Official Attitudes Toward Urban Agriculture

Urban Farm DB summary

This chapter examines the economic and socio-political factors behind changes in official attitudes toward urban agriculture in Africa, focusing on Ghana. Some officials are described as negative toward the practice and as acting irresponsibly to discourage it, while officials are more willing to condone urban farming when farmers hold higher social class or status. In Ghana, an official of the Agricultural Extension Services expressed concern about contamination from the wrongful use of chemicals. Public opinion is described as having shaped official acceptance, and in 1992 personal intervention by the President of Ghana helped encourage more positive official attitudes. Some Ghanaian officials held the view that the country would eventually industrialize and require more workers in the industrial sector.