Mario González Novo

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.

Marielle Dubbeling

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.

César Jaramillo Avila and René van Veenhuizen

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.

Amelia Luz P. Agbayani, Robert J. Holmer, Gerald E. Potutan and Wilfried H. Schnitzler

In: UA Magazine 5 - Methodologies for UA research, policy development, planning and implementation

Two studies were conducted to characterise the demand of private households, vendors and institutional users for fresh vegetables in Cagayan de Oro City, the Philippines. Specifically, these surveys aimed to provide baseline data for decision-makers and farmer-practitioners to further improve the market transparency for vegetables and, thus, contribute to better producer and consumer linkages.

Aminuzzaman Talukder, Saskia de Pee, Abu Taher, Andrew Hall, Regina Moench-Pfanner and Martin W. Bloem

In: UA Magazine 5 - Methodologies for UA research, policy development, planning and implementation

Petra Jacobi and Suzan Kiango

In: UA Magazine 5 - Methodologies for UA research, policy development, planning and implementation

In Tanzania, urban and peri-urban agriculture is a well-known activity and has reached the level of official acceptance (Jacobi et al. 2000). Systematic monitoring and evaluation as well as channelling generated information and feedback from the field to the relevant levels has supported this acceptance. A balance is sought between "conventional" and "participatory" monitoring. Both "hard data" are necessary, as is a system that allows primary stakeholders to monitor and evaluate their activities using different methods and their own indicators. Truly appropriate monitoring and evaluation should enhance internal learning and provide evidence to support qualitative statements about the impact of an action. This information can be relevant to members of the community and to decision-makers.

Dindo Campilan, Pay Drechsel and Daniel Jöcker

In: UA Magazine 5 - Methodologies for UA research, policy development, planning and implementation

The terms Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) are often used in a broader sense than what is known from project work. Half of the resource papers for the workshop presented 'M&E experiences' that consisted of surveys and analyses of biophysical, socio-economic or institutional urban agricultural issues without specific reference to any project or policy intervention. In the strict sense, this kind of "M&E" would be better classified as Situation Analysis and Diagnosis (see the NRI paper). Nonetheless, this topic paper considers that repeated situation analyses also contribute to project M&E. While there is already a well-established body of general literature on M&E in agricultural research and development (R&D), most of the reported experiences are based on the rural setting. Here differences and appropriate methodsare discussed.