Marielle Dubbeling, Femke Hoekstra, René van Veenhuizen

In: Urban Agriculture Magazine no 24 - From Seed to Table: Developing urban agriculture value chains, pp 3-10

Some urban farmers seek to enhance their income by engaging more directly or more efficiently in processing and marketing. But many of these, often poor, urban farmers are not able to sufficiently invest in starting a business, often do not undertake a proper analysis of market demand and tend to choose industries that have low entry costs, such as poultry production and food preparation. This pattern generally leads to rapid market saturation, low levels of productivity and competition that drives down returns to the business owners (Campbell, 2009). Value chain analysis and value chain development help connecting urban and periurban producers with urban markets in a more sustainable way. In this Magazine you will find examples of different forms of value chains and value chain development in urban agriculture.