Sanderijn van Beek and Rebecca L. Rutt

In: UA Magazine no. 19 - Stimulating Innovation in Urban Agriculture

Uncollected solid waste is one of Kampala’s most visible environmental problems, and one of the main causes of environmental degradation within the city. While this poses a critical health hazard to the livelihoods of the urban poor, it also hinders economic growth and social achievement (Sengendo, 1994). However, amidst the gloom, there are local initiatives – developed by enterprising individuals and groups – which are helping to address waste problems through the creative reuse of organic waste in urban farming. Some of these innovations are rapidly becoming common practice; others are still experimental.

Jessica Alegre, Gordon Prain and Miguel Salvo

In: UA Magazine no. 19 - Stimulating Innovation in Urban Agriculture

Pig raising is an important livelihood activity in the District of Lurigancho Chosica, which is a low-income periurban neighbourhood located in the Rimac valley in the eastern part of the city of Lima. As many as 1600 families are thought to depend on this activity for some or all
of their income. Without organisation, technical support or regulation, they mostly operate in small clusters of informal livestock units perched on the arid hillsides of this desert city. This type of production raises concerns about public health risks and environmental pollution, and yet relatively simple changes in management can make pig raising a profitable, sustainable activity that can contribute
significantly to the well-being of urban and periurban families.

Bernard Keraita, Pay Drechsel, William Agyekum and Lesley Hope

In: UA Magazine no. 19 - Stimulating Innovation in Urban Agriculture

Irrigated vegetable farming is a common practice in and around many cities in low-income countries. It is also an important means for attaining urban food security and balanced diets, and it provides a livelihood to many urban dwellers. However, increasing contamination of irrigation water sources makes this practice a major risk factor for public health, especially as most vegetables grown are consumed raw. Urban vegetable farmers in Ghana use different water sources for irrigation, depending on the location of their farming sites. Surface water is most commonly used as it is easily accessible and thus most economical. Farmers collect it from streams, stormwater drains
and gutters with greywater. However, these water sources are usually heavily contaminated with untreated wastewater. 

Matthew Lief

In: UA Magazine no. 18 - Building Communities through Urban Agriculture

Thirty years after the 1976 youth uprising which signalled the inevitable end of apartheid, the lives of children growing up in Port Elizabeth remain constrained by the threat of disrupted, unstable families and severe poverty. Today the barrier faced by families to providing a supportive, nurturing environment for children is no longer a brutally oppressive and racist government, but the crushing burden of a population besieged by HIV/Aids and unemployment on a massive scale.

Rhonda Teitel-Payne

In: UA Magazine no. 18 - Building Communities through Urban Agriculture

For over 30 years, The Stop Community Food Centre has been working to end hunger and build a
healthy and strong community in the Davenport West neighbourhood of the city of Toronto. The Stop strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.

Takawira Mubvami and Milika Manyati

In: UA Magazine no. 18 - Building Communities through Urban Agriculture

HIV and Aids affect all communities –both urban and rural. This article looks at how urban agriculture can be a way to integrate the HIV/Aids-infected and -affected households in a community. The article starts by highlighting some of the issues relating to HIV/Aids and their impact before presenting case
studies that demonstrate how urban agriculture has been used to integrate HIV/Aids-affected households into communities.

Abdelmalek Boudjenouia, André Fleury and Abdelmalek Tacherift

In: UA Magazine No. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

Nowadays, quality of living is considered as a key factor for the physical and psychological wellbeing of city dwellers. The presence of nature in the city is an important component due to the diversity of its functions. In addition, it can be a valuable source for companies, improving their corporate image and working environment. The environmental space of a city determines in part its fitness for habitation and economic resources under the concept of a sustainable city. For farmers, the environmental space primarily represents a production area, but increasingly this space is seen as being multifunctional.

Wim van der Hoek, Vuong Tuan Anh, Phung Dac Cam, Chan Vicheth and Anders Dalsgaard

In: UA Magazine No. 14 - Urban Aquatic Production

The major challenge in sustainable use of wastewater in agriculture and aquaculture is to optimise the benefits of wastewater as a resource (both the water and the nutrients it contains) and to minimise the negative impacts on human health. Epidemiological studies in different countries have established
that the highest risk to human health of using wastewater in agriculture and aquaculture is posed by worm infections.

Dennis Osino and Paul S. Opanga

In: UA Magazine No. 13 - Trees and Cities - Growing Together

A rapid increase in rural to urban migration has resulted in serious soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and deteriorating health and safety conditions, which have consequently led to food insecurity and ultimately extreme poverty in Kenyan cities such as Nairobi and Kisumu.

Felicity Chancellor

In: UA Magazine No. 12 - Gender and Urban Agriculture

Urban poverty is an increasing problem. Around 70% of the world's poorest people are women, many of whom are widows or single mothers with the responsibility of feeding children and old people. Small-scale food production as part of a range of opportunities is vital to the livelihoods of poor people and poor women in the city. The social, cultural, and economic climate of the city moulds the ways men and women can use and benefit from urban agriculture. The two studies referred to in this article provide a rudimentary gender analysis as the basis to discuss how urban agriculture actually benefits the major stakeholders.