Catégorie : Africa

School feeding is an important development tool and is related to at least three Millennium Development Goals. School farming has been largely overlooked in the urban agriculture literature but with many parents nowadays unable to afford school lunches…

"Since independence, city planning in Kenya has not been carried out effectively," asserts Professor Washington Olima of the University of Nairobi. In the absence of a clear landuse policy, urban agriculture is currently thriving in Kenya. But, according to Olima, the confused policy situation and lack of overall coordination leads to conflicting implementation of different land use activities. Little consideration has been given to the areas allocated to agriculture, and the outcome has been to put people's health at risk.

For a country where even the government is currently predicting a poor maize harvest and inflation is reported to be the highest in the world, even glimmers of hope must be welcome. In the face of food shortages, it is hardly surprising that increasing numbers of urban Zimbabweans are looking to grow their own, if only to supplement their family food needs.

Dar es Salaam, East Africa's fastest growing city and home to more than a quarter of Tanzania's population, is facing a crisis. Named a 'haven of peace', the city is home to some 10,000 street children and a growing problem of youth gang crime, violence, drugs and sexual exploitation. For any child growing up in Dar, rising poverty and unemployment, changing family patterns and deteriorating environmental and health conditions are daily realities. For street children, it is far worse. Diseased, malnourished, scorned by police and the general public, they are left to their own devices to generate income or find food through legal or illegal means.

Nearly three-quarters of Ugandan vehicles are found in Kampala. Most run on leaded petrol, and each morning and evening the city's main arteries bear a steady stream of traffic. In such an environment, when Kampala City Council took the decision, in 2003, to legalise urban agriculture, they faced a hostile media reaction. How could crops grown in such polluted air be safe to eat?

The process of urbanization is one of the most important dimensions of economic, social and physical changes. It is almost a truism that the planet’s future is an urban one and that the largest and fastest growing cities are in developing countries. Approximately 25 percent of Africa’s population lived in towns and cities in 1975. By the year 2000, due to rural-urban migration and rapid rates of natural increase, 38 percent of the continent’s population lived in urban areas. The proportion is expected to increase to 47 percent by 2015 and to double by 2025, Kenya is not an exception. Rapid urban population growth means an increasing demand for urban land. This land is not available within the city, but in the rural-urban fringe, for various reasons. […]

Saviez-vous que les villes du tiers-monde doivent importer près de la moitié de leur denrées de consommation courante? quelle prix de ces aliments est souvent inabordable?

On sait aussi cependant que l'agriculture urbaine peut contribuer à enrayer ces problèmes. Mais alors pourquoi les gouvernements deces pays ne l'appuient-ils pas?

Cet ouvrage fournit des données essentielles pour convaincre les gouvernements de faire une place plus importante à l'agriculture en milieu urbain. Faire campagne en ville, élaboré à partir d'études en Afrique orientale, démontre que l'agriculture urbaine est une pratique sûre et souhaitable pour nourrir les masses urbanisées des pays en développement. L'ouvrage démontre aussi que l'agriculture urbaine n'est pas uniquement le fait des démunis ou des chômeurs.

Cet ouvrage décrit la contribution précieuse de l’agriculture urbaine à la sécurité alimentaire et à l’assainissement des agglomérations urbaines d’Afrique centrale et d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Il présente également une stratégie destinée à établir un réseau consacré à l’agriculture en milieu urbain avec l’apport d’acteurs multiple et l’appui des producteurs, des ONG, des institutions de recherche à l’échelle nationale, régionale et internationale et des donateurs, sans oublier les décideurs et les autorités gouvernementales aux paliers municipal et national.