Cities, Poverty and Food: Multi-stakeholder Planning on Urban Agriculture

This presents tools to assist municipal policy makers, local organizations and other stakeholders seeking to support urban agriculture and is illustrated with many case studies. It also identifies several promising interventions, such as creating a supportive policy environment and enhancing urban farmers’ access to land, credit or technical assistance. It discusses experiences and lessons from participatory urban agriculture action planning projects in 20 cities, which were sponsored by the RUAF Foundation (Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security).

The introduction summarizes past studies on urban agriculture and its potential to advance several goals such as food security, poverty reduction, climate change adaptation and improved waste management. Although few quantitative surveys of urban agriculture have been conducted, evidence suggests its prevalence across a range of urban locations, scales and income groups. Many producers are low-income households cultivating food or livestock on a small scale; others may cultivate higher value crops or engage in advanced agro-processing. In turn, a range of policy lenses and diverse forms of support may be appropriate. Urban policy makers may seek to advance social goals (e.g. supporting subsistence-oriented activities), promote market-oriented urban agriculture or advance multi-functional cultivation to achieve ecological goals (page 19).

Chapter 2 explains the objectives and phases of multi-stakeholder policy and planning (MPAP) and provides a framework for discussing the experiences of seven cities (Chapter 3). Each city completed its MPAP exercises between 2005 and 2008, beginning with preparatory activities and a situation analysis, then broadening commitment and participation, and finally establishing a multi-stakeholder forum on urban agriculture with local officials, universities, NGOs and farmers’ groups. The stakeholders then developed and implemented a city strategic agenda on urban agriculture and monitored/adapted the proposed activities (see page 35 for a diagram of MPAP phases). Case studies in Chapter 3 comprise the core of the book, with local participants recounting processes and outcomes in Accra, Beijing, Sana’a, Lima, Freetown, Bulawayo and Gampaha (in Sri Lanka). Experiences suggest that urban agriculture can support youth employment and local economic development strategies, as in Freetown. Some municipalities have given funding to promote urban agriculture, particularly in Beijing, or have supported farmers’ access to wastewater, land or other key inputs. Farmers’ groups in a low-income area near Lima formed legally recognized networks; a municipal ordinance has recognized urban agriculture, and vacant land under power lines has been transformed into five community gardens. In Chapter 4, the authors consider the optimal policy measures and arrangements to facilitate urban agriculture. A range of legal, economic, communicative and urban design instruments can support urban farmers; municipalities should also take steps to promote social inclusion and gender equity and incorporate urban agriculture as an adaptation to climate change. Other lessons include the need for local and national policy integration regarding urban agriculture, developing permanent institutional arrangements and reducing health or environmental risks associated with farming practices.