Marco Serena, René van Veenhuizen

To mark its tenth anniversary, the RUAF Foundation organised this international event on 19 and 20 May 2011 in cooperation with CAH Almere University of Applied Sciences. The conference took place, in a multi-functional urban farming estate in Almere, the Netherlands, with financial support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada and the Economic Development Bureau of the City of Almere.

Location

Date of RUAF intervention: 2006-ongoing

Introduction | Main UA systems | MPAP in Bangalore | FSTT | Products | Contact

Edited by: Alice Hovorka, Henk de Zeeuw and Mary Njenga, 2009, Practical Action Publishing, Rugby, UK.

Since the start of the first RUAF programme until now, many RUAF Publications have been published. On this page, you will find links to the the RUAF Publications available online, subdivided per type of publication. If you are looking for non-RUAF publications, you should search our bibliographic database. If you are looking for a certain Urban Agriculture Magazine article, please go to the Urban Agriculture Magazine section of this website.

Agricultural research organizations have not yet integrated gender as one of the key elements to harness the diversity of experiences and capabilities of target communities' in problem diagnosis, technology development and dissemination. In line with this, the International Potato Center (CIP) has established a Gender and Diversity Committee through the Gender and Diversity Program and initiated the drafting of guidelines for ensuring gender responsiveness in her institutional set up and research through the Urban Harvest program with the support of the CGIAR Systemwide PRGA Program.

Participatory Research and Gender Analysis is a system-wide CGIAR initiative to assess and develop methods and organisational approaches for gender-sensitive participatory research and to promote their use in plant breeding and in managing crops and natural resources. The website brings a selection of CGIAR publications on plant breeding, NRM, gender and stakeholder analysis, impact assessment, and mainstreaming PRGA.

Honeybee Network is a global initiative to give voice to creative and innovative people at the grassroots, the Honeybee Network is run by SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions) in India. The Network has an online database of innovations, either based on traditional knowledge or of contemporary origin, primarily from India, but also from other countries.

Gordon Prain

In: Cities Farming for the Future - Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive Cities

The urban setting offers special advantages for food and animal production, but also presents particular challenges. Urban agriculture needs to be highly innovative in competing and adapting to new situations. Urban and peri-urban agricultural systems exhibit even higher levels of complexity than rural upland systems and call for a wider range of participatory methods. This chapter discusses participatory agricultural research and its relevancy for the urban setting. A sustainable urban livelihoods framework is discussed, which enables to better understand and define the multi-sectoral, institutional and policy aspects of urban agriculture in order to identify appropriate interventions. Specific participatory methods are discussed for urban horticulture and livestock to help urban producers adapt agriculture to urban realities.

René van Veenhuizen

In: Cities Farming for the Future - Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive Cities

Attention to urban agriculture has increased markedly during the last couple of decades. The number of activities to promote urban agriculture at international, national and local level has grown, but urban farmers in many cities in the world still struggle to get their main survival strategy recognised by city authorities. The demand of policy makers and local practitioners for inspiring examples of successful policies and actions in cities is therefore growing. Urban agriculture contributes to a wide variety of urban issues and is increasingly being accepted and used as a tool in sustainable city development. Currently the challenge is its integration into city planning and facilitation of its multiple benefits for urban inhabitants. This book seeks to present the current state of affairs regarding urban agriculture and sustainable urban development.