THIS IS A summary of the proceedings from a workshop held in Nairobi in 1998 on urban food production in East and Southern Africa that was attended by researchers, policy makers and practitioners from six countries in the region (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe). The workshop focused on households (as opposed to the broader subject of urban agriculture, which encompasses non-household and non-food production), and sought to:
·exchange knowledge on urban households’ food production strategies (emphasizing access to resources, gender and kin relations, including urban/rural linkages);
·identify priorities for research;
·identify priorities for policy action; and
·compile the output of the workshop in a concise form for researchers, policy makers and support agencies to refer to, the results of which are contained in this report.

The report discusses the issue of urban food production by households, followed by documentation from six countries and a presentation of priorities for research and policy action. It calls attention to the fact that urban food production is, first and foremost, an expression of the conditions of poverty under which many urban people live. Whilst a high proportion of urban households from all income levels engage in food production to meet food needs, it draws attention to the fact that it is particularly critical for the food security of the poorest. It identifies several research priorities, including:
·the need to address the complexities of African households and the rural nature of urban areas, including urban-rural interactions;
·systematic input-output analysis of urban food production and its place amongst other household survival strategies;
·and the need to apply comparative as well as in-depth qualitative methods.

It further recommends that any policy on urban food production addresses poverty and the need for urban food security as its main priority. Other factors identified as main policy priorities include land tenure problems and the conflict over the use of scarce urban land, and the need for institutional and technical reform.