Does urban agriculture help prevent malnutrition? Evidence from Kampala

Maxwell, Daniel; Levin, Carol; Csete, Joanne

doi:10.1016/s0306-9192(98)00047-5

Cited by 118 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In their study of malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in Kampala, Uganda, Maxwell et al (1998) found that-after controlling for potentially confounding variables-the frequencies of occurrence of underweight and stunted children were significantly lower in families that were involved in urban agriculture (P<0.05, Chi-squared test); but no significant difference in wasting (abnormally low weight for height) was observed. In accordance with the WHO standards, a child was considered to be stunted, underweight, or wasted if her/his Z score on the Normal distribution was <−2 for the ratio of height to age, weight to age, or weight to height, respectively.…”

Section: Poverty and Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 97%

“…Moreover, while a useful first step, the study of Maxwell et al (1998) simply tests relationships between urban farming families and indicators of malnutrition, but does not quantify the significance or relevance of the different pathways through which the practice can improve health. Are most of the benefits reaped simply through the direct access to nutritious food, or are increased cash income (and thus ability to purchase food and health care) and liberation of mothers from external employment (and thus time and resources to devote to childcare) also significant factors?…”

Section: Poverty and Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Are most of the benefits reaped simply through the direct access to nutritious food, or are increased cash income (and thus ability to purchase food and health care) and liberation of mothers from external employment (and thus time and resources to devote to childcare) also significant factors? (Maxwell et al 1998;UNICEF 1990). In short, a far better understanding of urban agriculture's contribution to assuaging malnutrition is sorely needed, particularly in the context of the broader debate on urban agriculture and population health, which includes negative health consequences such as fecal-borne disease, malaria, and chemical contamination of produce (as we shall see in the section on Asia).…”

Section: Poverty and Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Give peas a chance? Urban agriculture in developing countries. A review

Hamilton

Burry

Mok

et al. 2013

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

156

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

International audienceUrban agriculture is receiving increasing attention throughout the developing world, but debate rages as to whether it is a blessing or a curse. Some see it as savior for the poor, providing food, and livelihoods, yet to others it is responsible for harboring and vectoring pathogenic diseases and is an archaic practice that has no place along the path toward development. Consequently, the activity receives a mixed reception, and despite much support in many instances, it certainly does not enjoy universal unimpeded progress. Here, we undertake a global tour of urban agriculture throughout the developing world in an attempt to elucidate the various benefits, costs, and hindrances associated with the practice. Through this analysis we identify the need for better understanding of the following six aspects if urban agriculture is to make a meaningful contribution to food security and sustenance of livelihoods in the future: (1) the global and regional extent of urban agriculture; (2) the contribution of urban agriculture to communicable diseases, especially malaria but also diarrheal disease; (3) the role that urban agriculture does and/or could play in abating both malnutrition and obesity; (4) the impacts of urban agriculture on women; (5) appropriate methods of achieving governance and institutional support; and (6) the risks posed by chemical pollutants, particularly as Africa becomes increasingly industrialized. Overlaying these, we suggest that the time is ripe to extend the debate about urban agriculture’s positive and negative environmental impacts—especially in relation to carbon emissions—from primarily a developed world concern to the developing world, particularly since it is the developing world where population growth and consequent resource use is increasing most rapidly

show abstract

Section: Poverty and Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Poverty and Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Poverty and Urban Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Give peas a chance? Urban agriculture in developing countries. A review

Hamilton

Burry

Mok

et al. 2013

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

156

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Socioeconomic status was calculated as a continuous cumulative variable using the following factors; employment status of respondent, number of household members engaged in income generation, ownership and type of housing, land and a range of consumer durable assets [7,14,15]. This was done by attributing a score of "1" to each of the above factors reported in the household and a total sum of the scores was calculated for individual households [7].…”

Section: Socioeconomic Status (Ses)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional status of children (6-59 months) among HIV-positive mothers/caregivers living in an urban setting of Uganda.

Bukusuba¹,

Kikafunda²,

Rg³

2009

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Few studies have attempted to establish the burden of childhood malnutrition and the associated factors among households of HIV-positive mothers/caregivers particularly in urban settings. There is also no satisfactory evidence of health and nutritional benefits of food aid in this particular group where options to attain a balanced diet are generally minimal. A cross-sectional survey was therefore organized to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and establish the contributory factors that would be vital in design of interventions. The target group was children under five years of age (6-59 months) of HIV-positive mothers/caregivers residing in an urban setting of Uganda. Interviews were conducted with a random sample of 144 households of HIV-positive mothers/caregivers of children under the age of five years in Jinja municipality in Eastern Uganda. Nutritional status was determined on every randomly selected index child from sampled households. Epi-Info 2002 was used for calculation of z-scores and Nutrisurvey for SMART (2005) for drawing anthropometric charts. SPSS version 12 was then used for descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate analyses. For all the statistical tests, P≤0.05 was considered significant. The proportion of stunted children (23%) among study households was nearly 12 times higher, underweight (11%) more than five times higher and wasting (3.5%) about two times higher than the level expected in a healthy, well-nourished population. Malnutrition among children under five years of age in households of mothers/caregivers living with HIV/AIDS in Ugandan urban settings is therefore of public health concern. The identified causative factors include high malaria and fever episodes, high dependency ratio, low food access, low Socio-Economic Status (SES) and low education level of mother/caregiver. Interventions to address malnutrition in this vulnerable group should therefore aim at addressing the identified contributory factors. Use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and campaigns to ensure their proper use, income generating activities, and kitchen gardening are some of the targeted interventions that could contribute to alleviation of the problem. Food aid to supplement the diet contributes to daily energy requirements.

show abstract

“…UPA is roughly defined as growing food crops (such as vegetables, root and tuber crops, staple grains, and fruits) and raising domestic animals (such as poultry, cattle, swine, and goats) within and around urban areas. Various empirical studies claim that UPA has been considered a solution for improving poor living conditions in undeveloped urban and peri-urban areas of developing countries, on the grounds of its effects on improving household food and nutrition intakes (Amrullah et al, 2017;Bhatta et al, 2008;Bukusuba et al, 2007;Dossa et al, 2011;Gallaher et al, 2013a;Lynch et al, 2013;Smart et al, 2015;Zezza and Tasciotti, 2010) and the physique of a child (Maxwell, 1995;Maxwell et al, 1998), increasing or diversifying household income (Amrullah et al, 2017;Ashebir et al, 2007;Maxwell, 1995;Smart et al, 2015;Zezza and Tasciotti, 2010), providing remunerative economic activities for women (Mudimu, 1996;Maxwell, 1995), empowering women through economic independence (Gororo and Kashangura, 2016;Masvaure, 2015;Simiyu and Foeken, 2014), and accumulating social capital (Gallaher et al, 2013a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who engages in urban and peri-urban agriculture in the condensed urban slums of Bangladesh?

Yamashita¹,

Ishida²

2017

J. Dev. Agric. Econ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) have been considered solutions for improving poor living conditions in undeveloped urban and peri-urban areas of developing countries. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the factors affecting UPA decision-making, with special attention to land constraints among poor urban slum dwellers in Bangladesh. A logit regression model was applied using secondary individual household data obtained from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the predicted probabilities of engaging in UPA for each significant independent variable were estimated. In moderately populated Jessore, households that had more family members without children under five, had some savings, lived in their own house or lived there without paying rent, and had any water logging around the house 1 to 60 days per year were more likely to engage in UPA than other households. On the other hand, in densely populated Tongi, households that lived in their own house or lived there without paying rent, lived there for longer periods, had any water logging around the house less than four months per year, or could rely on neighbors through a difficult period were more likely to engage in UPA than other households. This finding suggests that constraint factors associated with engaging in UPA differ in various urban settings. Therefore, nonprofit/community organizations or local governments are required to plan carefully when promoting UPA, which is one of the coping strategies of poor urban dwellers wishing to enhance their resilience against food insecurity.

show abstract

Does urban agriculture help prevent malnutrition? Evidence from Kampala

Cited by 118 publications

References 10 publications

Give peas a chance? Urban agriculture in developing countries. A review

Give peas a chance? Urban agriculture in developing countries. A review

Nutritional status of children (6-59 months) among HIV-positive mothers/caregivers living in an urban setting of Uganda.

Who engages in urban and peri-urban agriculture in the condensed urban slums of Bangladesh?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About