Urban agriculture: What limits?
By Don Okpala
Urban agriculture has gained increasing significance,
popularity and advocacy in recent years. As documented
by an ever-increasing body of research, the economic
crises and restructuring which the developing world
has seen in the past decade or two are prime factors
behind the phenomenon. But a well-informed, critical
look suggests that urban agriculture does little to
support sustainable urban development.
Urban agriculture refers to the raising of food crops,
horticulture, poultry and other livestock in cities
and towns. Such
activities are typically conducted in the back and
front yards of houses, in public and private open
spaces and in other vacant lots.
Advocates of urban agriculture point out major benefits.
It enables the urban poor to reduce household food
expenses, which enhances food security and nutritional
control, especially in difficult circumstances. Affordable
food releases more of admittedly low or precarious
incomes for other expenditures, including health and
education. And since urban farmers are more likely
to be female, urban agriculture contributes to the
empowerment of women and is an attractive alternative
to informal, poorly paid jobs.
The advocates assert that urban agriculture is important
not just to low-income, but also to middle-income
earners, the unemployed and the underemployed.
A critical look, however, suggests that for all its
immediate benefits as a coping strategy, urban agriculture
does pose serious challenges to sustainable development
and management of cities. The main concerns revolve
around the environment, health and the economics of
land-use management.
The higher pollution rates in urban areas threaten
contamination of horticultural products, and urban
livestock production can help spread epidemics. Chemical
fertilisers and pesticides can pollute soils and the
water table, as can livestock waste.
From a planning point of view, the allocation of
more land to agriculture in cities encourages urban
sprawl, with its implications for infrastructural
costs. It can also affect the value of food produced
on expensive urban land which could have higher value
and yield if used for non-agricultural urban purposes.
In a rational world, this type of consideration should
prevail, at least in the context of mature urbanisation.
Related concerns include the resulting high costs
and inefficiencies of infrastructures.
In the ongoing debate over urban agriculture, UN-HABITAT
focuses on food security and income enhancement for
urban populations. The agency is not opposed to urban
agriculture as such. But its view is that the practice
must be subject to certain conditions and limitations.
To UN-HABITAT, efforts to achieve food security must
be part of an overall drive to eradicate poverty and
promote sustainable development of society as a whole.
In this context, it must be recognized that food security
does not necessarily require that everyone produce
their own meat, vegetables or fruit.
Therefore, UN-HABITAT supports temporary use
of vacant urban land and plots for agricultural purposes
as long as it is not detrimental to health, the environment
and economic efficiency, and where there are ample
tracts of vacant urban land. This is still the case
in a number of Least Developed Countries.
But supporting or encouraging the allocation of land
for permanent agricultural practice in urban
areas would be a contradiction in terms. Of course,
peri-urban agriculture is of a different nature and
is usefully practised in many countries.
It is widely accepted that food insecurity in urban
areas is more of a problem of access to food, than
a problem of production or existence of food. Therefore,
the challenge is to facilitate distribution and access
of food for all socio-economic segments of the population,
including the poor. This calls for appropriate urban
planning and location
of markets, as well as provision of adequate transportation
networks to ensure easy and affordable access.
Such provision of social and economic infrastructure
through urban planning and management, including support
for food distribution and access, is a key concern
in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. Therefore,
with its conditional support for urban agriculture,
UN-HABITAT is acting in keeping with its specific
mission within the UN system.
Don Okpala is Chief of UN-HABITAT's Urban Economy
and Finance Branch and Acting Director of its Monitoring
and Research Division.
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