Research & reports

CDR Aza-Gnandji, Yongxin Xu, Lincoln Raitt, Jonathan Levy · Water SA · South Africa (Cape Town)

This study explored the salinity of irrigation water from the Cape Flats aquifer in the Philippi farming area of Cape Town, South Africa, collecting water samples from boreholes and ponds in summer and winter. Concentrations of chloride, nitrate, potassium, and sodium exceeded target maximum limits set by DWAF and FAO guidelines. Groundwater and pond water were found to be brackish in most parts of the research area, with salinization primarily attributed to agricultural activities. The water is generally suitable for irrigation but requires caution for salt-sensitive vegetables.

Danfeng Huang · Journal of Changjiang Vegetables · Global

This paper discussed the importance of intensive vegetable production in urban agriculture, highlighting its role in guaranteeing the supply, quality, and safety of fresh vegetables. It summarized key aspects of intensive production, including industrialized seedling production, facility production, efficient cultivation, postharvest processing, and commercial management, but also presented environmental problems and restricting factors in the development of intensive vegetable production.

Michael R. Hoadley · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · Global

A talk by Michael Hoadley, founder of Chicago firm Fewzion, discussed challenges in vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture. The presentation emphasized the importance of framing discussions within the context of economically self-sustainable models, free of dependence on policy subsidy and philanthropy. This highlights concerns about policymakers' over-zealous view of urban agriculture as a panacea for social ills.

Amanda Jessie Weaver · Digital Commons - DU (University of Denver) · United States (Colorado)

This project combined U.S. Agricultural Census data with a survey of local producers in Colorado's Front Range Urban Corridor to examine the competition between urban development and food production. The study found that urban development is increasingly encroaching on rich agricultural lands, which are also desirable for housing. Consequently, Colorado faces increasing competition for land, potentially driving local food prices up and displacing producers to peripheral areas or out of food production entirely.

Patrick F. Banga · · Zimbabwe

Unsanctioned urban agricultural activities in Emakhandeni High Density Suburb of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, negatively impact biodiversity. Researchers interviewed 100 people and conducted field visits, finding that the majority of cultivators operate outside existing laws and guidelines. This leads to progressive land degradation, massive deforestation, soil erosion, dried wetlands, lowered water table, and compromised groundwater quality due to pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.

Shogo Mlozi · International NGO Journal · Tanzania

This paper assesses the knowledge of livestock keepers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, regarding the climate change effects of their activities. Over two-thirds of respondents did not believe solid waste, liquid waste, and pollution from livestock would affect future climate risks. However, they did perceive chemical pollution and land degradation from urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) livestock keeping as having climate change effects.

Marc van lersel · · Global

Agriculture faces the 21st-century challenge of feeding a growing, urbanizing population while minimizing negative environmental impact. Urban farming has been presented as a potential solution to perceived problems with conventional agricultural production, but its effectiveness as a comprehensive solution is questioned.

Sylvestre Dasylva · Journal of environmental science & engineering · Senegal (Dakar)

This paper discusses rainwater management in the "niayes" zone of Dakar, Senegal. This area is characterized by agricultural depressions with typically high groundwater levels, but a recent drop has turned some into runoff-gathering sites, used for urban agriculture among other services. However, two acute problems are observed: hydrological drying due to insufficient rainwater refill and urbanization of these bottom-lands. Furthermore, decreasing pluviometry exacerbates nuisances like floods and malaria.

Shengzhong Chen · Guangdong nongye kexue · China (Guangzhou)

This study analyzed the development conditions, process, characteristics, and barriers of urban agriculture in Guangzhou City. It showed that while urban agriculture in Guangzhou has formed functions such as production, technology demonstration, ecological barriers, and leisure services, it faces internal and external development barriers including a decline in agriculture's status, expansion of urban land, labor shortages, and environmental pollution. These barriers hinder the healthy and sustainable development of urban agriculture.

강현정, 김세용 · 한국주거학회 학술발표대회 논문집 · South Korea

Modern cities prioritize development, leading to environmental deterioration. The biotope area ratio may not adequately reflect spatial utilization and plant growth conditions in multi-unit dwellings. While urban agriculture holds potential for environmental reform, a systematic framework and clear guidelines for its practical application are currently lacking. This study aims to derive crop indices for revitalizing urban agriculture and propose development directions for the biotope area ratio.

Kevin Wonch · Hope College Digital Commons (Hope College) · United States (Detroit)

This study examines urban farming in Detroit, a city experiencing rapid decline with a population under a million, limited access to fresh food stores, and extensive vacant land. While arguing for modern urban farming as a foundation for sustainable practices and positive development, it notes that some political and business analysts question its ability to make a significant impact on the city’s future.

William E. Fry, M. T. McGrath, Abby Seaman, Thomas A. Zitter, A. McLeod, Giovanna Danies, Ian M. Small, Kevin Myers, Kathryne L. Everts, Amanda J. Gevens, Beth K. Gugino, Sara B. Johnson, Howard S. Judelson, Jean B. Ristaino, Pamela Roberts, Gary A. Secor, K. W. Seebold, K. Snover-Clift, A. Wyenandt, Niklaus J. Grünwald, Christine D. Smart · Plant Disease · United States

The 2009 tomato late blight pandemic in the eastern United States resulted in significant crop losses for many home gardeners and organic producers. This event led to widespread questions regarding its causes and differences from previous epidemics.

Toni Y. Sims-Muhammad · · United States (South Louisiana)

This project examined the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on existing food systems in Lafayette, Acadia, Evangeline, St Martin, and St Landry parishes, with a focus on home and community gardens. The researcher interviewed 57 home/community gardeners and farmers and conducted a survey on pre- and post-Katrina/Rita food sustainability problems, challenges, and perspectives on future food systems.

Danny Simatele, Tony Binns, Munacinga Simatele · Journal of Human Development and Capabilities · Zambia (Lusaka)

This field-based research in Lusaka, Zambia, examines the impact of climate change and urban governance on urban agriculture, which serves as a source of food and income for poor households amidst deteriorating economies. The study finds that urban agriculture is often excluded from urban development and planning policy, posing significant challenges for small-scale farmers to achieve food security. A lack of policies supporting the urban poor, combined with climatic changes like drought and flooding, makes it difficult for households to adapt to the changing urban environment.

Silvio Caputo · Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) · United Kingdom

This paper argues for a new role for urban agriculture in developed countries, focusing on environmental, social, and economic benefits. While urban agriculture can contribute to a low-carbon society and food access, it is not currently part of UK government strategies for food security. For urban agriculture to achieve its potential, it needs to become economically viable, requiring research into highly productive methods and business models utilizing local urban resources.

Leigh Whittinghill, D. Bradley Rowe · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Global

Urban agriculture faces limitations including competition for space, lack of formalized land use rights, and health hazards from food contamination. Green roof technology is proposed as a method to alleviate these issues, potentially reducing the use of contaminated land and water at ground level. However, for large-scale implementation, installation costs must be reduced, roof weight limitations assessed, and appropriate management practices developed.

Christophe Antonio‐Nkondjio, Billy Tene‐Fossog, Cyrille Ndo, Benjamin Menze Djantio, Serge Zebaze Togouet, Parfait Awono‐Ambene, Carlo Costantini, Charles S. Wondji, Hilary Ranson · Malaria Journal · Cameroon

This study assessed the influence of urban pollution and agriculture on malaria vector distribution and insecticide susceptibility in Douala and Yaoundé, Cameroon, from October 2009 to December 2010. Researchers sampled 1,546 anopheline larval breeding sites and analyzed water parameters. Findings showed mosquitoes from cultivated urban areas exhibited the highest insecticide resistance levels, with urban agriculture, rather than pollution, suggested as the major factor driving resistance.

Bertrand Foe, Salou Zoulkilf · · Benin

A transverse case study conducted from January to June 2011 in Cotonou, Benin, with 50 truck farmers, investigated adaptation strategies for water access in urban agriculture. The study found that increased temperatures and irregular rains reduce available water, making truck farming difficult and painful. Despite increased working time, production decreased by about 50%, indicating a negative economic impact.

杨卫丽, 李同昇, 陈波 · 经济导刊 · China (Xi'an)

The promotion of integration in China's Xi'an-Xianyang metropolitan area, while bringing urban economic prosperity, has also created unprecedented pressure on the ecological environment and social problems. Specifically, the "urban-rural dual structure" and "three rural issues" are the biggest bottlenecks encountered during the urbanization process.

Eva Collins, Kate Kearins · Academy of Management Learning and Education · New Zealand (Auckland)

A sustainability instructor took a graduate class to an eco-village near Auckland, New Zealand, where students observed off-grid homes and community gardens. While New Zealand students were inspired by the alternative lifestyle, two international students from China and Tajikistan expressed that this lifestyle was how they lived at home and they did not wish to live that way, preferring the New Zealand lifestyle. This indicates a limited appeal of the eco-village model to some international students.

FU Li-hua · 自然资源学报 · China (Shanghai)

A study of Shanghai, China, building an evaluation index system reflecting the characteristics of sustainable urban agricultural development, using a combination of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the information entropy method to determine index weights, and applying it to time-series data from 1993 onward to produce a quantitative, comprehensive appraisal. The results comprise three findings. First, the population subsystem progressively became a main obstructive factor for sustainable urban agricultural development, the economic subsystem gradually became a main contributing factor, and the social subsystem grew more important in raising development capability, while cultivated land resources became increasingly scarce and continued to decrease, constraining improvement, and the heavy burden of agricultural production's self-pollution had a negative effect on the overall upgrade of development capability. Second, the resource (R-D) composite index was not high and declined significantly, averaging 1.9090 over 1993-2006 and falling 6.00% per year from 2.5336 in 1993 to 0.5541 in 2006, indicating growing resource pressure; the environmental (E-D) composite index was smaller and changed little, remaining around 1.0000 in most years, with environmental pressure staying high but stable. Third, after earlier wave-like fluctuations, the overall composite evaluation index entered a sustained, steady climb, with a significant increasing trend in development capability.

Anges Yadouléton, Alex Asidi, Rousseau F Djouaka, B. James, Christian Agossou, Martin Akogbéto · Malaria Journal · Benin

A study in urban areas of Benin investigated the impact of rapid vegetable farming development on the emergence of insecticide resistance in Anopheles gambiae populations, using sociological data, bioassay tests, and biochemical analysis. The expansion of urban agriculture led to improper insecticide use for vegetable pests, exerting strong selection pressure on mosquito larval populations. This resulted in the emergence of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors, with permethrin mortality rates of 76% in Parakou, 23.5% in Porto-Novo, and 17% in Cotonou.

Andreas Buerkert, Eva Schlecht, Martina Předotová, Rodrigue V.C. Diogo, Katja Kehlenbeck, Jens Gebauer · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Sub-Saharan Africa

This study analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) systems in major Sub-Saharan African cities, measuring carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fluxes and conducting biodiversity studies. In Niamey, low-input gardens showed annual gaseous carbon emissions of 20-25 t ha-1, predominantly CO2, and high-input gardens irrigated with wastewater had annual CO2-C emissions of 27 t ha-1, with N2O as a major nitrogen loss contributor. Animal manure stored in the open was subject to large carbon and nitrogen losses, indicating environmental tradeoffs. However, UPA gardens in Niamey maintained a large variety of fruit and vegetable species, with richness increasing with garden and household size and commercialization.

Sophie Graefe, Eva Schlecht, Andreas Buerkert · Outlook on Agriculture · Niger (Niamey)

Semi-structured interviews with 130 households in Niamey, Niger, characterized urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and assessed resource use. The study found high use of livestock manure and indiscriminate use of nutrient-loaded wastewater for irrigation, leading to significant nutrient surpluses in UPA gardens. Initial calculations suggested large gaseous emissions of nitrogenous compounds and and leaching of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to groundwater.

Tamara García–Armisen, Josué Prats, Yociel Marrero, Pierre Servais · Water Science & Technology · Cuba (Havana)

The Almendares River in Havana, Cuba, receives wastewater from over 200,000 inhabitants, resulting in very poor microbiological water quality downstream due to high faecal bacterial indicators (FBIs). This water is used for urban agriculture and recreation, despite not meeting microbiological standards. This study compared FBI removal in three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs): a conventional facility, a constructed wetland (CW), and a solar aquatic system (SAS). Natural systems (CW and SAS) showed approximately two log units higher FBI removal efficiency than the conventional plant. The large conventional WWTP was found to have a negative impact on the river's microbiological quality.