Research & reports

Indian Urban Landscape · · India

This study focuses on the diversity and complexity of agricultural production organization in urban landscapes of nonindustrial societies, specifically analyzing the role of reservoirs in the agricultural landscape around Vijayanagara, southern India. Vijayanagara's agricultural facilities and strategies were diverse in both form and scale, ranging from vast canal irrigation to small rain-fed plots. Reservoirs, as a single morphological type, crosscut traditional agricultural categories, indicating significant variability in productive organization and suggesting that ecological and organizational contexts, beyond facility typology, are crucial for understanding production.

Lee M · PubMed · Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, urban agriculture faces significant challenges due to government disapproval of public land use for farming and difficulty in obtaining credit. A 1983 survey in Addis Ababa found that 17% of 1352 households produced their own food on less than 25 sq. meters, with 90% of non-farmers citing lack of land. Despite urban agricultural cooperatives demonstrating 70% higher member income, their lack of government legalization prevents access to loans for productivity improvement.

Axumite G. Egziabher · Digital Library Of The Commons Repository (Indiana University) · Ethiopia

This paper summarized the character and role of urban agriculture in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the organization of producers for whom urban agriculture is the sole means of survival. While urban agriculture contributes to food provision, employment, and income for producers, cooperatives face the challenge that concerned authorities cannot grant them legal status for credit access due to their urban location.

Jac Smit, Joe Nasr · Environment and Urbanization · Global

This article describes how urban agriculture can transform cities from mere consumers of food and agricultural products into sustainable generators of these products. It focuses on using wastes and idle land and water bodies as resources to achieve resource conservation and health improvement.

Christian M. Rogerson · Africa Insight · Africa

Professor C M Rogerson from the Department of Geography, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, assesses the role and potential of urban agriculture in sustaining Africa's rapidly growing cities.

· Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes · Kenya (Nairobi)

This record contains reviews of two books: "The Geomorphology of Canada: An Introduction" by Alan S. Trenhaile and "A City of Farmers: Informal Urban Agriculture in the Open Spaces of Nairobi, Kenya" by Donald B. Freeman. The latter focuses on informal urban agriculture in Nairobi, Kenya.

Johan Pottier · Africa · Rwanda

This article explores the themes of knowledge, ignorance, and power in the context of a Rwandan development project, demonstrating how ignorance is generated through agricultural extension. It argues that agronomic services rely on power structures reminiscent of social inequality, and assesses whether the project-induced creation of ignorance leads to the displacement of local knowledge and the adoption of new methods.

C J van Vuuren · Development Southern Africa · South Africa

This article discusses the nature and functioning of community gardens in Ciskei, KwaZulu, and KwaNdebele, South Africa. It found that these community gardens are indigenous, acceptable to the local people, and are actively producing food, also demonstrating significant local expertise that should be recognized and developed by agencies. The article argues that these units have often been neglected by agricultural officers.

· Food and Nutrition Bulletin · Global

Urban cultivation is an innovative response by the urban poor to insufficient real income, viewed as a form of long-term investment. This investment requires a minimum threshold of predictability of return, and most households need seven to eleven years of urban residence to gain access to land. Variations in cultivation patterns result from differences in land access and the need to maximize the return on domestic labor time. Policy implications include encouraging cultivation, providing legal land titles for land access, and increasing the productivity of rainy-season gardens.

Abalimi Bezekhaya · Abalimi Bezekhaya · South Africa

The official site of Abalimi Bezekhaya, a non-profit founded in 1982 that provides urban agriculture training, affordable resources, irrigation and soil-building support, and market access in Khayelitsha and Nyanga, Cape Town. It states its Harvest of Hope programme generated R16 million in sales between 2008 and 2019, of which R10 million went directly to about 245 farmers (supporting 1,225 dependants) across roughly 70 gardens.

Ledogar Rj · PubMed · Zambia (Lusaka)

In 1978, a pilot project was initiated in Lusaka, Zambia, by UNICEF and The American Friends Service Committee to expand urban agriculture. This project aims to establish kitchen gardens on residential plots, cultivate road reserves and green belts, utilize idle land during the rainy season, raise small livestock, promote cooperative cultivation of small holdings in the urban periphery by low-income residents, and eventually resettle some urban residents on farms. The goal is for the service to be self-supporting by 1980.

Sam Love · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · Global

This paper discusses contemporary industrial societies' reliance on extensive resource networks and proposes an alternative: moving towards self-sufficient small loop and flow systems. It describes examples of short loop arrangements in urban agriculture and solar energy housing, advocating for decentralization and diversity.

重一朗 浜, 伝 中村 · 年会予稿集 · Cuba

In Cuba, programs such as dietary diversification, food fortification, and supplementation are implemented to address micronutrient deficiencies like iron, vitamin A, and iodine. Urban agriculture is positioned as one strategy to increase dietary diversity by enhancing the availability and consumption of vegetables and fruits. Research in Cuba has shown that vitamin A deficiency is nonexistent in children up to 7 years of age.

Martha Díaz-Betancourt, Luciana Ghennandi, Ana H. Ladio, Ismael R López-Moreno, Estela Raffaele, Eduardo H. Rapoport · Revista de Biología Tropical · Latin America

This study compared edible weed biomass in tropical (Coatepec, Mexico, 400 samples) and temperate (Bariloche, Argentina, 739 samples) Latin America. Average edible fresh biomass ranged from 1277-3582 kg/ha in tropical areas and 287-2939 kg/ha in temperate areas. 43 species were sampled in Coatepec and 32 in Bariloche, with general means of 2.1 and 1.3 tons/ha respectively.

Natália da Silva Lemos, Liza Maria Da Souza de Andrade, Valério Augusto Soares de Medeiros · Paranoá cadernos de arquitetura e urbanismo · Brazil

This research analyzed urban planning challenges in Brazil from the perspective of urban agriculture, examining social policies and legal frameworks including the City Statute (Law 10.257/2001) and Law 6.766/1979. The findings indicate a gap in legal provisions for urban agriculture actions and practices within land use and occupation regulations. The study suggests guidelines for implementation to address this deficiency.

Mickie E. Swisher, Rose Koenig, Jennifer Gove, James A. Sterns · EDIS · United States (Florida)

This bulletin from the University of Florida explains the concept of a consumer-supported farm (Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA). CSA is a production method where consumers directly partner with farmers to secure their own food production, and this bulletin describes the steps required to develop such a partnership.

Diana Paola Betancurth Loaiza, Natalia Sánchez Palacio, Jorge Lino Moreno Aricapa · Repositorio Universidad de Caldas · Colombia

This report details the experience of implementing the Urban Community Garden in the Villa Juanita neighborhood. The project focused on fostering urban agriculture as a strategy to improve food security and promote sustainability within the community. The garden became a space for community participation where diverse sustainable agricultural practices were integrated. Through this project, social cohesion was strengthened, environmental education was promoted, and spaces for interaction and collective learning were generated.