African urban harvest: agriculture in the cities of Cameroon, Kenya and Uganda

How much does urban agriculture help feed and support the billions of people living in the world’s towns and cities? How could it do this better? Crop cultivation and livestock- raising have long histories in urban Africa, as in other areas of the world, but broad awareness among researchers and policy makers of either the history or the contemporary facts of life in African urban development is much more recent. With a majority of the continent’s population expected to be classified as urban in about 20 years, and its urban population spending as much as 80 percent of their household budgets on food, this book seeks to answer the two timely questions above with practical proposals for technical interventions and policy support. Based on evidence from studies conductedin Eastern and Central Africa, it draws out implications for practice, policy, and further research throughout the developing world. The need to emphasize both technology and policy support for urban agriculture is a consequence of two other histories, of agricultural research on the one hand, and of urban institutions and policy in Africa on the other. With limited exceptions, urban agriculture has until recently been marginalized, ignored or proscribed in thesehistories. Featuring research undertaken in several cities in Cameroon, Kenya, and Uganda, the authors present an in-depth analysis of urban agriculture, livelihoods and markets; urban ecosystem health; and the kinds of policy and institutional change related to urban agriculture that have been achieved in thethree countries through the partnership platforms and stakeholder dialogue established in the participating cities. The book will be useful to the aid community, consultants to, and governments of developing nations, non-governmentalorganizations involved in development and academic programs and students." Addresses marginalized topic of urban agriculture within the histories of agricultural research and urban institutions and policy Presents original research from Cameroon, Uganda and Kenya Offers ideas on the future of urban agriculturein light of potential institutional change Co-published with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) INDICE: The institutional and regional context.- Urban agriculture in Africa: what has been learned?- Urban farming systems in Yaoundé – building a mosaic.- Crop-livestock integration in the urban farming systems of Yaoundé.- Institutional development of urban agriculture – an ongoing history of Yaoundé.- Changing trends in urban agriculture in Kampala.- Can schools be agents of urban agriculture extension and seed production?- Identifying market opportunitiesfor urban and peri-urban farmers in Kampala.- Health impact assessment of urban agriculture in Kampala.- Recycling nutrients from organic wastes in Kenya’scapital city.- Crop-livestock-waste interactions in Nakuru’s urban agriculture.- Benefits and selected health risks of urban dairy production in Nakuru, Kenya.- Urban agroforestry products in Kisumu, Kenya: a rapid market assessment.- IDRC and its partners in sub-Saharan Africa 2000-2008.- The contribution of research –development partnerships to building urban agriculture policy.

• ISBN: 978-1-4419-6249-2
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 300
• Fecha Publicación: 29/09/2010
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés