of Settlers of the Conjunto Palmeira (ASMOCONP) was founded, starting the process of organisation of the families. Banco Palmas has opened a small line of credit for urban agriculture, which is described here.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Urban agriculture can provide benefits but also risks for urban inhabitants. This study confirmed that the strengths overshadow the risks of practicing home gardening in a sub-Sahelian setting, and underlined the positive economic impact and food security for home gardeners. However, these two benefits depend on seasonal variations and external factors. Nevertheless, home gardeners still have a precarious existence and need strategies for increasing their security. This article is based on a study of the socio-economic impact of home gardening in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou (Gerstl 2001). Among other aspects, this study examined home gardening as a livelihood compared to other livelihood activities carried out by people with a similar background, both in terms of amount of income and in the way it varied from season to season and from place to place. The reasons for this variation were investigated, in order to make suggestions on how the situation for these families could be improved.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
A study was carried out in order to assess the economic performance of the periurban agroecosystem known as "chinampa". Chinampa is small piece of land of irregular form, of pre-Hispanic origin, where inhabitants from the valley of Mexico still produced a diversity of plants for the city. These were built in a lacustrine setting by reclaiming land bordering a lake and building the plots and a network of channels. Results showed a different use of inputs in the four chinampa plots studied and different economic performances, although all were positive. Farmers with lower use of external inputs (seeds and fertilisers) were less productive in terms of yields but obtained better returns per each dollar invested. This shows the importance of the use of local resources and its positive impact on the economies of small-scale farmers in a periurban setting.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Unlike in rural Kenya where agricultural promotion is an integral part of development initiatives, agriculture is excluded from formal urban land-use systems. However, urban agriculture constitutes a critical food security strategy for low income urban farming families. Also, urban agriculture is an important aspect of urban agribusiness where the sector generates important income and employment opportunities. Urban agriculture lacks access to efficient credit and investment support services. The agro-based industries are playing an important role in the promotion of urban agriculture, which can be enhanced by an organised farmers' society and favourable government policy environment. This paper covers two case studies of farmer-industry linkages in the capital city of Nairobi.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
The question raised in the title has been answered on paper by the Southside Chamber of Commerce in the city of Brisbane, in sub-tropical Australia. The chamber calculated that 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. The project is described here.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Urban agriculture emerged in Cuba, specifically Havana, from the economic crisis of 1989, as a response to food insecurity, and has become one of the largest sources of employment in Havana. The existance of agriculture in the city has influenced the prices of agricultural products in Havana.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
One principal factor for the slow development 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. This article draws on the experiences of two schemes in Harare - Musikavanhu Project and the Kintyre Lake Country (KLC) Development. The former is a fairly well established co-operative scheme for the urban resource-poor that has been in existence since 1998 while the latter is a land development scheme implemented by the private sector since 1999. The two provide useful information on which to evaluate the prospects for financing urban and periurban agriculture for the different income groups.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
In many low income countries, municipalities often lack necessary physical, financial, institutional and regulatory means to safely dispose of wastewater. On the other hand, farmers in urban and periurban areas find wastewater to be a valuable resource to grow high value crops. Wastewater becomes especially precious for farmers in water scarce situations. Unless effective regulatory mechanisms are enforced, the users of wastewater tend to ignore social costs as long as the private gains from wastewater agriculture exceed private costs. This paper presents data from a case study from Pakistan's southern Punjab, and estimates private and social gains from wastewater agriculture and compares these to the freshwater agriculture. The paper argues that by adopting more farmer-inclusive approaches to wastewater disposal by the planners, both the private and social gains could be maximised.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
Among the approximately two million residents of the Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador, 45% live in conditions of poverty, and 12% in destitution. These conditions are linked to and aggravated by the economic crisis produced by the structural adjustment policies of the last three years. The "AGRUPAR" Programme, described here, aims to combat the disproportionate impact of the economic crisis on the poorest urban populations, focusing on the generation of income and employment and ecological protection of natural resources.
In: UA Magazine 7 - Economic Aspects of Urban Agriculture
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. This paper explores some of the current issues and economic aspects of urban and periurban agriculture in East London. Since a formal analysis of the economic costs and benefits is beyond the bounds of this paper, it is intended to lead to discussion of the need to support a re-development of a sustainable, food economy in East London, support for sustainable, social enterprises, and a rethink of our cities' relationship to food.
The UA Magazine is published by the Resource Centre for Urban Agriculture (RUAF), a Programme co-ordinated by ETC Netherlands and financed by DGIS, the Netherlands, and IDRC, Canada. The UA Magazine is published 3 times a year, and is translated into French and Spanish, and distributed in separate editions through regional networks.
This issue has been compiled by René van Veenhuizen (responsible editor), together with César Caramillo Avila of the Municipality of Quito (as Guest editor), and with the RUAF partners.