Research & reports

Rogers Hansine, Christine Bonnin, Inês Raimundo, Madal Artur, Cândida Bila · Revista Tamoios · Mozambique

The SYNERGI project, implemented from March 2023 to September 2025, aimed to promote urban community involvement in co-creating Socially Inclusive Edible Urban Green Infrastructure (IVUCs) in Maputo and Xai-Xai, Mozambique. The project successfully established IVUCs in six selected schools, increasing food production and educational opportunities. The project highlights the need for better institutional frameworks to support green infrastructure development.

Amelia L. Abrie, Benjamin Coetzer · The American Biology Teacher · South Africa

This intervention, piloted with a group of biology teachers from Gauteng Province, South Africa, used the mobile plant-identification app Pl@ntNet to address the widely documented problem of low plant awareness among teachers and, by extension, students. It began with a workshop on why lack of plant awareness matters, then introduced teachers to Pl@ntNet — which identifies plants in three simple steps — through a plant hunt in the school garden to reinforce learning. Teachers reported more positive perceptions of teaching plant-related topics after the intervention. Challenges identified included the availability of internet data, limited biodiversity in school gardens, time constraints, and discipline issues with learners.

Meron Worku, Michelle Holdsworth, Marie T. Ruel, Ana Irache, Kaleab Baye, M Catherine Spires, Nicolas Bricas, Rebecca Pradeilles · Maternal and Child Nutrition · Africa

A Photovoice study in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, had women of reproductive age photograph challenges to healthy diets for themselves and their children under five, then discussed the images in five focus groups (n=31 women) split by lower and higher socioeconomic status, analyzed with hybrid deductive-inductive thematic coding. Financial and physical barriers to accessing healthy food, time constraints and perceived poor food safety were major shared contributors to poor diets; lower-SES women also cited limited nutrition knowledge, inadequate family support and poor home food environments, while higher-SES women cited unhealthy food preferences combined with easy access to and aggressive promotion of unhealthy foods. Proposed solutions included government-level measures (job creation, nutrition education, affordable healthy food, household infrastructure investment, expanded childcare, restrictions on unhealthy-food promotion) and societal-level measures (gender equality, community-based loan schemes, and support for urban agriculture).

M. M. S. Maake, C. A. Mbajiorgu, D. P. Malatji, E. L. Udeh, M. J. Mamashila, Noluyolo Nogemane, N. A. Sebola, Portia Mamothaladi Moshidi, S. Mbizeni, U. V. Ogugua, P. N. Kayoka-Kabongo, France Phiri · Discover Sustainability · South Africa

A survey of 61 participants (mostly women, aged 18-92, mean age 49) in the University of South Africa (UNISA) Community Engagement project in Katlehong township, Gauteng province, South Africa, was analyzed with SPSS descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Friedman tests. Most participants relied on government social grants and seasonal employment, and over 75% were engaged in agricultural activities (72.1% vegetable cultivation, 11.5% field crops, 9.8% poultry). Education, age and gender significantly influenced participation, and training preferences ranked animal production (layers and broilers, mean rank 2.39 and 2.55) and vegetable production (mean rank 1.36) highest.

Otieno J.A., Omia D.O., Amwata D.A. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · East Africa (Kenya)

Evidence-based study demonstrating how vertical gardening (particularly sack farming) in Kibera's informal settlements underpins household food security. Shows how stacking soil-filled sacks vertically enables vegetable production in space-constrained environments, serving as a solution to chronic hunger.

Shimelis G., Kim D., Yimer F., Tadesse M. · Science of The Total Environment · Africa (Ethiopia)

2025 study estimating compost production potential from municipal organic waste and human excreta in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with projections through 2050. Quantifies economic benefits (compost sales, fertilizer cost reduction), soil carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas mitigation. Demonstrates feasibility of organic waste-to-compost systems for urban agriculture in African cities.

African Urban Gardening Research Network · National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI/PMC) · Sub-Saharan Africa

Systematic review of 47 peer-reviewed studies across sub-Saharan Africa (2000–2025) showing urban gardens support ecological functions including pollination, soil fertility, and microclimate regulation.

Ermias Debie, Demsew Mengistie · Discover Sustainability · Ethiopia

This study investigated the determinants of Urban Agriculture (UA) and Green Infrastructure (GI) integration in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia. Data were collected through surveys and analyzed using binary and ordinal logistic regression models. Findings revealed that a lack of awareness and lower education levels, such as no formal and primary education, significantly hinder the integration of UA and GI practices. Conversely, larger residential spaces and household sizes positively influence integration levels, with each additional household member increasing the score by 0.236 units for consumption needs, and each unit increase in residential site size raising the score by 0.004 units due to space availability.

Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira · Urban Transformations · South Africa (Cape Town)

This qualitative study investigated 13 school-based community gardens in low-income townships on the Cape Flats of Cape Town, South Africa, using semi-structured interviews. It found that while these gardens can enhance food security, nutrition, and community development, most urban community gardens in South Africa face significant challenges related to land tenure rights, often requiring negotiation for school land use. The research highlights both the advantages and the challenges of utilizing school land for community gardens.

M. Elusaiwe, K. Atusa, Kanya Hilary · Asian Journal of Agricultural and Horticultural Research · Nigeria

This study investigated the efficiency of agricultural extension agents in promoting urban gardening among 250 respondents in 10 urban areas across two local government areas in Delta State, Nigeria. Findings revealed that most urban farmers, predominantly female civil servants, married women, or widows, were not visited by extension agents, nor were they encouraged to use growth media or form agricultural societies.

Abiola Adebunmi Olarinre · International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science · Nigeria

This research surveyed 240 households in Osogbo, Ile-Ife, and Ilesa cities in Osun State, Nigeria, to analyze urban household food security and coping mechanisms. Findings showed that only 17.9% of households achieved food security, with 39.6% experiencing moderate and 16.3% severe food insecurity. Household income, education, household size, credit access, and food expenditure share significantly influenced food security.

Aregawi Beyene, Azeb Gebreegziabher, Zenebe Abraha, Tsahaynesh Hagos, Yohansu Girmay · European Journal of Horticultural Science · Africa

This study examined factors affecting urban households' participation in home gardening in Mekelle city, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, where home gardens served as a means of survival, particularly in urban areas, during the region's war and siege. Structured questionnaires and focus group discussions with 264 multistage-sampled households (171 users, 93 non-users) were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a probit model, showing government motivation and access to land, income, education, extension services and inputs significantly influence home gardening participation. Users were significantly older, had larger families, and had higher incomes and education than non-users, with markedly greater access to land and agricultural inputs, underscoring the role of socioeconomic factors in participation.

Teófilo Etelvino do Amaral, Carlitos Luí­s Sitoie · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Mozambique (Maxixe)

A school garden project was implemented at Escola Secundaria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe in Mozambique, integrating it into the geography curriculum. Research found that geography teachers only taught theoretical content, lacked practical understanding of the geographical relationship with local agricultural production, and did not value food from home gardens. Students and their parents also had no knowledge of vegetable gardens and preferred processed foods, which exacerbated hunger when they lacked money. The school garden was suggested as a means to produce healthy food and generate family income.

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.

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.

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.

John Wakhanu · International journal of food science and agriculture · Kenya (Machakos)

This study assessed the impact of a nutrition intervention using African indigenous leafy vegetables (AILVs) grown in school gardens in Machakos County, Kenya, on body composition changes in school-going children (6-10 years) using the Deuterium Dilution Isotope Method (DDIM). An experimental cross-over design with two phases (Phase I: 13 weeks, Phase II: 12 weeks) was used, with 66 children in the experimental group and 46 in the control group in Phase I. Findings indicated high morbidity and low nutritional status, poverty, and poor AILV consumption among subjects, but DDIM showed a significant improvement in body composition in experimental groups (p<0.001).

Dilebo T., Feyissa T., Asfaw Z., Zewdu A. · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 18:74 · Ethiopia

An ethnobotanical survey of 240 households across four zones of southern Ethiopia documenting on-farm landrace diversity, use patterns and farmer conservation of the staple crop enset.

Sinead Page · · South Africa (Pretoria)

The Department of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria aims to produce entrepreneurs in the arts, not just artists. In 2020, the first BA Fine Arts group volunteered at Moja Gabedi, a community garden in Hatfield, Pretoria. This initiative, in affiliation with Reliable House, offers a vibrant space for multi-disciplinary service-learning.

Michael Rudolph, Madimetja Antony Mello, Evans Muchesa · Journal of food security · South Africa (Johannesburg)

This study aimed to develop a sustainable social entrepreneurship model for urban farming initiatives in Johannesburg. Through a literature review and qualitative interviews with experts, findings highlighted several important challenges that limited urban smallholder farmers' ability to ensure the financial viability and sustainability of their farming initiatives. These challenges included limited accessibility to farming land, markets, funding, and knowledge regarding setting up and managing small agri-businesses.

Nicole Paganini, Silke Stöber · The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension · South Africa (Cape Town)

This long-term study in Cape Town, South Africa, developed and employed a co-research approach with urban farmers, using mixed methods including focus groups, farming diaries, and surveys. Participants perceived the research process itself as more important than the results, as they developed agency for change. The mutually developed results were used by co-researchers to establish a representative body advocating for small-scale farmers' needs.

Karen Botes, Christina Breed · Acta Structilia · South Africa

This article reviewed three edible living wall case studies in Gauteng, South Africa, focusing on system resilience, economic feasibility, and edible plant possibilities. Interviews were conducted with clients, contractors, and designers. Findings suggested indirect commercial value through customer experience and educational value, but indicated that economic feasibility and resilience need enhancement for improved urban food production.

TP Modibedi, MMS Maake, MR Masekoameng, SS Tekana, Oluwaseun Samuel Oduniyi · African Journal of Food Agriculture Nutrition and Development · South Africa

This quantitative study surveyed vegetable consumption patterns among 254 randomly sampled urban farmers from 30 community gardens (418 registered farmers) across six large townships in Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng province, South Africa. Data were collected via face-to-face semi-structured questionnaires using 24-hour dietary recall and analyzed with SPSS version 23 using descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regression. 96.1% of farmers consumed vegetables as a relish and 93.3% as salad, most often at dinner because farmers were typically present in the gardens during the day. Of 10 independent variables tested, only age group, education level, and main income source showed a statistically significant positive association with consumption patterns. The study recommends incorporating vegetables into all three daily meals and providing education on the importance of vegetable consumption.

Harry Kasumba, M. Mashologu, Patrick W Bwowe · · South Africa

An investigation into the sustainability of school food gardens in Chris Hani District, South Africa, used a mixed-methods approach with a purposive sample of six schools. Findings revealed significant bottlenecks hindering sustainability, specifically inadequate funding and a lack of proper planning for school food gardening activities.

Crippina Lubeka, Judith Kimiywe, Hudson Nyambaka · Research Journal of Food Science and Nutrition · Kenya (Makueni County)

This study assessed the effect of school garden interventions on improving serum zinc, iron, and retinol levels, and diet diversity, among pre-school children in Mulala ward, Makueni County, Kenya. A quasi-experimental design was adopted with 63 children, where intervention early childhood centers provided vegetables and animal proteins from school gardens for six months. Post-intervention, a significant difference was found in the mean dietary diversity score between the intervention and control groups, and a significant positive correlation was observed between serum hemoglobin, retinol, zinc levels, and dietary diversity in the intervention population.