Research & reports

Legrand Cirimwami, Fabrice Kibingani, Clérisse M. Casinga · Journal of Environment · Africa

A study of Bukavu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (more than 1.6 million inhabitants in 60 km², driven by rural exodus due to insecurity), examining residents' perceptions of deforestation to inform policy on urban forest restoration. Researchers sampled and interviewed 210 informants, 70 each in the communes of Kadutu, Ibanda, and Bagira. Findings show 85% of informants favour restoring green spaces, and at least 72.9% recognise green spaces as important for air purification, environmental improvement, ornamentation, erosion control, biodiversity conservation, and food production from fruit trees. 81.9% agreed that vegetation cover has decreased, especially since the 2000s, mainly due to rural exodus and unregulated housing construction. 87.1% see themselves as the main beneficiaries of green spaces and blame government as the main destroyer of green spaces that should also be the main actor in restoring them, while acknowledging some of their own responsibility, though less than government's. For restoration, 51.7% suggested tree-planting initiatives, favouring Eucalyptus, Cupressus lusitanica, and ornamental and medicinal trees, with awareness-raising and planned urbanisation also proposed as strategies.

Annabel Nyole, Daphne Randall, Naserian Saruni · The Journal of Public Space · Africa

A 2024 photo essay on youth-led public space initiatives in Nairobi, Kenya; Kampala, Uganda; Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Harare, Zimbabwe. Using empirical data, it documents youth revitalizing local economies through urban farming and income diversification, and acting as stewards of green spaces in ways that enhance urban vitality, social connection, and well-being. It also reports that youth are extending their engagement into the digital sphere, advocating for internet access in public spaces as a socio-economic right.

Gaspard Ntabakirabose, Maniriho Festus, Tuyisenge Jean Claude, Harold Ogwal, David Mwehia Mburu · International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy · Africa

A study of smallholder vegetable- and fruit-growing households in Kigali City and Musanze District, Rwanda (Gasabo, Kicukiro, Nyarugenge and Musanze districts), used multistage purposive sampling on a population of 1,085 households, surveying 112 respondents. Of 14 factors examined, 10 positively influenced urban farming production and 4 influenced it negatively. Crops were grown in bags, baskets, hanging baskets, old tires, pallet gardens, open ground, trellises and window-box fences, doing well even in small plots enclosed within household compounds. Urban farming contributed to malnutrition control, household savings and food security, but was constrained by small plot sizes, limited farming knowledge and technology, crop maturation time, lack of capital, low awareness, housing arrangements and inadequate infrastructure.

Takele Taye Desta · Veterinary Medicine and Science · Ethiopia

Based on in-depth interviews with seven key informants in the cities of Adama and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a study evaluates the significance of urban goat production, one component of urban agriculture, and ways to lessen its adverse impacts. Goats can thrive in limited urban open spaces, scavenge leftovers from homes and open markets, and browse on open public land; incorporated into urban agriculture, they can contribute to a circular economy, thrive on a limited supply of water and feed, and require less care and space. Goat farming is used to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change, and goats' active nature makes them better at avoiding traffic accidents; they can also be used to control bush encroachment. Urban goat farming improves land use efficiency and food security, and goats can be used for children's play and urban ecotourism. However, goats can harm urban green spaces, so goat production must be zoned to avoid this. The study concludes that urban goat farming could add a new dimension to urban food security, but that more empirical evidence needs to be generated to support its adoption.

Olivier Grünberger, Radhouane Hamdi, Manon Lagacherie, Hanène Chaâbane · Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part B · Africa

Two years of monthly water sampling and hydrological monitoring at the outlet of the Wadi Guenniche watershed (86 km², with rainfed cereal, legume and orchard cultivation and irrigated market gardening) in northern Tunisia, a tributary of the Bizerte coastal lagoon, tested for 469 pesticide active ingredients and metabolites. Twenty-nine pesticide active ingredients and 2 metabolites were detected in the water, 24 of which are authorized for use in Tunisia; 14 of the authorized substances had never before been mentioned in farmer surveys. The five most frequently detected herbicides and metabolites were AMPA (100%), glyphosate (94%), simazine (94%), 2,4-D (70%) and deisopropylatrazine (DIA, 47%). The detection frequency and concentration range suggest phytosanitary pressure and water contamination comparable to the northern Mediterranean shore, indicating a need for further study of pesticide use and fate on the southern shore, particularly in Tunisia.

Olalekan Tolulope B. Aduloju, Olumuyiwa Bayo Akinbamijo, Abdullateef Iyanda Bako, Abdulfatai Olanrewaju Anofi, Kolade Victor Otokiti · Local Environment · Nigeria

This study analyzed the practice of urban agriculture (UA) in open spaces within the Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria, combining primary and secondary data collected through questionnaires, an interview guide, digital cameras, a UA survey form, and GPS. Main findings showed that 14.34 hectares of land (31.4% of it in the city core) was dedicated to UA in Ilorin, an area estimated as capable of helping at least 1,500 families escape poverty. Average Nearest Neighbour Analysis (ANNA) revealed that UA sites were clustered rather than randomly distributed. Mean analysis showed the dominant food staples grown at Ilorin UA sites were vegetables (3.09), maize (2.86), cassava (2.64), millet/sorghum (2.46), and yam (2.31). Access to land, failed harvests from pests and disease, price collapse, and adverse weather events were identified as the leading challenges affecting UA practice. The study calls for city-level integration recognizing the rights of the urban poor and of UA within Ilorin's land-use plan.

Gizaw Ebissa, Aramde Fetene, Hayal Desta · City and Environment Interactions · Ethiopia

Treated wastewater from the plant serving Bole Lemi Industrial Park (BLIP) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was sampled at the treatment plant's influent and effluent and analyzed using a treated wastewater quality index (TWWQI) to assess suitability for urban irrigation agriculture. The aggregate TWWQI classified the water as 'very poor' for urban irrigation agriculture, with heavy metals contributing 85% of that grade, nutrient load 4%, salinity 8%, and miscellaneous contaminants 4%. Discrete indices varied: heavy metals scored 'very polluted', nutrients 'excellent', salinity 'poor', and miscellaneous contaminants 'good'. Contaminant removal efficiency ranged from 30% to 100% (58% in aggregate), and some contaminants showed higher concentrations in the effluent than the influent, indicating the treatment plant failed to remove them. Cr3+, Cl− and TDS contributed most to the poor rating, and the plant was found to need upgrading to increase removal efficiency.

Jane Yatuha, Justus Asasira, Godfrey Begumisa, Pascal Amandu · East African Journal of Science Technology and Innovation · Sub-Saharan Africa

This eight-week experiment, conducted from July to September 2023 in Mbarara city, Uganda, tested the capacity of greywater to serve as a hydroponic growing medium for vegetables (broccoli, spring onions, lettuce) and the greywater-cleansing capacity of Coleus ornamental plants. Greywater was collected from restaurant sculleries, and four treatments — greywater, greywater + NPK, tap water, and tap water + NPK — were each set up in triplicate, with pH, EC, TDS, temperature, turbidity, nitrates, phosphates, shoot length, leaf number, fecal coliforms, and heavy metals measured. All vegetables survived, but production levels differed significantly between treatments: lettuce had the highest production in three of the four treatments except greywater + NPK (ANOVA, F(3,56) = 2.970, p = 0.039), while spring onions grew best in greywater + NPK, differing significantly from other treatments (F(3,56) = 3.328, p = 0.026). Greywater treatments showed extreme EC and TDS values (1001.38 µS/cm and 502 ppm; 982.38 µS/cm and 490.75 ppm), significantly different from other treatments (p = 0.000), though no fecal coliforms were detected in vegetable tissue. Coleus progressively reduced TDS and EC and showed capacity to extract heavy metals from the greywater.

P.N. Ndlovu, Joyce Chitja, Temitope O. Ojo · Cogent Food & Agriculture · South Africa

This study surveyed 156 smallholder urban vegetable farmers in the Sobantu and Mphophomeni township areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, using a structured questionnaire and multi-stage sampling, and analyzed drivers of market participation and its level using descriptive statistics and a double-hurdle model. Of the 156 farmers, 127 were market participants and 29 were non-participants. A logistic model found market participation decisions were significantly influenced by credit use (p = 0.004), free inputs (p = 0.096), access to market information (p = 0.001), access to labour (p = 0.014), and smartphone ownership (p = 0.083). A fractional response model found the level of market participation was significantly influenced by age (p = 0.093), cooperative membership (p = 0.002), road condition (p = 0.001), storage (p = 0.016), and distance to input markets (p = 0.069).

Essi Lamberg · The Journal of Architecture · Africa

A case study of the Tanga, Mbeya and Moshi master plans (1973-1975) in Tanzania, developed with Finnish technical assistance, challenges the conventional narrative that Nordic countries acted as neutral, benevolent foreign aid agents. The analysis shows Finnish planners operating in an ambivalent environment combining colonial heritage, decolonial policy and neo-colonial practice, developing a planning approach that translated travelling concepts of suburbanization, neighborhood models and urban gardening into the language of Tanzanian decolonial policy. The three master plans used garden city planning ideas to extend planning principles formerly reserved for the white European elite to the entire urban population, in service of the socialist ujamaa project.

Matthijs T. Wessels, Lisa‐Marie Hemerijckx · Development Southern Africa · Sub-Saharan Africa

More than 700 surveys with food vendors and consumers, combined with ethnographic research with farmers, quantified and mapped the contribution of urban and peri-urban producers to fresh leafy vegetable supply in the growing city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Seventy percent of all amaranth consumed in the city was found to be produced within it, with an average farm-to-fork distance of 11 km, indicating a strongly localised foodshed for leafy vegetables. The results point to the ongoing significance of urban areas in meeting their own food demand and the need to explicitly integrate food provisioning into the planning of growing African cities.

Zwelakhe Thulasizwe Mascot Maseko · Journal of Asian and African Studies · South Africa

In Esikhaleni Township, South Africa, structured interviews with local farmers and in-depth interviews with officials from uMhlathuze Municipality examined why residents use urban open spaces for subsistence agriculture and how it affects their livelihoods. Food insecurity, demand for accessible fresh produce, interest in farming, and rising food costs were identified as the main drivers, and open-space agriculture was found to contribute to livelihoods through improved access to fresh food, reduced food expenditure and supplementary income from produce sales, leading to a recommendation that urban planning set aside land for agriculture.

Charlie M. Shackleton, Peta Brom, Nanamhla Gwedla, Abraham R. Matamanda, Mallika Sardeshpande, Sopna Kumar-Nair · Cities · South Africa

Using South Africa as a case example, the study scored six types of urban green infrastructure (UGI) — amenity spaces, blue infrastructure, natural/semi-natural lands, urban parks, urban agriculture and verges — against five dimensions of poverty alleviation: cash or non-cash income, skills development and learning, physical and mental health, reduced vulnerability and risk, and participation in decision-making, rating current and future potential alongside the degree of change required. Urban agriculture was scored as having the highest current potential to contribute to poverty alleviation and verges the lowest, while parks and amenity spaces offered the greatest returns per effort and verges were identified as key sites for pro-poor intervention due to their wide distribution. Overall, the study concluded that greater investment and changes in the attitudes of authorities would have a bigger impact on poverty alleviation across all UGI types than changes to policy and procedure.

Chernet Assefa, Addisu Getahun, Endale Mekonnen · Middle East Research Journal of Economics and Management · Ethiopia

A participatory demonstration conducted in three districts of the Akaki Kaliti sub-city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 2021/22 production year, in which a total of 61 farming households (47 male-headed, 14 female-headed) benefited, covering 14 hectares of bread wheat and 30 hectares of teff. The demonstrated technologies produced an average grain yield of 56.66 quintals/hectare for bread wheat and 22.16 quintals/hectare for teff, both higher than the national average. The study concludes that boosting agricultural production requires stakeholder attention to disseminating and adopting improved crop varieties with full production packages, using cluster farming to reduce poverty and ensure food security.

City of Johannesburg, Department of Social Development · City of Johannesburg · South Africa

A 2024 policy document adopted by the City of Johannesburg's Department of Social Development, stating that approximately 9.6% of households in the city are indigent households constantly threatened by food insecurity (StatsSA, 2018), and citing a 2021 estimate that 30.9% of people are threatened by food insecurity (Rudolph et al.). It outlines interventions including regional agricultural resource centres, farming hubs, and food parcel distribution.

Namenge Philip Tendet, George Alliwa Makalliwa, Daniel Nyamongo Sagwe · The Pan African Medical Journal · Kenya (Nairobi)

A survey of 328 urban farmers in Kasarani sub-county, Nairobi County, Kenya (85.42% response rate) plus five agricultural extension officers and five chiefs. The strongest constraints on urban farming were flooding (mean 3.66), lack of rain (3.52) and pests and diseases (3.49), followed by poor yields and soil erosion. Institutional barriers were also reported: harassment by city authorities, insecure land rights and restricted access to plots. Respondents were 65.55% male, 63.41% married and 41.46% casual labourers, with 63.11% earning USD 40–80 a month — indicating that urban farming here is concentrated among low-income households facing both climate stress and weak institutional support. Limitations: not all urban farmers could be interviewed, and comparison outside the study sub-county was restricted.

Reyes Tejada N., Kooy M., Zwarteveen M. · Water International · Mozambique (Maputo)

A study grounded in the Infulene Valley, Maputo's main green belt, showing that irrigated urban agriculture drawing on various water sources has been consistently present throughout the Mozambican capital's history. The authors trace how urban planning evolved from 1960 onwards and what those policies meant for urban farming and the livelihoods depending on it. Documenting the city's imaginaries across four eras of Maputo's development, they find that agriculture occupied a prominent place in the post-colonial city and remains significant despite its vague recognition within urban planning after the shift to neoliberalism, and argue for acknowledging urban irrigated agriculture as an intrinsic feature of the city.

Folorunso E. A., Schmautz Z., Gebauer R., Mraz J. · Heliyon 9(8):e18979 · Nigeria

Evaluates the profitability of ten small- and medium-scale commercial hydroponic farms using NPV, IRR, benefit-cost ratio and sensitivity analysis, finding larger farms more profitable but viability highly dependent on retail prices, crop choice and market size.

Arcadius Martinien Agassin Ahogle, Sammy Letema, Gertrud Schaab, Veronica Ngure, Abraham R. Mwesigye, Nicholas Kibet Korir · Frontiers in Soil Science · Kenya (Nairobi)

This study assessed heavy metal and trace element contamination risks in peri-urban farmlands in Nairobi city catchment, Kenya, by analyzing 60 soil samples from ten vegetable farming zones. Results showed elevated concentrations of elements including As, Cd, Mn, Pb, and Zn, with some exceeding permissible agricultural thresholds. As, Cd, Hg, and Pb exhibited high ecological risks, with Cd contributing 46-66% of the overall risk.

Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira · Urban Forum · South Africa

This narrative literature review analyzed 62 peer-reviewed articles on urban agriculture in South Africa from 1993 to 2022. The findings indicate several knowledge gaps, including an under-representation of secondary cities and a general productivist focus in most studies, which limit understanding of urban agriculture for sustainable cities.

Adeline Ngie, Nobukhosi Sithole · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · South Africa (Johannesburg)

A study in Johannesburg, South Africa, assessed urban transformational strategies, including rooftop gardening and hydroponic farming, aimed at improving food security and regenerating infrastructure. Using open-ended interviews with stakeholders, findings indicated improved household food security and income generation, but challenges such as soil and water flow for rooftop gardens persist. Hydroponics faced hurdles like energy supply and input costs, though it showed more promise for land and water resource efficiency.

F.E. Awoyelu, R.A. Mebo · Agro-Science · Nigeria (Osun State)

This study assessed the effects of artisanal sand mining on peri-urban agriculture in Ife East and Ife Central Local Government Areas, Osun State, Nigeria, from 2015 to 2019. Data from 120 respondents (landowners, cultivators, residents) showed that cultivated land area decreased by 24.8% (from 48% to 23.2%), while sand-mined area substantially increased by 20.4% (from 14.6% to 35%). Landowners' decision to part with land for sand mining increased with age, household size, and farming as primary occupation, but decreased with higher education levels.

Adedoyin Osasona Foluso · International Journal of Home Economics Hospitality and Allied Research · Nigeria (Ekiti State)

Adolescent students' nutritional knowledge and strategies for improving their nutritional status were investigated in boarding schools in the Ido-Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used with 80 boarding house students from three government and private colleges. Findings revealed that a good percentage of boarding school students possessed good nutritional knowledge.

Bismark Osei, Mark Edem Kunawotor, Paul Appiah-Konadu · International Journal of Social Economics · Africa

This study examined measures for achieving a sustainable environment to mitigate climate change in 54 African countries from 2000 to 2020, using panel data and a Cox proportional hazard model. Findings indicate that carbon farming, rooftop gardens, and renewable energy positively contribute to a sustainable environment. However, governance adversely affects the objective of achieving a sustainable environment.

Chinwe Okonkwo, Ifeoma Nwachukwu, Adebayo Adeyemi · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Nigeria (Ibadan)

This systematic review synthesized evidence on the determinants of adoption and disadoption of improved cassava planting material (ICPM) by peri-urban smallholders in Ibadan. The review found that disadoption rates can exceed 40% within three seasons post-initial adoption. Perceived Usefulness was the strongest adoption predictor, while Perceived Ease of Use was often compromised by logistical barriers, and vendor trust influenced continued use.