Urban households' engagement in agriculture: implications for household food security in Ghana's medium sized cities

Abstract

Urban and peri-urban agriculture plays an important role in meeting the food and nutrition needs of those living in the increasingly urbanised cities in Africa. The extent and scope of the practise of urban and peri-urban agriculture differs from one city to another depending on the economic, environmental, socio-political, and contextual conditions at play. Using household data drawn from urban Techiman and Tamale in the Brong Ahafo and Northern regions of Ghana respectively, this paper descriptively analyses the contribution of households' engagement in agriculture on urban households' food security. The results show that, nearly half (43%) of urban residents are involved in the production of food either in the urban or rural areas or both, primarily for household consumption and sale of surplus produce. Households who do not engage in agriculture raise their cash incomes through engagement in informal businesses. The picture is however different for households that engage in urban and rural agriculture. For such households, income raised from agriculture (rural and urban combined) is the highest in both cities contributing nearly half (43%) and about a third (33%) of total cash incomes in Techiman and Tamale respectively. The results underscore the need to place the discussion on the contribution of urban agriculture to urban food security in the broader context of the different food production arrangements available to urban households, both in urban and rural areas.

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“…Food systems are the result of coupled human and biophysical systems that are capable of providing food security, and institutions provide a manner in which these two systems may be bridged [14]. Broadly defined as both informal and formal entities that are created by humans in order to allocate power through sets of permissions and requirements [15], institutions play a critical role in the attainment of food security as a result of their influence in ensuring or undermining the availability of food by producers and the accessibility of food to consumers.…”

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