Gardening to reduce hazard: urban agriculture in Tanzania

Abstract

Urban agriculture is an illegal activity in most African towns and cities, as it is seen to be competing with other, higher value, urban land uses. Despite this, food production occurs throughout the African urban environment and is crucial to the urban economy; providing employment, food security and investment opportunity for a large proportion of the urban population. Urban agriculture also adds value to urban land, bringing unused land into production, reversing degradation and improving the urban landscape. In the context of a rapidly expanding urban population, food production in Dar es Salaam is playing a crucial role in sustaining the city, employing 210 000 people. Urban agriculture also has an important role to play in providing a viable land use in the hazard lands of Dar es Salaam, as an alternative to squatter housing which exposes the inhabitants to a substantial risk from¯ooding. This paper looks at the role that urban agriculture plays in Dar es Salaam and identi®es the major actors.

An obsolete dichotomy? Rethinking the rural-urban interface in terms of food security and production in the global south

“…Food production systems can also recycle urban plant waste into mulch, which further decomposes and creates organic matter in the soil; for example, urban food producers in Belem, Brazil use waste from a local tree as a form of fertiliser (Madaleno 2000). Finally, food production can also capture water in flood‐prone areas, reducing hazard events as shown in the example of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Howorth et al . 2001).…”

Nitrogen and carbon losses from dung storage in urban gardens of Niamey, Niger

“…Recent studies have shown that UPA supplies 10-90% of fresh vegetables, up to 70% of meat and up to 100% of eggs on city markets (Maxwell 1995;Madaleno 2000;Cofie et al 2003;Drechsel et al 2005). The proportion of urban households involved in UPA varies from 10 to 57% (Ellis and Sumberg 1998;Howorth et al 2001;Asomani-Boateng 2002;Cofie et al 2003) and so does production intensity and resource use efficiency. Sometimes, high levels of inputs used in the vicinity of human settlements have been reported to cause serious problems to human health and the environment (Ezedinma and Chukuezi 1999;Howorth et al 2001;Asomani-Boateng 2002;Matagi 2002;Binns et al 2003;Bryld 2003;Cofie et al 2003;Drechsel et al 2005).…”

Can farmers extend their cultivation areas in urban agriculture? A contribution from agronomic analysis of market gardening systems around Mahajanga (Madagascar)

“…At the present time, we can notice that urban agriculture in Mahajanga is not considered as illegal, as it was the case in other countries like Tanzania (Howorth et al, 2001), but it is totally ignored by local authorities, as it was non-existent in spatial and human occupation. With the increasing interest for this type of agriculture (Cissé et al, 2005;Van Veenhuizen, 2006), and especially for vegetable production (Kahane et al, 2005), this attitude could well change in the years to come.…”