In the foregoing section, we have discussed some general components of a situation analysis on urban agriculture as to get better insight into the WHAT (appraisal of UA systems), WHERE (land use mapping), WHO (stakeholder inventory and analysis) and HOW (policy review, identification of development strategies) of urban agriculture. In this section we will look in more detail into the inventory and analysis of indirect or institutional stakeholders in urban agriculture. In other words an analysis of the institutional framework in which UA takes places.

The variety of indirect stakeholders in urban agriculture

A crucial aspect to consider is the wide range of stakeholders encountered in urban settings. Please look back at Module 4 for a description of the different types of indirect stakeholders involved in urban agriculture. These include: National government,  Municipal departments, universities/research institutes, extension organisations, credit institutes, marketing boards or water authorities, private enterprises (e.g. inputs supply, super markets, agro-processing industries), NGO’s, community based organizations , environmental organizations, etc.  UA is taking place in a multi-sectoral environment and it is easy to miss out some key stakeholders in the process. Effort has to be put into identifying these different stakeholder groups and motivating them to participate in a participatory or collaborative planning process.

Why stakeholder analysis?

We briefly touched upon why stakeholder analysis is important or in other words why we should better understand WHO the indirect stakeholders in urban agriculture are and what roles they are playing/ can play in urban agriculture development.

To summarize, stakeholder analysis is useful since it helps:

1. To identify which stakeholders are actually involved in urban agriculture and to assess their mandates, opinions, interests, available resources and potential contributions to urban agriculture development,
2. To identify organizations that are relevant for solving the problems encountered by urban farmers and/or realizing the existing development potentials in urban agriculture, 
3. To identify and motivate organizations that are interested to work together in the start up and implementation of urban agriculture projects and programs,
4. To analyze the relations between the various stakeholders, including cooperation and conflicts, as to provide a basis for identification of effective strategies to improve networking, communications, coordination and cooperation between the various stakeholders. 

In the stakeholder analysis we thus focus on institutions, organizations and networks only. Understanding the perceptions and needs of direct stakeholders and urban farmers will be undertaken in the context of the participatory appraisal of selected urban and peri-urban farming systems (see further Module 11).

The type of indirect stakeholders involved and their level of participation in the planning process will vary depending on local circumstances. In any case, early co-operation between all stakeholders in planning and implementing actions and policies for urban agriculture, and involving them actively in situation analysis, will help prepare and enhance the planning and implementation process.

Analyzing stakeholders as part of a situation analysis

The focus is thus on making a systematic inventory and analysis of all indirect stakeholders that have something to contribute to the development of urban agriculture