Many of the increasing group of urban dwellers living around the poverty line are (informal) micro-entrepreneurs, involved in a diversity of activities such as shop-keeping, waste collection and recycling, trading, transport and farming. These entrepreneurs require access to working capital for the maintenance of their investment and for its potential expansion. Urban agriculture is increasingly recognised as a vehicle for the development of more productive, sustainable and inclusive or democratic cities, but most of these urban agricultural producers face limited access to credit and investment schemes.
Financing Urban Agriculture was announced already early 2002 as an forthcoming theme for the UA-Magazine. In 2002, UN Habitat, through its Urban Economy and Finance Branch (at Headquarters in Nairobi) and its Urban Management Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (UMP-LAC), together with the IDRC (International Development Research Centre, Canada) supported an initiative of documenting and analysing several case studies on credit and investment for urban agriculture. This initiative was further supported with additional cases by RUAF. Some of these cases are described in the UA Magazine no. 7 of the UA Magazine (e.g. the Kenya and Harare cases). Due to some delay in finalising and presenting the research, not all cases were taken up in no. 7 nor was it possible to develop a special UA-Magazine on Financing using these cases for the recent Johannesburg Summit. However, a special of the UA-Magazine was made but focused on the major issue of the Summit: Sustainable Urban Development, and was distributed at the event. It is now planned that the cases on Financing and their analysis will be presented and discussed in an international panel, involving financial institutions and donor agencies (like SGUA members; ethical banks, local governments and credit co-operatives, amongst others). Tentatively, the next World Urban Forum to be held in Barcelona in September 2004 will be the venue for this meeting.
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.
The UA-Magazine in Chinese no. 1 and 2 are distributed. The Arabic version of the UA-Magazine no.1 is now ready for distribution, while no 2 is in the making. Readers in those languages are suggested to contact these institutes. The Spanish edition of the UA-Magazine of no. 7 (Economics of Urban Agriculture) is now published, with no. 8. in the making, while the French edition of the UA-Magazine no.6 (Transition to Ecological Urban Agriculture) is distributed.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
The Editor
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Even low financial support can make a significant difference to poor urban families. Many of the increasing group of urban dwellers living around the poverty line are (informal) micro-entrepreneurs, involved in a diversity of activities such as shopkeeping, waste collection and recycling, trading, transport and farming. These entrepreneurs require access to working capital for the maintenance of their investment and for its potential expansion.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
No articles were received on these three subjects, but found worthwhile to highlight in this issue. These articles are also included in the pdf file of the Editorial.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
While many agricultural activities in Ghana are financed either by the government or by external aid, the urban farmers producing for the market usually have to rely on own funds to start their businesses, or rely on credit from market women for the purchase of inputs. Some urban farmers do not rely on any support and bypass this dependency. An example of this is a group of seven farmers in Accra described here.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Urban agriculture in implies small-scale activities to supplement household income. There is no entrepreneurial concept, as in large industries. Resources are available through temporary work plans, such as the Pro-Huerta (Pro-Garden) Programme of INTA (National Institute of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Technology) and the PSA (Social Agricultural Programme). Although the economic crisis has been weakening the integration processes in the country, conditions exist that allow the generation of a positive change through urban farming activities, as small producers are the true motors behind development. The PSA, created in 1993, focuses on conditions for change. The rural micro-credit programme has been adapted to producers in periurban and urban areas, promoting transformation of production systems via the provision of training, financial and technical assistance.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
In Mexico, large portions of farmland have been incorporated into the hierarchy and dynamics of big cities. One of the territories that share the megalopolitan dynamics of Mexico City is Texcoco, located in the state of Mexico, 20 kilometres from the capital city of Mexico. In Texcoco, 42 out of 54 communities are considered rural, and the mission of the present government is to preserve their production space from the urban influence. In 1997, the Rural Development Unit started the Productive Micro-credit Programme as a pilot. The goal of the programme was to strengthen farming activities in the region especially for small- and medium-sized producers, through the provision of economic aid. This programme is evaluated here.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
In Nepal there are 58 municipalities and about 80% of the Nepalese population depends on agriculture, which is mainly based in the rural areas. Due to the high urbanisation rate, most of the arable land of Kathmandu inner city is occupied by housing and agricultural production has thus been reduced. More arable land is in the city's outer ring area, where people are involved in agriculture (rice and wheat) and horticulture and processing on a larger scale, the products of which are sold at the local market. The impact of two cooperatives are described here: MPSACCO, a women-only cooperative which has adopted two types of lending methodologies: Individual lending and Peer lending, and SSACCO, which is a mixed membership cooperative, adopted Individual lending only.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
The city of Gaborone has grown from a very small village to become the capital city of Botswana in a period of less than 36 years. Subsistence and commercial agriculture are both found throughout Gaborone. One of the safety nets adopted by the poor has been urban agriculture either as a means of survival or to supplement low incomes, while some entrepreneurs have opted for urban agriculture as a means of making money. Of the various credit programmes in Botswana, three have achieved some marked success in urban and periurban agriculture and are examined in this paper.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
The state government of Bangalore has been unable to meet the needs of the people and the growing city. Civil society organisations are beginning to take on the added responsibility of informing the public and advocating for change. One of the ways in which the many problems can be addressed is to encourage investments in people-owned institutions. There remains a particular need for credit and investment in urban agriculture. HOPCOMS offers an example of an organisation that provides benefits of collective marketing to both producers as well as consumers related to the daily need of fruit and vegetables by people of all classes.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
City farms as a form of urban agriculture is a recent but increasingly important urban phenomenon in the United Kingdom. Both the start-up and operational costs are very high and the future security of the projects would need more direct inputs from the government to fund farm ownership and long-term posts for farm managers. The future of urban agriculture lies in the ability to adapt and mainstream it into prevailing development themes such as education, community cohesion, social inclusion and biodiversity. Integration with business themes also attracts private sector support both in cash and in-kind. The role of volunteers and sharing of resources among project groups is a key feature of community projects that other cities could promote as well.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Porto Alegre is internationally known for its innovative management strategies. One of the pillars of local democratisation was the implementation of a Participatory Budget. In 1989, the people's government of Porto Alegre first implemented the Participatory Budgeting Programme. Since that time, the population can itself decide on the allotment of public funds. Organised urban producers were thus able to apply for funding to develop their activities, ranging from production to processing.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
The Ada'a-Liben Woreda Dairy and Dairy Products Marketing Association was established in 1998 in Debre Zeit town, 45 km southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The association was established with 34 founding members. The main objectives of the association are to minimise the high transaction cost for the sale of milk and reduce seasonal price fluctuations. The milk collection and marketing activity started in January 2000, and over the last few years, the association has made significant progress. Currently there are 428 full members composed of 245 male and 183 female farmers. In addition, 181 non-member dairy farmers supply milk to the association. The members of the association have a total of 1,716 dairy cows and a capital of over 500,000 Birr. The number of milk collection sites has increased to seven around Debre Zeit town. The association has created job opportunities for 25 regular staff. Recently, the association purchased two coolers with 25,000 litres capacity. The current milk collection has increased to 5,500 litres per day or about 175,000 litres per month. The major source of finance has been contributions from members, sales of milk and support from a number of government offices, NGOs and international organisations.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Annually, up to 2.5 million city inhabitants are involved in agricultural activities in St. Petersburg. The main reasons to practise gardening and farming in the city are self-sufficiency. City gardeners never obtain credit or loans. They borrow small sums of money from friends or relatives. The small-scale periurban farmers have a stronger interest in obtaining credit in order to finance agricultural activities. Several sources for micro-credit are given in this article. It is concluded that urban gardening is an important factor of political stability in society, and that thus there is a need for government subsidies.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
In West Africa's capital cities urban farms are not homogeneous. They differ in crops, cropping period, location, inputs, capital investments, profits and liquid assets. Different farming systems have specific economic strategies to which credits have to be adapted. In West African urban farms, we can distinguish four to five different crop production systems, which differ by type of farm, products, location (in city or periurban area), economic strategy, and profitability. In this article, the following systems are distinguished: mixed vegetable farms, irrigated with watering cans; mixed vegetable farms using pumps; women's traditional vegetable farms; ornamental plant cultivation; and staple-food farms.Interviews were conducted in Lomé, Cotonou, Bamako, Dakar, Ouagadougou and Conakry in 1999 and 2002, as part of a European Union financed INCO project for development called "The use of organic composted waste from urban households for phytosanitary purposes in periurban agriculture of West Africa". Furthermore, IWMI-FAO West Africa, financed City Resource Papers on Urban Agriculture. Based on these interviews, annual (Lome and Cotonou) or seasonal (Bamako and Ouagadougou) benefit of the farms were calculated, taking into account input costs, salaries, maintenance and depreciation.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Traditionally, agriculture plays a significant role in the Bulgarian economy. Small urban farmers form a substantial and increasing part of the agricultural sector. Most urban agriculture in Bulgaria is for subsistence. Some agricultural lending programmes have been introduced, but the funding levels are insufficient to compensate for modest bank credit. The banks persist in their conservative approach to lending in general, and to agriculture in particular. Apart from relatives and commercial bank credit, rural and urban agriculture in Bulgaria currently relies on several international lending programmes, discussed in this article.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
The last 20 years have seen the population of Marilao increase at an average rate of 9.4% per year (4.5 times the national average). The five year local plan document of 1996 emphasised productivity improvement combined with access to financing. To counteract the rapid conversion of good land to human settlements, industry, services, commerce and trade, and the resulting degraded soil, and deterioration in surface water quality and smog, the municipality started to invest into the collection of biodegradable waste, and in the processing and use of the compost for agricultural production. Subsequently compost-based, home-grown potted vegetable production was facilitated and supported.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Composting of city wastes is a legal requirement for all urban local bodies in India. However, central and state governments have yet to perceive it as a social good that requires official support. This paper describes India's current agricultural scenario, the proven benefits of Integrated Plant Nutrient Management (IPNM) and the use of city compost in drought-proofing crops and restoring degraded soils. It further elaborates some of the problems faced by compost producers, the attitudes of farmers and chemical fertiliser producers. The strategic and economic benefits of co-marketing synthetic fertiliser are argued, with compost produced in composting facilities owned by the fertiliser producers. Finally, several state and central government initiatives are suggested.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
The growth and development of urban agriculture as a response to urban poverty and increasing food prices is evident in Nigeria. Urbanisation and increasing urban agricultural production constitute an indispensable economic basis for local urban services. Agricultural financing in Nigeria, both formal an informal, is briefly discussed here.
In: UA Magazine 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture
Agriculture has always occupied a very important position in China's economy. Suburban agriculture (a term often used by Chinese scholars to indicate periurban agriculture), is is fully oriented to urban demand: the production of vegetables, fruit, milk, fish, livestock and poultry, as well as some high value-added grain products such as various beans. It is labour-, and relatively capital-intensive with a high level of productivity and has absorbed many rural labourers. In the late 1990s a new development in China took place. Instead of paying attention to the quantity of food supply, people started to prioritise according to the quality of food supply. In Beijing, as well as in Shanghai, agriculture-oriented science and technology development and demonstration parks were established. Xiaotangshan modern agricultural demonstration park in Beijing is one of these.
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, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic, and distributed in separate editions through regional networks.
This issue has been compiled by René van Veenhuizen (responsible editor), together with Marielle Dubbeling of UMP-LAC, and the other RUAF partners.