Speakers
Description
Introduction
Urban agriculture is a livelihood diversification strategy, which can potentially alleviate urban food insecurity for low-income communities. Unfortunately, despite the positive prospects it proffers, urban agriculture has not been tolerated in most African cities as it is often viewed as a rural activity, which detracts from the modern city image. In addition, despite the evident benefits of urban agriculture to the farmers, its potential is constrained by a complex of factors that include land tenure insecurity, erratic water access, small plot sizes, inadequate capital for optimising plot productivity and ambivalent application of urban land-use laws. As a result, there is little reliable evidence on the impact on food and nutrition security indicators. It is also uncertain as to the characteristics of households practicing urban agriculture. This study was meant to provide a solid evidence base for policy makers and practitioners on the impact of urban agriculture on food and nutrition security, using a case study of Zimbabwe.
Methodology
Data collection was done using an android–based structured household tool. Data was collected from 13 421 households from poverty-stricken areas (i.e., medium-density, high density, and peri-urban) were drawn using the Probability Proportional to Population Size (PPS) method. Primary data collection took place from 25 January to 10 February 2023. The primary outcome used to determine sample size was food insecurity prevalence and sample size was such that this could be reported at domain level with at least 95% confidence. The households were selected using systematic random sampling within the sampled domains which had been divided into enumeration areas (EAs).
Data analysis
Chi-square analysis was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between households practicing urban agriculture and those not practicing urban agriculture with regards to gender, marital status, religion, education of household head. Mann Whitney U test was used to compare medians across non normal data. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the household characteristics and outcomes associated with practicing urban agriculture.
Results
A total of 13,384 households were sampled and of these, 99.5% (13,321) accepted to be interviewed and 0.3% (37) refused. At least 22.2% of the sampled urban households reported they were engaging in urban agriculture. There was a significant difference in proportions of households practicing urban agriculture versus non practicing across provinces (Χ2 =870.897; df=9; p=0.000), marital status (Χ2 =40.9; df=5; p=0.000), employment status (Χ2 =23.850; df=3; p=0.000), educational level (Χ2 =54.215; df=7; p=0.000), and religion of household head (Χ2 =54.636; df=10; p=0.000). However, there was no difference in proportions of households practicing and not practicing urban agriculture by gender of household head (Χ2 =0.660; df=1; p=0.417).
The most practiced form of urban agriculture was crop/horticulture production (20.2%), followed by mixed agriculture (crop/horticulture and livestock production) (1.3%) and then livestock production (0.5%). The most grown crop by the households was maize (47.3%) followed by leafy vegetables (28.8%). Yams (0.3%) were the least commonly grown crop. The results also show the diversity of crops grown by urban households, i.e., cereal grain, tubers, leafy vegetables, and bulbs were the common food groups cultivated.
Determinants of practicing urban agriculture
Households that are more likely to practice urban agriculture had the following characteristics: high income earning households, household head chronically ill, and household size. Increasing the age of household head by one year increased the likelihood of the households practicing urban agriculture by 0.5% at the 1% level of significance, all things being constant. Similarly, a 1% increase in household income was associated with a 0.5% probability of the household practicing urban agriculture at the 1% level of significance. More so, at the 1% level of significance, households with a chronically ill head had a 3.3% probability of practicing urban agriculture while large sized households had a 1.5% likelihood of engaging in urban agriculture as compared to smaller size households, ceteris paribus. In addition, practicing urban agriculture was associated with a decrease in consumption or livelihoods coping and with an increase in the household dietary diversity score and an increase in consumption of vitamin A rich foods at the 1% level of significance all things being equal. The main barrier highlighted was lack of access to land (71.7%) followed by lack of interest (7.5%). On the positive side, city or council by-laws were not a barrier to urban agriculture as only 2.6% of the sampled household indicated city or council by-law being an impediment.
Discussion
Our study revealed that urban agriculture contributed to better diet quality outcomes and was associated with a decrease in consumption and livelihoods coping strategies as compared to non-practicing households, meaning that practicing households were more food secure. Unlike other findings in literature that urban agriculture is practiced by low-income households, our study revealed all things being equal, higher income was associated with higher probability of practising urban agriculture. High income earning households are likely to have larger pieces of land to practice urban agriculture in their backyards. Unfortunately, many of the people who could benefit from urban agriculture live in dense and overcrowded settlements, where they do not have the land on which to grow food.
Conclusion and Policy Implication
This study sort to provide a solid evidence base for policy makers and practitioners on the impact of urban agriculture on food and nutrition security, using a case study of Zimbabwe. The results showed that urban agriculture contributes to better food and nutrition outcomes, which include decrease in consumption and livelihoods coping strategies, increased household dietary diversity, and increased in consumption of vitamin A rich foods. Lack of access to land was the main barrier impeding urban agriculture and there is need for governments to deliberately set aside land in the periphery of urban areas to promote urban agriculture. More so, policies to guide and support urban agriculture must be implemented in the context of a food systems approach alongside measures to avoid land degradation whilst upholding public health.
