Research & reports

Simon Hazell, Victoria Delbridge, Beatrice Conradie · UR UCT Undergraduate Research · South Africa

A study in Lavender Hill, Cape Town, South Africa, interviewed 50 participants in the Mothers Unite programme to assess the benefits and constraints of homestead-based urban agriculture. Despite the potential for food gardening to alleviate food insecurity and free up 11% of household income, two-thirds of the group had not tried it. Barriers to adoption included lack of space and limited cash flow, with respondents showing little concern for water or compost costs.

Marijke D’Haese, Nick Vink, Tharcisse Nkunzimana, Ellen Van Damme, Johan van Rooyen, Anne-Marie Remaut, Lotte Staelens, Luc D’Haese · Development Southern Africa · South Africa

Food insecurity remains high in rural KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. This study collected data from 390 beneficiary households in 2010 to assess the perceived impact of the Empowerment for Food Security Programme, launched in 2007, on food security. Findings confirmed that experience-based food insecurity levels were still high, despite the agricultural support program and government income transfers. However, respondents attributed improved dietary diversity and better access to resources to the program.

Mary Caesar, Jonathan Crush, Trevor Hill · Scholars Commons (Wilfrid Laurier University) · South Africa (Msunduzi Municipality)

A study on food security in Msunduzi Municipality, South Africa, was part of AFSUN's baseline survey across eleven Southern African cities. The survey found that urban poor in Msunduzi are significantly worse off than those in Cape Town and Johannesburg, with one-third of households reporting frequent food shortages. Urban agriculture is not particularly significant in Msunduzi, and while supermarket supply chains dominate the food system, they do not meet the needs of the poor.

Jonathan Crush, Bruce Frayne, Wade Pendleton · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · Sub-Saharan Africa

A paper on rapid urbanization and rising urban poverty shifting the historical locus of food insecurity from rural areas to the cities of Africa uses baseline survey data from the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN), carried out in 11 cities in 9 southern African countries in 2008-2009, to demonstrate extremely high levels of urban food insecurity. It finds that lack of access to food results primarily from household poverty, high unemployment, and limited income-generating opportunities rather than any absolute food shortages. The paper also shows the growing importance of supermarkets, and finds that urban agriculture plays a relatively insignificant role in the food sourcing strategies of the urban poor.

Luc Hippolyte Dossa, Andreas Buerkert, Eva Schlecht · Human Ecology · Sub-Saharan Africa

A study surveyed 700 randomly selected households across Kano (Nigeria), Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), and Sikasso (Mali) to explore the relationship between household socioeconomic status (SES) and participation in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). The results showed no significant differences in UPA participation rates across socioeconomic groups. Instead, UPA participation was significantly and positively related to household size.

Stephen Odede. Shisanya, Sheryl L. Hendriks · Development Southern Africa · South Africa

This study evaluated the contribution of community gardens to alleviating food insecurity for 53 community gardeners in Maphephetheni, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, it was found that 89% of these households were anxious about food supplies, consumed insufficient food, and were severely food insecure. Additionally, 72% consumed poor quality food. Community gardens were unable to solve the problem of food insecurity, but their contribution to consumption cannot be entirely ignored.

M. Tshitangoni, A. Okorie, Joseph Francis · Scientific Research and Essays · South Africa

In Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa, the performance of 30 poverty alleviation projects (12 community gardens, 8 poultry, 2 piggery, 2 bakery, 6 other) was reviewed. Based on structured questionnaires with 108 respondents, project performance differed by type. All bakery projects were successful, poultry projects achieved 62% success, and community garden and other projects each achieved 33% success. In contrast, all piggery projects performed poorly.

Jonathan Crush, Alice J. Hovorka, Daniel Tevera · Progress in Development Studies · Africa

This article examines the contemporary importance of household food production in poor urban communities across 11 Southern African Development Community (SADC) cities. It finds that urban food production is not particularly significant in most communities, with many more households relying on supermarkets and the informal sector for food access. Furthermore, few households derive income from selling produce, though the situation varies considerably by city.

Jonathan Crush, Bruce Frayne · Journal of Southern African Studies · Southern Africa

This article reviews urban food sources in Southern African cities, focusing on supermarket expansion, its impact on informal food suppliers, and the relative insignificance of urban agriculture for poor urban households. Findings from an eleven-city survey by AFSUN are presented, highlighting that urban agriculture has limited significance in addressing urban food insecurity in the region.

Morongoa Rosina Pako · · South Africa

This qualitative study assesses the Mogabane Community Garden Project in South Africa to determine why it did not reach its objective of poverty reduction in the community. It situates the project against South Africa's poverty lines — roughly 33% of the population living on less than R271/month, 50% on less than R422/month, and 79.1% on less than R1,230/month, with the highest poverty rates in the Eastern Cape (68.3%) and Limpopo (60.7%) provinces and the lowest in the Western Cape (20%) and Gauteng (28.8%) — and the government's post-1994 anti-poverty programs spanning social assistance, employment generation, enterprise development, basic household security, social services, disaster relief, and employment-related social insurance. Against this backdrop, the study assessed the Mogabane project and confirmed that it failed to achieve its poverty-reduction objective.

Dick Foeken, Samuel Owuor, Alice Mwangi · Children Youth and Environments · Kenya

A survey was conducted in almost all primary and secondary schools in Nakuru Town, Kenya, to examine the extent to which school farming contributes to school feeding programs. The survey found that while school farming and feeding programs are common practice, school farming substantially contributes to school feeding programs in relatively few cases.

W. Van Averbeke · Water SA · South Africa (Pretoria)

This study in five informal settlements of Atteridgeville, Pretoria, South Africa, used a pilot study, household survey, and multiple case studies to assess urban farming's contribution to food security and household income. While over half of households participated in urban farming, its contribution to total household income and food security was generally modest. Main constraints included lack of space and limited access to irrigation water.

Nigel L. Webb, Harrison Kasumba · Africanus Journal of Development Studies · South Africa

In Ezibeleni near Queenstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, a sustainable-development framework was used to gather empirical findings on vegetable crop cultivation, covering duration of crop consumption, the value of produce to households, environmental benefits, and social/psychological benefits. Both the scale of cultivation and the benefits obtained were found to be modest, reinforcing prior studies that focused on the actual practice of urban agriculture rather than its hypothetical potential.

Alex Thornton, Etienne Nel · Africanus Journal of Development Studies · South Africa (Peddie)

This study investigated the significance of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a livelihoods strategy in Peddie, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, based on a PhD study. The findings indicate that UPA is not as significant or widely practiced as often assumed, despite its potential to address food insecurity and generate income. Its development has been slowed by various structural historical and socioeconomic barriers, limiting its current impact.

Yali E. Woyessa, Etheresia Pretorius, Pieter S. van Heerden, M. Hensley, L. van Rensburg · WIT transactions on ecology and the environment · South Africa

This field survey in the Modder River basin, South Africa, investigated the potential expansion and implications of a rainwater harvesting technique introduced to small-scale farmers. While a rapid spread within home yard sizes was expected, no significant spread to community gardens or beyond was anticipated in the short term. This limitation was attributed to socio-economic constraints, including poverty and a lack of appropriate tools and basic farming skills.

Rachel Slater · Development Southern Africa · South Africa

This study examined urban agriculture (UA) in Cape Town, South Africa, focusing on its contribution to low-income households. It found that UA's contribution to income generation and expenditure substitution is limited. However, UA is important to women in low-income households in ways less directly related to monetary gain, being used for empowerment, establishing social networks, symbolizing a sense of security, and encouraging community development.

Dick Foeken, A. Mboganie-Mwangi · Leiden Repository (Leiden University) · Africa

Using survey data collected in 1994 in Korogocho, one of Nairobi's slum areas in Kenya, this study examined whether access to farmland influences a household's food situation. Access to land had a positive impact on urban households' overall welfare, but not necessarily on their food situation. Households with access to a rural plot appeared better off in terms of self-reported food situation than households without any land access, and access to rural land appeared more favorable for food situation than access to urban land alone. Among the very poor households in Korogocho who claimed access to rural land, half did not actually use that land themselves.

A. Mboganie-Mwangi, Dick Foeken · Leiden Repository (Leiden University) · Kenya (Nairobi)

A 1996 study in Nairobi, Kenya, compared the food security and nutritional status of low-income households engaged in urban agriculture with those not farming. It found that urban farmers primarily produced for home consumption and faced theft as a major problem. While the Undugu Society Urban Agriculture Project (USUAP) group showed better food situations and higher energy and protein intakes than other groups, all three groups had inadequate energy intake on average. The long-term beneficial effect of urban agriculture on nutritional status was negligible.