Research & reports

F Ortega Sastriques, Rosa Orellana Gallego · Revista ciencias técnicas agropecuarias · Global

In many cities, the high price and limited availability of potable water necessitate considering irrigation with poor quality water, such as saline or alkaline waters, in urban agriculture. This paper considers aspects of irrigation with poor quality water, including risks like contamination.

· · Global

A discussion piece describes the growth of new forms of food retailing in Europe and North America in which fresh, high-quality produce is sold directly by producers. The most visible example is the rise of farmers' markets in urban locations, alongside a revival of street and municipal markets and new arrangements such as farm shops, box schemes, community-supported agriculture and cooperative bulk purchasing. It characterizes the shared feature of these initiatives as reconnecting food producers and consumers directly, in relationships largely severed by the dominance of corporate multiple retailers, and notes that "alternative food networks" is the term commonly used to cover this range of forms. No empirical data is presented.

Tacoli, C. (ed.) · Routledge / IIED · Global

A landmark edited collection on rural-urban interaction in the developing world, analyzing—through many cases—the flows of people, goods, capital and information and the asymmetric power relations between countryside and city.

Stephanie Buechler, Gayathri Devi Mekala, B. Keraita · Victoria University Research Repository (Victoria University) · Global

This 2006 global study from Victoria University discusses wastewater use in urban and peri-urban agriculture for crop production and aquaculture, noting its role in generating livelihoods and providing cheap produce. However, the study emphasizes that clear policy guidelines and careful research are needed to prevent potential negative impacts on human health and the environment from wastewater reuse.

R. van Veenhuizen · Issue Lab (Candid) · Global

This publication defines urban agriculture as growing plants and raising animals for food within and around cities, along with related processing and marketing. It notes increased attention from development organizations and authorities in developing countries due to urban agriculture's role in poverty alleviation, food security, waste management, and greening. The work presents the "state of the art" of sustainable urban agriculture development, indicating progress since earlier major publications.

Alice J. Hovorka · Gender Place & Culture · Botswana

This research draws on a feminist political ecology perspective to demonstrate that agrarian restructuring and rural-urban transformation in Botswana offer women opportunities to renegotiate their marginalized positionality within the commercial urban agricultural sector in Greater Gaborone. Men and women participate in equal numbers, and both perceive this sector as offering new and accessible avenues for economic and social advancement. Although there is continuity of women's social and economic disadvantage relative to men from rural to urban contexts, women are actively making claims on land and capitalizing on their traditional roles and responsibilities associated with poultry production.

Paul Knox Clarke · Ulster University Research Portal (Ulster University) · Global

This is a review of the AD special edition focusing on the relationship between food, the city, and urbanism. It discusses concepts such as markets, community gardens, Asian cities, food mapping, and historical precedents.

Ángela Borroto, Águeda C. Arencibia, J.L. López, Liliam J. Leyva, Carlos Mazorra, Gladys E. Dopico, R. Maurelo, A. Caraballoso · Pastos y forrajes · Cuba (Florencia)

This two-year study characterized animal production in urban agriculture in Florencia municipality, Cuba, by examining 32 randomly selected household backyards across two popular councils. Findings showed that 85% of households involved family members of all ages, with backyard animal rearing serving as a supplementary activity rather than a primary livelihood. Traditional management methods and local resources predominated in feeding practices, contributing 18% to the municipal family basket's protein needs and over 1 kg of protein per capita annually, thus potentially enhancing food security.

Wang Lijuan · · Global

This paper examines urban agriculture (UA) as a phenomenon linked to urban development, noting significant differences between developed and less developed nations due to economic development stages. It classifies these differences into five aspects based on UA theory and practice. The paper concludes by proposing countermeasures for achieving sustainable UA, specifically considering the status of UA in China.

Marielle Dubbeling, Gunther Merzthal, R. van Veenhuizen · · Global

Urban agriculture is a dynamic concept encompassing diverse production, processing, and marketing systems for food and non-food products. It operates within varied resource situations, including both scarce and abundant land or water, and under policy environments that can either hinder or support its development.

장동헌, 소순열, 유찬주 · 지역사회연구 · Global

This study investigated urban residents' perceptions of urban agriculture and their willingness to pay for its conservation. Residents prioritized urban agriculture's value as a landscape green zone and for intergenerational inheritance. Regarding conservation, more respondents favored using urban agriculture for other purposes through external expansion, preferring environmentally friendly development via experience programs. The willingness to pay a fund for urban agriculture conservation was 39.6%, with an estimated monthly average of 2,623 won per household.

Paule Moustier, George Danso · Agritrop (Cirad) · Global

This report discusses urban agriculture's role in addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges of rapid urban growth in developing countries. It notes that while urban agriculture attracts attention, its viability and need for political support remain debated. The report highlights arguments against targeting scarce public resources towards urban agriculture, citing high land costs in urban areas and insufficient evidence of its economic viability.

Marcelo Salgado, Sabrina Cáceres, Marta Basuino, Nora Gancedo, Claudio Vizia, Sebastián Rodríguez, Laura Gurría · Revista INVI · Argentina (Rosario)

This paper focuses on social housing projects connected with productive undertakings for low-income sectors in Rosario, Argentina, developed through the articulation of various social actors. Productive initiatives, supported by municipal organisms, emerged to alleviate unemployment due to the past decade's crisis and poverty in slums. The research is oriented to formulate recommendations for the participating management of social housing and its articulation with productive undertakings.

James T Larson · Arboricultural Journal · Global

This comparative study explores the benefits and key features of German allotment gardens and American community gardens, with a view to their possible implementation into inner city derelict and brownfield regeneration in the UK and other countries. The study considers whether community gardens have a role in helping to create sustainable communities that positively impact the negative social, economic, and environmental issues associated with derelict sites in inner city neighborhoods.

HU Yue-xiao · Nongye xiandaihua yanjiu · Global

This study on the industry orientation of urban agriculture, including trade, marketing, business model, and organizing orientations, identified problems such as industry parking, blurred functional orientation, and a lack of overall planning during urban agriculture orienting programs.

M. García de Souza, J. Álvarez, J. P. Dieste, M. Rachetti · Agrociencia · Uruguay (Montevideo)

The first census of urban gardens in the Montevideo metropolitan area was conducted in early 2004, revealing that residents initiated gardens in response to economic and social crises. The findings indicated that most ventures were family-organized, triggered by the 2002 crisis, and primarily aimed at self-consumption. Community ventures by non-family groups were also identified, and while productive practices showed strengths like high biodiversity and self-produced seeds/organic fertilizer use, unresolved issues included poor equipment, precarious land tenure, and lack of irrigation water sources.

Emma Lea, Jodi Phillips, Madeleine Ward, Anthony Worsley · Ecology of Food and Nutrition · Australia (Victoria)

This qualitative study interviewed 20 consumers and 12 farmers in Victoria, Australia, to examine their knowledge, perceived benefits, and barriers regarding Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The study found that knowledge of CSA was limited among both groups. Consumers perceived fresh food as a benefit but cited lack of produce choice as a barrier, while farmers saw financial benefits but were concerned about risk-sharing.

Nyumbaiza Tambwe · African and Asian Studies · Democratic Republic of Congo (Lubumbashi)

Based on semi-structured interviews conducted in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, from November 2004 to March 2005, and documentary sources, factors driving engagement in urban agriculture were identified. Structural adjustment programs, declining world prices of primary commodities, economic crisis, low wages, unemployment, rapid population growth, war, and poverty push urban dwellers into agricultural activities, while urban agriculture also serves as a source of food, income, and employment.

André Mfoukou-Ntsakala, Michel Bitémo, Niko Speybroeck, Guido Van Huylenbroeck, É. Thys · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · Congo (Brazzaville)

This study analyzed the technical and socio-economic specificities of urban agriculture and its role in household subsistence in a post-conflict region in Central Africa. It was based on a 2002 survey of 710 randomly selected households in Brazzaville, Congo. About one-third of Brazzaville households engage in urban agriculture, with 29.5% in crop production and 8.8% in animal production, predominantly aviculture. The 1997 conflict negatively impacted urban agricultural production, especially animal production, and urban agriculture is dominated by subsistence and poor households. While crop production is mainly for subsistence, animal production is more income-driven, and constraints like input provision, theft, and soil degradation limit productivity.

Mengjie Xu · Urban Problems · Global

This paper summarizes the types and characteristics of urban agriculture (UA) in less developed countries (LDCs), distinguishing it from UA in developed countries. It elucidates both the positive and negative effects of UA in LDCs, including impediments arising from its negative impacts. The study discusses the necessity of developing UA in LDCs and details measures to regulate its development, highlighting governance challenges.

Ramón Liriano González · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Cuba (Matanzas)

This study evaluated the effect of organic matter and biofertilizers (Azospirillum sp and Mycorrhizae) on horticultural crops and their economic effectiveness in Matanzas, Cuba. Two experiments were conducted: one at the University of Matanzas and another at the 'La Dignidad' urban garden, both using 13 treatments including varying organic matter doses and biofertilizer combinations. The study details the application methods and experimental design, but the abstract does not state the findings.

Alice Franck · Revue internationale des études du développement · Sudan

This study of market gardeners in Khartoum, Sudan, reveals limitations in the integrating capacity of urban agriculture. Uncontrolled urbanization in the capital creates intense competition for property, restricting the potential integration of farm-workers in the downtown area. This activity is strictly commercial and primarily carried out by a migrant population.

Karin Andersson · · Sweden

This study analyzed Ramsjo gard, the only Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Sweden, from a sustainability perspective using a mail survey of CSA members and a farm sustainability analysis. The survey found no statistically significant relationship between farmer-member contact and member learning, nor between member learning and changes in food purchasing habits. The sustainability analysis indicated that farmers perceived social and environmental aspects as more sustainable than economic and practical ones.

E. Melanie DuPuis · Crop Management · Global

An essay arguing that today's agricultural markets have fragmented into diverse "niches," in contrast to the past commodity-based marketing system that offered farmers only a few stable outlets. It notes the organic market niche itself is splitting into sub-niches, and that the growth of large-scale industrial organic agriculture has left smaller organic farmers with diminishing access to mainstream buyers, since supermarkets prefer dealing with larger firms. As a result, some farmers are turning to alternative markets—direct marketing, farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), and more recently localized or fair-trade markets—though the paper states the dynamics of these alternative markets remain poorly understood.

Ángela Borroto, Águeda C. Arencibia, J.L. López, Liliam J. Leyva, Carlos Mazorra, Gladys E. Dopico, R. Maurelo, A. Caraballoso · Redalyc (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) · Cuba

A study in Primero de Enero municipality, Ciego de Ávila province, Cuba, surveyed 19 backyard livestock producers participating in the National Urban Agriculture Program across three local council districts over two years. Ninety percent of producers received family support as a supplementary rather than primary livelihood, and 60% combined this with fixed state-sector jobs. Only 22% were organized or linked to receive training or technology transfer; average rearing experience was three years and average age was 49, with 63% wage workers, 18% retirees and 12.5% housewives. Production results were described as favorable, but practical adoption of more efficient, sustainable rearing methods was not found.