Urban Agriculture Magazine no. 15 - Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture

Ursala Lang

MAGAZINE NUMBER 15, DECEMBER 2005

www.ruaf.org

URBAN AGRICULTURE

Foodspace in the city

Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture Growing cities that are expanding their borders and absorbing rural areas have to cope with the diversity of needs of their citizens. Increasingly, municipal authorities are becoming aware of the relation between agriculture in and immediately around cities and many urban issues.

I

t is realised that open green spaces in the city combine a substantial contribution to the daily supply of fresh perishable food with a healthy urban living environment that provides opportunities for citizens’ livelihoods, leisure and sports and a connection to the rural and natural.

Editorial

_________________ Leo van den Berg ALTERRA René van Veenhuizen ETC Foundation

Municipal authorities all over the world have come to understand the role urban and periurban farmers can play in maintaining green zones in the city, keeping areas that are less suitable for building free from construction, managing parks and periurban landscapes that hold important natural resources, etc. Likewise, innovative farmers in and around cities are increasingly aware of the needs of the urban population and have started to come up with creative responses to the city dwellers’ demands, by offering fresh food, employment, training, recreational services, educational (school milk/meals, environmental education) and health services (on-farm care and remedial

activities for people with psychological or physical problems), or nursery facilities that grow ornamental plants and tree seedlings for urban home gardens, streets and parks.

In the past, the multiple functions of urban and periurban farming were undervalued as more and more emphasis was placed on “specialisation”. Farmers were encouraged to develop their farms into agro-industries, while parks were created with public money to take care of the need for fresh air and recreation. These functions were separated. But would it not be cheaper and more environmentally sound to combine such functions?

URBAN PRESSURE All urban open space, be it agricultural, woodland, natural or recreational, is always under pressure from potential developers. The article on Lagos shows the negative impact of this on the food security of many low-income urban residents.

There will always be people who consider this “empty” land as a waste of precious urban space and as an opportunity to make money by building apartments, office space or whatever else on it. It would help to successfully resist such pressure if this green open space could fulfil more than just one function and therefore have more

Among the various types of green urban space, agricultural production areas tend to stand relatively weak. In most cases agriculture is no part of the urban development plan. Furthermore, in their survival strategy of efficient production, many urban and periurban farmers have not paid much attention to the appearance and accessibility of their land to urban residents. One can imagine that for parks, sports fields and cemeteries the situation is a bit better. Farmers may have put up little shacks for storing their tools or supplies, or for their animals, which are not nice for urban residents to look at. Or they may have put up barriers where these residents would like to stroll while enjoying the green space and fresh air. As is argued in the article by Van den Berg et al. on page 7, if they are to stand a chance against urban developers, urban and periurban farmers will have to at least get the urban residential neighbours on their side.

TAKING CARE OF EXTERNALITIES OF URBAN FARMING The dilemma for urban farmers, of whether to focus on production or to take care of the side-effects of what they are doing, is well discussed in the article by Fleury et al after this editorial: farmers should be aware of the “externalities” of their work and “internalise” these in the exploitation of their land. The positive externalities can provide them with additional income, while the negative ones involve costs (e.g. to remove an environmental nuisance). To them, the “multifunctionality” of agriculture involves “setting in motion positive externalities thanks to the enrichment of their significance”. In reality one often sees these positive externalities of urban agriculture being grabbed by non-farmers, especially by the owners of houses facing farmland, while the farmers are blamed excessively for any negative externality of their work.

Several examples (Dakar, Ottawa Mexico, and the Netherlands in this magazine) show that the parties concerned can work towards a fairer sharing of the many different costs and benefits of this

Leo van den Berg

than just one category of serious protectors. Actually, the articles by Lang and Viljoen et al. both show that even considering the huge land prices, one could calculate the costs and benefits in such a way that agriculture becomes economically viable and could reduce public spending on transport.

Flowers in Hanoi

“multifunctional” urban and periurban agriculture.

FLOOD CONTROL Urban developers are always under temptation to build in the floodplains of local rivers. Sometimes they try and compensate this by efficient drainage systems, which incidentally just shift (“externalise”) the flooding problem to some downstream areas. But in most cases the cities themselves have to face the problem of lack of space for the temporary storage and seepage of rainwater. Urban parks and woods would do the job, but most trees don’t like floodplains while clever farmers know what to grow when to benefit rather than suffer from the seasonal flooding. This function is mentioned in the articles on Hanoi, and on Setif in Algeria where prevailing practices in some of the wadis (temporary river beds under arid climatic conditions) could easily develop into a sustainable system of market-gardening with natural meadows for animal husbandry.

CULTURAL HERITAGE When cities grow they absorb villages, which have unique architectural features, including temples and mansions. There is a lot to gain, as the articles on Benin and Vietnam show, if some characteristic elements of these villages are preserved for future generations. History has proved that historic buildings tend to become very popular for the well-to-do to live or work in, but also that it is important to let them be seen by keeping some surrounding land open.

MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS AND ALLIANCES Urban farmers depend on the institutional

2

or private owners of the land: local (village or ward) governments, etc. Keeping some farmland open could fit very well in the strategy of maintaining property values next to these green spaces and of not having to maintain public parks themselves in areas that are relatively difficult to build on, including areas that are liable to seasonal flooding.

So it could be in the interest of such urban land owners to let farmers take care of such land and to just help them a bit in providing an “amenity” function for the urban residents. Or a joint venture can be created between local governments and agricultural producers to develop agrorecreational parks. That there is scope for such alliances is shown in the articles on Dakar by Fleury et al., on Hanoi and Nanjing and on Beijing. The Urban Agriculture Network – Northern Ghana (URBANET-N/G) grew from a advocacy institute to a formal coalition of farmer associations, NGOs and government agencies including research and training institutions, in Tamala, Ghana. The article

by Floquet on Benin shows that farmers, including those with livestock, can be entrusted with the maintenance of urban green spaces along roads and on the grounds of royal palaces and that a lot of money can be saved in the process. But they also warn that the forces to turn urban grassland or vegetable fields into buildings or tarmac remain strong.

Apart from these local land managers (and the metropolitan urban planners in the background!) there are above all consumers to seek alliances with. Urban agricultural produce can have a bad reputation as it may well be affected by urban pollution: heavy metal deposition

UA-Magazine

In this issue along the roads, in urban waste used for soil improvement and untreated effluents from urban industries and households in local streams which are used for irrigation.

This is why local consumers like to know where their daily fresh vegetables come from. Short lines between urban farmers and urban consumers are not only a mechanism for quality control and the safe use of agricultural inputs but also for solidarity and mutual understanding. This is of concern in the experience in Bucharest as well, where in the development process a shift in attention from food security to food safety sees an increase in demand for organic products.

The safe absorption of urban (organic) waste is another important function of agriculture in or near the cities. Also this function cannot be performed satisfactorily by the farmers themselves.

They need the support of urban waste collectors and processors. Ali et al. write that the city of Hanoi produces far less organic waste than its horticultural producers could use. But only a very small part of this urban waste reaches the farmers, and often without a safety guarantee. Actually, when one looks carefully into this urban organic waste cycle it becomes clear that small-scale animal husbandry is widespread within Hanoi and responsible for an important part of the organic waste. Such waste is taken directly to fishponds, which can be considered as a successful example of “urban aquaculture” by combining protein production with waste recycling and maintaining urban open spaces (see also UAM no.14).

SOCIAL ACTION FOR A PRODUCTIVE URBAN LANDSCAPE The article by Smith et al. shows that in Durban the function of putting municipal fallow land into some productive use can be combined very well with community development by encouraging community groups to apply for governmentsupported improved horticultural projects.

This resembles the successful allotment gardening projects in many European countries during the 1920s and 30s. At that time they were developed at the urban fringes; most of them are still there, but they are now valuable green spaces located well within the city limits. To some extent this can just be a way of growing part of the household food requirements, but it could also develop into professional market gardening or into mainly or purely

December 2005

an urban leisure activity (see the article by Pouw and Wilbers on the Netherlands).

What works for public land can also be applied to private vacant land, which is shown in the article by Holmer and Drescher on Cagayan de Oro, in the Philippines. A survey two years after the inception of allotments proved that these gardens are very successful in terms of food security and diet improvement for the urban poor, but also in strengthening community values and even urban waste recycling. The social action element can be very promising as several articles show. It gives low-income urban residents a chance to legalise and develop some agricultural practices they have been involved in for a long time. Or it enables them to participate in demonstration gardens. According to Casale the demonstration gardens set up in neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires “are becoming symbols of vitality and growth in neighbourhoods traditionally known for chronic crime and poverty”.

04

“Community Supported Agriculture” is yet another way of combining food security and/or income opportunities for all kinds of urban residents. The article on Hawaii gives a very interesting example of one such farm established for the benefit of “high-risk urban youth”, who spend 10 months on the farm learning leadership skills and the mechanics of running a business.

30

07 09 11

14 16 19

21 23 25 26 28

32

34

37 39

Focusing primarily on London (and the UK in general), Viljoen and Bohn make the point that by combining urban development planning with proper designing of a “productive green grid” tens of thousands of people could be fed from local agricultural produce and have a nice landscape at the same time. The articles on Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Rosario (Argentina) describe experiences on participative urban design. In Colombo this goes under the very illustrative title of “Urban Agriculture as a Method of Urban Upgrading”. The people of Colombo use whatever space available for agricultural production. This background was used to incorporate urban agriculture in a big slum improvement project in the city.

Residents were assisted in continuing and improving their agricultural practice. This could take place on land that was unsuitable for building, either because is was under a power line or because it was too near a major canal.

3

40

42

Multifunctionality and Sustainability of Urban Agriculture Scenario’s for Periurban Horticulture in Hanoi and Nanjing Multiple Functions of Agriculture in Bohicon and Abomey, Benin Promoting the Multifunctionality of Urban and Periurban Agriculture in Hanoi Multifunctional Agrotourism in Beijing Urban Farming in the South Durban Basin Building Food-Secure Neighbourhoods: The role of allotment gardens Urban Agriculture as a Mechanism for Urban Upgrading Building Food Secure Neighbourhoods In Rosario Demonstration Gardens in Almirante Brown, Argentina Urban Agriculture in the Gaza Strip, Palestine Multifunctionality of Periurban Open Spaces in Setif, Algeria Bringing Soul Back to Wai’anae: the Mala ‘Ai ’Opio Farm Urban Agriculture in the Netherlands: Multifunctionality as an organisational strategy Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: Urban agriculture as an essential infrastructure FoodSpace: Food production in the city Farmer Response to Urban Pressures on Land, the Tamale experience Multifunctional Land Use in a Small Urban Agricultural Community in Lagos From Food Security to Food Safety: urban development in Bucharest

IN SUMMARY Agriculture within cities has different functions. A major function is food supply, but the sustainability of urban agriculture is related to this multifunctionality. This means that urban agriculture should adapt and develop with the city according to wishes of stakeholders who represent these diverse other functions. Therefore, new forms of governance, institutions, and policies are needed, to be constructed by seeking synergies and involving multiple stakeholders in these processes.

Multifunctionality and Sustainability of Urban Agriculture

M

aintaining agriculture in the city in this respect seems unjustified as its capacity to cover local supplies has not evolved. An example is Dakar, where over several decades the urbanisation of the Niayes has mobilised other Niayes for the provision of supplies to the city.

However, other spatial processes need to be considered, as soon as other modes for the assessment of the agricultural use of land prevail because of proximity (like cultural and recreational values). In general, these processes concern all urban open spaces: natural (ecosystems), economic (agro systems) or urban (public green spaces), each of them having its own logic. Considering these new values of urbanity, there is a need to maintain these spaces in line with their new identity of collective property and thus protect them against urbanisation. This is especially so, since the expansion of the city on the natural or agricultural spaces generally prompts their disorganisation, not only at the system level, but also at the level of farming societies: abandonment of community social structures, substitution of a land entitlement based on cadastral registration and individual appropriation.

To keep farming inside or near the urban fabric, a new spatial organisation is required.

✉

_________________ André Fleury ENSP, Versailles, France a.fleury@versailles.ecole-paysage.fr Awa Ba INAPG, Paris, France awa.ba@laposte.net

✉

Awa BA

Growing cities spontaneously tend to engulf unoccupied urban spaces, i.e. all the nonconstructed areas whose presence seems unjustified. Cultivated areas are relocated towards the periphery. This is the spatial expression of the economic logic of ground rent which, in the long term, achieves a balance between economic productivity and land value.

Market flower gardening improves the looks of the Camberene Road

EXTERNALITY, MULTIFUNCTIONALITY, DIVERSIFICATION AND PLURIACTIVITY Based on C. Laurent (1999) and A. Mollard (2002), externality is defined as transformations of the physical or social environment, caused by the farming activity beyond the limits of its productive system, which can be direct (such as water pollution and soil drifting); indirect (environmental shape or contribution to development); or territorial (in line with the concept of public property). The farmer can give these impacts a value by internalising them in the exploitation of the farm; it is positive if it brings an added value, or negative when investment or tax payment are necessary (e.g. to compensate for an environmental nuisance).

Multifunctionality, then, represents positive externalities as a result of the enrichment of their significance in a certain context. This is first described in terms of space: when decision makers and modern urban planners start to realise the importance of open spaces inside the cities in creating a sustainable urban environment. Multifunctionality also relates to all the activities of the production chain: site and land development, orchards, processing, etc., even the know-how involved.

4

Multifunctionality takes on a particular meaning related to (urban) agriculture that points to diversification and pluriactivity, a variety of activities with specific know-how that often make up the farming family’s livelihood.

Pluriactivity improves the economic returns of production factors, like labour.

Yet, it is still subject to a debate insofar as most of the forms developed by urban and periurban farmers come up against already-organised professions (Laurent, 2002).

Urban cultivated space serves the needs of both the agricultural and urban populations, each of them still having their own value system. It becomes common property, raising the issue of sustainability. Innovative urban and periurban producers therefore pay heed to emergent city markets: new agricultural (nursery, pet breeding), recreational, cultural and health activities.

There are two different socio-economic scales to consider here: the farm itself and its relation to the neighbourhood, and the landscape properties of the cultivated space, which has several functions. The term landscape can be used in the strict sense to mean spatial organisation, as in landscape ecology; in a more emotional way to mean a pleasant

UA-Magazine

The periurban context is more complex, if analysed from the angle of rural development of cultivated spaces. The multifunctionality of (urban) agriculture is that it produces both agricultural commodities and a useful area for the city. Maintenance of the space’s properties through farming activities then justifies public interventions, like direct financial compensations (the French government reflected a few years ago on an urban handicap compensating indemnity meant to help restore the economic equilibrium of farms facing bankruptcy) or special arrangements for urban farming activities like land insurance.

DIVERSIFICATION AND SUSTAINABILITY It is necessary to distinguish between the sustainability of agricultural space and of the farm itself. The evolution of a system of activities can go from a unifunctional state through a multifunctional state to a new unifunctional state. This was demonstrated in France for instance when vegetable producers focused on wholesale marketing rather than

December 2005

Kanata

Autoroute 417 Orleans

City of Ottawa

Stittsville

Soucre: http://www.ottawa.ca

ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF MULTIFUNCTIONALITY International agreements (Agricultural Accord of Marrakech) have recognised that certain important issues have no commercial character, like the security of supplies at country level or food security.

Other values, like landscape, are still sometimes seen as an “excessive” protection of agriculture in the context of globalisation. But European countries are very keen on multifunctionality, because they see it as a way to preserve the countryside and rural landscapes. The perception of multifunctionality has further improved through the recognition that multifunctionality programmes promote rural development in the countries of the South (Akesbi, 2002).

N

space to visit, like the countryside; or it can even have a more aesthetic and artistic connotation. The value of the landscape is thus socially determined and needs to be discussed among actors.

French urban farmers, for instance, have always refused to be seen as landscape gardeners, but they welcome the opportunity to engage in a dialogue on their roles in the city with city-dwellers.

Autoroute 416

Nepean Sud Riverside Sud

Green belt Urban Centre

Map of the Ottawa’s green belt

production, and horticultural producers specialising in nursery or ornamental plants turned to landscape engineering.

The effect of such evolutions is that anchorage to the ground is jeopardized: the enterprise remains economically sustainable, but it is no longer dependant on land.

the green and aquatic areas, the historical park of Camberene and the area comprising the landscape component of large development projects. In this respect, it represents the Dakar link to PACN (1) aimed at the restraint of urban pressure and the preservation of the living environment (ENDA, 2004).

Some public policies of social transformation in certain South-East Asian countries have been deliberately aimed at changing farmers into citydwellers (by taking their land) to meet the need for a larger workforce caused by their rapid economic development.

Urban agriculture then plays an initial role in helping the family adapt to life in the city, but it is not in essence sustainable (neither economically nor in the minds of the farmers themselves).

Despite this green vision, agriculture is still seen only in terms of economic activity. Its territory could be protected through zoning, but PDAS (2), which is a tool for the management of PASDUNE, also provides for the development and promotion of alternative local markets (to reduce producers’ dependency on Dakar markets), a better management of water resources (improved irrigated production by avoiding salinisation) and the reinforcement of cattle paths. The multifunctionality of the area is not (yet) being considered. The efforts deployed

by PDAS (2004) are centred on the environmental aspect, considered to be the unique space made available for the relaxation of city-dwellers and the improvement of their living conditions.

These issues should be addressed in the planning and regulation of protected farming areas. Maintenance of green spaces in the new urban fabrics is the lifeline of the new urban regions. This was expressed by a farmer and local elected representative of Dakar who said: “Our cultivated areas represent your breathing spaces”.

THREE CASES The Programme of Development for the Protection and Urban Development of the Niayes and Green Areas of Dakar (PASDUNE) represents a green vision attached to the Urban Master Plan of Dakar for 2025, in which environmental spaces are considered as such (conservation) and in relation to urban development. These spaces concern all

5

Ottawa, the federal capital of Canada, presents a remarkable example of a green belt that is part of a political project. At first, it represented a “simple” green urbanisation development, where urban growth was channelled to new cities located beyond the green belt, which was legally protected through procurement of all the land (20,000 ha) by the federal government. The project later remarkably shifted emphasis towards multifunctionality of the open spaces, and it is expected from the

Awa BA

Fishing, arboriculture and market gardening begin to be recognized as a valuable landscape by urban dwellers: Great Niaye of Pikine

natural and agricultural systems developed on these spaces that beyond their own production function: they improve the image of the federal capital by highlighting the main landscape of Canada; to this end, forests and environmental (mainly aquatic) spaces have been created, with 5,000 ha devoted to agriculture; they accent the fundamental role of agriculture and forest in the history and future of Canada: a museum of agriculture coexists there with the Agronomic Research Institute Agriculture Canada; and they constitute green space offered as a place of relaxation for residents.

Agriculture is a strictly private activity, but the affirmation of the space’s multifunctionality is clear, and under urbanisation it has become a component of the urban territory of the capital city.

Swamps normally do not allow any human activity due to the risk of waterborne parasites. Even with spontaneous urban agricultural development, the citydwellers in Yaounde, Cameroon, did not appropriate these spaces: swamp agriculture and its actors are shunned by city residents (Laurent Parrot, pers comm.) and in many places the swamps are doomed to disappear like in Antananarivo (Madagascar) (CORUS, 2002). However, their agronomic qualities (abundance of organic materials and water) make them potentially very useful for market gardening after hydraulic development. The marshes (or floating gardens) of Xochimilco, inside Mexico City (Mexico), are good examples; they were developed during the pre-Colombian era into an agricultural area and are still dedicated to ornamental production. With

contemporary urban growth, the marshes on the periphery of Mexico City, were facing the threat of drainage (diversion of their water sources to supply the city) and land fill in the nineties. But, their value has since been recognised, and they have, in the meantime, become an essential element of urban society: navigation back and forth to the commercial flower parcels on their wide channels has become an integral part of family and popular ceremonies. Many leisure sites on land and on the water (restaurants, pubs, etc.) have been set up. Ornamental and market gardening production is essential for their landscape: water is now supplied from wastewater processing stations.

CONCLUSION Urban agriculture seems to fit into the dynamics of multifunctionality, that is, it preserves urban open spaces through agricultural activities or projects.

Producers are generally free to choose their strategies (though they face frequent restrictions related to the nuisance their activities cause for city residents).

As soon as open spaces are appreciated inside cities, agriculture is welcome, especially because it provides green areas in the city without (high) public expenses. A contradiction may arise, if a farmer’s strategies favour shifting from farming towards business or if the difficulties of farming inside the city are insurmountable. Public policies are needed to encourage farming. In a lot of countries, both in the North and South, public authorities still do not have a clear conception of such a policy: urban agriculture is still synonymous with archaism, and farmers are often not socially accepted. New governance is needed for agro-urban territories.

Appropriate public policies will be able to ensure the means for sustainable agriculture amidst the urban context and will allow the urban population to enjoy rural amenities inside the city.

The three examples, though distant from one another in time and space, are complementary insofar as they show the importance of the multifunctionality of the spaces. The Dakar example masks the agricultural multifunctionality through zoning; but it highlights the need for

6

public investment: the cost of developing local markets is considered to be a worthwhile intervention in favour of agriculture. The economic benefits of Xochimilco wetlands are positive in terms of the use of purified water, booming agricultural activity and tourism, etc., but the social benefit is also significant as the city residents would not allow the destruction of their marsh, which has become a key component of the society.

Finally, the importance of urban planning needs to be emphasised. It is illusory to think that agriculture would maintain momentum through its economic force alone. A real urban project needs to be accepted by the population: this is the case in Ottawa and Mexico City, where the disappearance of the inter-urban agricultural space would be seen as an unacceptable alteration of the landscape.

In Dakar, the PACN project has a participatory approach: its officials are aware that a project cannot be sustainable without the support of its actors.

Notes 1) Programme of Support for the Development and Concerted and Sustainable Management of the Niayes 2) Master Plan for the Development and Protection of the Niayes and Green Areas of Dakar

References N. Akesbi, 2002. Prospects for the Mediterranean agri-food system in an international context 10ème Congrès de l’Association Européenne des Economistes Agricoles (EAAE), Saragosse, 30 August 2002.

CORUS, 2002. Analyse de la durabilité de l’agriculture péri-urbaine dans l’agglomération d’Antananarivo (Madagascar); Coordination scientifique : C. Aubry (Inra-SAD Paris), J. Rakotondraibe and J. Ramamonjisoa (Université d’Antananarivo).

ENDA, 2004. Synthèse de la première phase: Bilan et Perspectives Dalifort Sénégal Email: pacn@enda.sn C. Laurent and M-F. Mouriaux, 1999. La multifonctionnalité agricole dans le champ de la pluriactivité, Lettre 59, Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi, October 1999, Paris.

C. Laurent, 1999, Activité agricole, multifonctionnalité, pluriactivité, Rapport rédigé pour le ministère de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche dans le cadre du comité d’experts sur les contrats territoriaux d’exploitation. French Ministry of Agriculture, Paris. .

A. Mollard, 2002. Multifonctionnalité, externalités et territoires, Cahiers de la Multifonctionnalité n°1, pp 37-56. Ed. Cemagref, Paris. www.inra.fr/Internet/Directions/SED/multifonction

UA-Magazine

Scenarios for Periurban Horticulture in Hanoi and Nanjing

I

n both cities agricultural land is publicly owned. The local farmers have the right to use it, as long as this use is in line with the priorities set by the local, municipal and national leadership. But these priorities are changing: first they encouraged the shift from staple food crops to vegetables and other perishable commodities. Vegetable production bases are widespread around Nanjing and Hanoi. But presently, many of these same blocks of farm land, well equipped for intensive horticultural production, are earmarked by the urban planners as part of future Industrial or Residential Development Zones. Their often highly professional, horticultural producers are made to believe that they are wasting their time and should be happy to claim their compensation and seek urban careers. This leads to probably the most widespread secondary function of (peri) urban farmers and land managers, next to income generation by producing fresh food and flowers for their urban neighbours: TAKING CARE OF “WAITING” LAND This function may suit those farmers well, who lack the ability to make a good living from producing valuable, fresh vegetables, flowers, etc. For them, the main reason for continuing using this land is “wait and see”, while they are also try and find their way in the urban labour market. Wait and see _________________ Leo van den Berg Alterra, Wageningen-UR leo.vandenberg@wur.nl

✉

Nguyen Vinh Quang Hanoi Agricultural University nvquang75@yahoo.com),

✉

Guo Zhongxing Nanjing Agricultural University zxguo@njau.edu.cn )

✉

December 2005

Leo van den Berg

“Seeking Synergy” is fine, but it is hard to find it. This is what the ‘SEARUSYN’ (“Seeking East Asian Rural Urban Synergy”) project in Hanoi and Nanjing has experienced over the last 2 years.

Suoshi, small park in horticultural production area

how much compensation the urban developers are willing to give them.

Around Hanoi we see the farmers and their village leaders getting more and more organised to negotiate for a fair share of the profits that can be made by turning farmland into urban estates. But some of them are just very good market gardeners and find it hard to give up their profession with the land.

Around Nanjing, the local farmers are, generally speaking, less keen and capable in vegetable production than their colleagues around Hanoi. They also seem one step ahead in seeking urban careers.

Even so, some villages have specialised in horticultural products for the rapidly growing urban market. But here, the actual work is mostly done by specialists who came from other parts of the country: “immigrant farmers” who rent the well equipped plots (with irrigation and tunnelling) from the village government for periods of 3-5 years at the time. At the end of the contract the village government can either make a new tender for prospective horticultural producers, or make it available for urban development.

When we consider the multiple functions of urban agriculture this “standby” function for urbanisation will always be an important one, whether we like it or not.

While accepting that agricultural production will be “temporary” the land remains in fairly good use.

INDUSTRIAL HORTICULTURE In the light of this continuous urban

7

development pressure there is a second option: to intensify the horticultural production to such an extent that it becomes really expensive and cumbersome for urban developers to buy out the producers and clear the land. The urban developers may leave such modern and intensive vegetable or flower production areas alone for a couple of years and instead develop the land immediately surrounding such a. This we can also see happening on the outskirts of both Nanjing and Hanoi. Some groups of horticultural producers are just too sophisticated to be pushed aside like that.

They make a very good living from their horticultural enterprise, have good relations with the village government and have no reason to give up farming. These are the ones that would be better off by compensation in the form of a new piece of land to continue and improve their operations, than by cash or an urban job offer. In Hanoi, a few of the local farmers are developing in this direction, for instance with expensive flowers or special herbs, which have a price-quality ratio that makes them suitable for export through the city’s International Airport. Such producers become an economic force to reckon with. Around Nanjing, there is less hope among local producers and policy makers for successfully exporting the excellent strawberries, flowers, mushrooms, or fresh vegetable to other cities within or outside China. Despite their proximity to the market these producers are all the time facing competition from even cheaper growers in other regions of

China, but they manage and their income from horticultural production is better than that of unskilled urban workers. That is, as long as they exploit their niches and take good care of potential urban pollution of their air, soil and water.

GREEN CITIES When we confronted various planners at the district, provincial or national level with our findings about the productive capacity of periurban market gardeners we certainly met a lot of scepticism. But we also noticed that urban planners are no longer taking compact, concentric urban growth as their best option. Urban planning concepts like ‘satellite towns’ and ‘green wedges’ between ‘fingers’ of urban growth are now seriously considered in both cities. If agricultural producers next to the presently built-up areas are able to make a good living and maintain a pleasant landscape with clean air in the process, why should we, urban planners, always push them aside at all costs?.

So far, these planners have incorporated parks and recreational areas in their new urban estates. But because this goes at the expense of their building targets they tend to keep the amount of urban green space to the minimum. After we presented some inspiring examples of combining horticulture with urban ‘amenity’ from other parts of the world, this option of nearby agricultural producers providing the scenery in which urban residents could relax became quite interesting to these planners. In both cities they are willing to engage in pilot projects, whereby periurban village governments keep and support their strongest horticultural producers in exchange for two important adjustments. The first is that these producers become aware of the fact that from now on they are also performing this ‘amenity function’ for the urban residents.

This means that in the process of industrialisation of their production they should take care of the landscape aspects of their investments: greenhouses, sheds or barns can be very unattractive, but when well designed and fitted into the remaining public space the negative impact could be minimised or even turned into an asset. Wherever suitable, the producers could add value by offering some of their products – be it fresh or processed – for sale, ‘pick-your-own’ arrangements, or having an informative display of how these agricultural commodities are produced.

The second adjustment is the responsibility of the village governments and involves the recreational quality of public space. They should try and enforce that the fronts of the agricultural holdings along which urban leisure seekers move are at least pleasant to look at. Of course, the village government can get subsidies for planting trees and creating playing fields along pleasant routes for pedestrians and cyclists from the surrounding residential areas. These are just some examples of how the symbiosis of agricultural production and urban amenity could be strengthened and give the farmers an additional source of income.

SCENARIOS FOR TWO PILOT AREAS In Nanjing we selected the periurban village of Suoshi as our pilot area.

According to the urban development plans this village is likely to disappear after about 10 years, but the village government has invested in a fairly successful horticultural production base with strawberries, mushrooms, flowers and vegetables as the main crops. The village also has a pigeon and a dairy unit. Most of the horticultural production is carried out by immigrant farmers. The Nanjing-Shanghai expressway cuts through the village. The pilot area in Hanoi is Dong Du village, situated next to the Red River dyke and a brand new highway bridge across the river. At least one branch road is planned to cut through the village land which is now used for the production of rice and vegetables. Quite a number of the local farmers have specialised in the production of a variety of coriander, for which there is good export potential. According to the latest urban development plan no housing or industrial estates are foreseen for the agricultural land that remains after completion of the highway construction.

THE SCENARIOS After discussions with the various producers, residents and administrators at the village level about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) of horticulture the research team presented the results to planners at district and city level. This is when we heard that full-scale replacement of horticultural production by urban housing and infrastructure is not as unavoidable as the villagers think. It depends also on what the villagers and their local government want. But the village stakeholders are divided among

8

themselves, so the researchers developed different scenarios with them. One of the scenarios is to combine a continuation of specialised horticultural production with facilities for recreation and tourism, for both the residents of the new housing areas surrounding these villages and for tourists from elsewhere who combine their trip with buying things on the farm and in the village and with visiting other places of interest in the neighbourhood.

This scenario is then compared with other scenarios, such as full-fledged urbanisation, ‘panoramic urbanisation” (on the slopes of Suoshi surrounding the horticultural base) and purely horticultural development of a ‘green wedge’ of Greater Hanoi. After these scenario’s were discussed with the local stakeholders they were prepared for policy seminars in the two cities.

DIALOGUES BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS While assessing the scope for multiple functions of urban and periurban agriculture we discovered many times how little the various stakeholders know about each other. Each stakeholder tends to feel responsible for just one function, for which a strategy is developed on the short and on the long run. Without talking to each other, these stakeholders tend to agree that the complete replacement of the agricultural production function by the urban (residential, commercial, recreational or transport) function is the unavoidable end of the process. And very few stakeholders are seriously looking for developing sustainable new sites for the most professional and specialised horticultural producers. The main objective of our project is to make these stakeholders aware of the advantages of combining rather and replacing the various functions of periurban land. So far, it has not been possible to get them all together in one room to freely work towards a joint plan of action. But we have succeeded in conveying the viewpoints of these stakeholders to each other and let them develop and adjust their own longterm perspectives and courses of action in accordance with the freedom and limitations rendered to them by these other stakeholders. This has so far been an inspiring experience for all and promises even more for the future.

For further information, please visit www.searusyn.org

UA-Magazine

Multiple Functions of Agriculture in Bohicon and Abomey, Benin

Anne Floquet

Abomey and Bohicon are two cities in central Benin whose recent expansion has prompted their link-up in a conurbation of 180,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration is located at the junction between the NorthSouth and the East-West roads.

Buildings of historic value disappear in the bush if there is no farming around

T

he Von Thünen approach to organising the agricultural space around the cities is still a relevant heuristic model. West African cities like Dakar, Cotonou and Yaoundé are organised in halos, with intensive intraurban market gardening, periurban intensive food crops and livestock keeping while these activities become more and more extensive in more remote areas (Moustier and Temple, 2004). In the conurbation of Abomey-Bohicon the space is also organised in halos, but has a slightly different pattern (Floquet et al.

2005). The interstitial spaces located in the city centre are used for various purposes, particularly for subsistence farming and dumping of household waste. In the close periphery, semi-intensive livestock farming and food processing have created The ECOCITE programme conducts research for a shared and sustainable management of agricultural and natural spaces on the outskirts of urban centres in four medium-sized cities of Benin and Senegal.

The programme is coordinated by GRET (France) and carried out by CEBEDES, LARES and the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of Benin, ENDA, ISRA, IFAN in Senegal, and IFEAS-University of Mainz.

_________________ Anne Floquet, Roch Mongbo, Juste Nansi Programme ECOCITE, Cotonou cebedes@intnet.bj; anne_floquet@yahoo.fr

✉

December 2005

jobs, while in the far periphery, land transformations and investment in perennial crops and cattle breeding are dominant.

AGRICULTURE IN HALOS Agriculture and livestock farming are practised in the city centre and even semiintensive cattle breeding is common, and, insofar as it can be combined with housing in the same location, it facilitates surveillance of the fields and limits the cost of transport. Livestock farming concerns goats, pigs, cows, poultry, rabbits and other rodents. The lack of surface water rules out any market gardening, except at the non-constructed areas of the royal palaces of Abomey, where particularly okra is grown for the market.

In the outlying periurban areas, food processing is combined with agricultural activities that generate little marketable surplus. On these exhausted lands there is a growing demand for household refuse and urban agro-industrial waste. The city’s expansion and even faster progression of housing prompts an intensification of land transactions, which discourages medium-term investment in these lands. Food processing, as an off-soil activity, builds on the proximity of markets without suffering from these transactions. It represents the main source

9

of income for several thousands of people, mostly women; and the processing of certain commodities such as the “mustard“ of Parkia biglobosa seeds (afitin) enables a real capital gain.

In remoter areas, investments in land have intensified, either by the urban populations who buy land to prepare for a post-retirement activity or by farmers.

Forest plantations, plantations of cashew nut and palm groves, and grazing-based livestock activities are developing there.

Since the expansion of some of the livestock activities that started in urban areas is now undermined by the lack of space, the difficulty of waste management and neighbourhood conflicts, these activities have been relocated here.

Moreover, market gardening for urban markets has emerged on the banks of watercourses.

FUNCTIONS OF AGRICULTURE Currently, securing income in cash or in kind is the main function of agriculture, but its social benefits are also recognised by residents (if not by planners). In the urban centres, the functions of waste recycling and greening (bush and waste), and improvement of social cohesion (redistribution of small donations of staples during the harvest of small fields) are also appreciated. However, these

Anne Floquet

If household refuse is to be recycled on periurban fields, these bags will be a serious issue.

Even crossroads are farmed within the city

functions do not seem to been recognised nor encouraged by urban decision makers.

In addition, the tradition still prevailing in some palaces authorises farmers to “maintain the King’s house” by cultivating the palace’s vacant spaces that would otherwise be encroached by bush fallow. If these spaces were managed in a way that is more appropriate to historic monuments, by clearing the areas around buildings and walls, demarcating walkways, and planting shade trees, these historical green cities could become very attractive tourist destinations.

NETWORKS OF MICRO FOOD PROCESSING ENTERPRISES The short supply chains of processed commodities and fresh livestock products enable consumers (at least regular customers and traders) to trace the products’ origin and ensure a certain quality, while also benefiting from reduced transaction costs. The proximity of consumers and a critical mass of producers are key functions for livestock farming and the processing of periurban perishable products. But are these functions now being threatened? Since development planning of periurban areas is currently limited to the creation of housing estates, micro enterprises find it difficult to carry out their activities once they have gone beyond the level of domestic production and can no longer be performed in the family house.

Periurban areas also provide fresh products such as corn (on the cob) and various vegetables cultivated during the rainy season. Farmers try to obtain household refuse and food-processing waste from collectors or transporters capable of assuring field deliveries. These transfers could be encouraged and the final dump reserved for non-recyclable products. Household refuse contains more and more non-biodegradable plastic bags, which are used everywhere for packaging.

AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENTS IN A GREEN BELT ARE THREATENED The green belt of the conurbation is still rather diffuse. Various measures could incite or discourage investment in plantations of energy wood and woody plants likely to serve as green wrappings for products from the local food processing sector, such as fermented corn pastry.

Neither the importance of grass-fattened livestock bred to meet the huge demand for cattle at the Bohicon market which supplies the large coastal market, nor of dairy cattle bred to meet the rising local demand for dairy products has hitherto incited changes in the management of grazing land. And yet, these fallow areas and the remains of gallery forests alongside the rivers are more and more often being turned into market gardening fields and housing areas. Availability and access to grazing lands are therefore being reduced. Fulani herd keepers have little lobbying capacity to protect these spaces.

Two options are possible: either cattle breeding has to be moved far away from the city or it has to be integrated into intensive periurban mixed farming.

The ambiguity of these developments is that nobody objects to overall expansion of housing estates, since they are perceived as a precondition for land improvement (roads, water conveyance, electrification), not even those who might have an interest in further farming in these spaces. As soon as farm land is included in an allotment, the value of the land increases tremendously.

CONCLUSION Agriculture is still the main activity of 3 to 7% of the people residing in the conurbation’s urban centres and many more people practise compound farming in the city as a secondary activity. At 6 km from the city centre, it is the main activity of over 50%of the people, while the majority of women are involved in food processing. In a country where sub-employment and the lack of jobs in rural areas represent a major cause of poverty, particularly among the youth, it is important to foster consultations between actors and planners on the diverse functions of urban agriculture, which are visible but often ignored by statistics.

10

Residential allotments, as currently designed, do not provide for spaces intended for agricultural and livestock activities which might create nuisances for residents. After allotment, land prices increase and will be an unbearable cost for small enterprises, especially for spacedemanding activities. The underlying idea of city planners seems to be the dense and continuous construction of an urbanised district, including the relocation of all the farmers and breeders in the neighbouring districts (to over 10-15 km from the city centre). Such a scenario does not provide for alternative revenues for the numerous households that have diversified their livelihoods and partly rely on farming or food processing. The costs for the development and maintenance of roadsides, interstitial areas and green spaces of the palaces can be very high should this work be entrusted to wage-earners. The costs of household refuse transfer, if this includes all and not part of the refuse, as is the case currently, would also be high if it is to be transported to the remote outskirts.

The ECOCITE Programme facilitated discussions on these themes in collective planning proceedings for the mediumterm development of new districts.

Citizens and technical services involved agreed to propose the creation of secured agricultural areas provided with basic services, while reducing the nuisances caused by the storage of household refuse and animal excrement in urban areas (Commune of Bohicon, 2004; Commune of Abomey, 2004). But will these decisions be enforced if both land owners and the city council see housing as the main development path?

References Commune de Bohicon, 2004. Plan de Développement Communal 2004-2008. Rapport Principal. Document élaboré avec la facilitation du FIDESPRA. Commune d’Abomey, 2004. Plan de Développement Communal 2004-2008. Rapport Principal. Document élaboré avec la facilitation du FIDESPRA. Floquet A., Mongbo R. and Nansi J. (eds.), 2005.

Diagnostic des Territoires Abomey - Bohicon.

Rapport d’un diagnostic effectué conjointement par CEBEDES, DESAC, LARES et IFEAS dans le cadre du programme ECOCITE. Abomey-Calavi, CEBEDES. Temple L. and P. Moustier, 2004. Les fonctions et contraintes de l’agriculture périurbaine de quelques villes africaines (Yaoundé, Cotonou, Dakar). Cahiers d’études et de recherche francophones / Agricultures, volume 13, Numéro 1.

UA-Magazine

Urban and periurban agriculture with its multifunctional roles contributes in resolving many of the emerging issues of mega cities. In addition to its main function of supplying fresh food to growing cities, which itself has additional value to urban consumers, urban agriculture may give a respite to migrant agricultural labourers by engaging them in the activities they know best and rewarding them with income, especially when they cannot find other jobs in their early stage of migration.

Hubert de Bon

Promoting the Multifunctionality of Urban and Periurban Agriculture in Hanoi

Growing a gourd (Luffa sp.) over a pond behind a temple in rural Hanoi district

U

rban and periurban agriculture (UPA) functions may also include food security to urban farm families, reducing traffic jams, preserving agricultural biodiversity and scenic values, protecting the environment, safeguarding cultural values, and providing security against floods for cities in low-lying areas. This study quantifies some of these functions of UPA in Hanoi, and proposes some policy recommendations to promote safe and sustainable food production with enhanced multi-functionality. The paper is based on secondary data from the Hanoi department of agriculture, on a production survey of 260 urban and periurban farmers, a consumption survey of 800 households in 2003, as well as on a survey of 1400 traders in 2002 and 2003.

The analysis in this study is disaggregated into urban, periurban, and rural regions.

The definitions of these regions were derived from the administrative _________________ Mubarik Ali AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center, Taiwan mubarik@netra.avrdc.org.tw

✉

Hubert de Bon CIRAD, Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement, Montpellier, France hubert.de_bon@cirad.fr

✉

Paule Moustier CIRAD, Hanoi, Vietnam moustier@fpt.vn

✉

December 2005

Table 1. Distribution of land (ha) by use in 2001 Type of land

Area in ha

Agricultural land - Annual crop land - Grassland - Perennial crop land - Water surface - Mixed garden Forest land industries, roads etc.

Residential land Wasteland Total (ha)

Urban 1,748 907 0 18 774 49 24 4,216 2,922 946 9,856

Periurban 40,791 37,075 100 755 2,409 452 6,604 17,474 8,864 8,509 82,242

Percentage Total 42,539 37,982 100 773 3,183 501 6,628 21,690 11,786 9,455 92,098

Urban 4.1 2.4 0.00 2.3 24.3 9.8 0.4 19.4 24.8 10.0 10.7

Periurban 95.9 97.6 100.0 97.7 75.7 90.2 99.6 80.6 75.2 90.0 89.3

Total 46.2 (89.3) (0.2) (1.8) (7.5) (1.2) 7.2 23.6 12.8 10.3 100

Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentage of the total agricultural land in the respective year.

Source: Phuong et al. (2004).

boundaries of the city. The seven districts in the centre of Hanoi were defined as the urban region while the five districts within the boundaries of the city of Hanoi were defined as the periurban region. Districts immediately outside Hanoi were defined as the rural region.

LAND USE AND GENERAL ENVIRONMENT Hanoi, with a population of 2.8 million people, is blessed with abundant natural resources for agricultural production to meet the increasing needs of its residents.

For example, fertile agricultural land has an important place in urban planning of greater Hanoi, comprising 42,540 ha, or 46.2% of the total geographical area of the city (Table 1). Even in the five urban districts of Hanoi, where demand for the commercial, residential and

11

infrastructural use of land is quite high, about 17.7% of the land is agricultural. In addition to fertile land, the city has moderate weather, abundant water (except during dry months), and favourable irrigation and drainage systems for agricultural activities in and around the city.

In and around Hanoi, a relatively higher proportion of city land is used for agriculture compared to other cities in Asia, such as Manila (Ali and Porciuncula, 2001). The key to this success, apart from Hanoi’s impressive natural resources and productive labour force, is a strong network of public institutions that support agriculture. A total of 224 veterinary, 58 plant-protection, and 43 agricultural-extension staff were devoted to agricultural services in April 2003. A

Table 2. Total annual food production and demand of urban and periurban Hanoi in 2001 Food Items

Production (t/annum) Urban Periurban All Hanoi

Cereals Tubers/starch Pulses and beans Fruits Vegetables Pork and other red meats Poultry meat Milk, eggs, honey Aquatic food Total

Total demand (t/annum) Urban

Periurban All Hanoi

Annual gap (%) Urban Periurban All Hanoi

4050 0 12 502 3768

218267 37622 7044 33059 131825

222317 37622 7387 33561 135593

193053 9128 44422 98124 137373

200063 5966 39111 34338 118527

395462 15090 83420 128404 255670

98 100 100 99 97

-9 -531 82 4 -11

44 -149 91 74 47

785 172 482 1618 11364

37383 8179 2369 7954 483695

38148 8351 2850 9573 495055

48529 12170 18256 27992 626623

30759 6762 9678 17898 501285

78580 18506 27332 45269 1124320

98 99 97 94 98

-22 -21 76 56 4

51 55 90 79 56

Total demand was estimated by multiplying the per capita consumption with population reported. The negative gap implies surplus.

Source: Phuong et al. (2004).

large amount of seed and planting materials, chicken birds, fish and shrimp larvae and animal feeds were also distributed by the Hanoi Agricultural and Rural Development Department and its companies.

FOOD SUPPLY About 500,000 tonnes or about 44% of Hanoi’s annual food requirements are supplied by domestic production within the city (both urban and periurban). The city is in surplus in supplying tubers and starch food, while about one-half of the city’s requirements in cereals, vegetables, and pork, red and poultry meat, and onefifth of the water-food requirements are supplied by UPA (Table 2). UPA is especially important in the supply of perishable food that is consumed fresh.

In 2002, more than 70% of all leafy vegetables came from a production radius of 30 kilometres around the city.

95-100% of all lettuce comes from less than 20 kilometres away, while 73-100% of water convolvulus is harvested less than 10 kilometres from the city (Moustier et al., 2004). In the case of less perishable vegetables, such as tomato and cabbage, which can stay fresh for a few days, supply originates from periurban as well as rural production with varying shares according to the season. Many farmers harvest fruits and vegetables and bring them immediately to the wholesale markets by themselves.

Moreover, consumers may visit the nearby farms and buy the fresh harvest there.

AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY UPA is made up of a large range of

animals and plants. For instance, 99 species of cereals, vegetables and fruit trees were identified during our surveys of the field production. Among them, aromatic vegetables are widely grown in home gardens, including star gooseberry, coriander, fennel, persicaria, basil, perilla, marjoram, eryngium, etc. The diversity of the animal species is also very high including buffalos, cows, pigs, dogs, poultry (chicken, ducks, pigeon, goose) and aquatic species (fish, shrimps, crabs, shells, snails, etc.) This large diversity in UPA helps to maintain the food diversity of Hanoi residents.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT Agriculture is very often considered as a source of pollution because of its use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, as well as a source of unpleasant odours in the case of livestock and pig production. But periurban agriculture has also an important environmental function. In Vietnam, the integration of pig/poultry production with aquaculture allows an enrichment of fish ponds and serves to protect the environment by recycling the wastes (Vac Vina system).

Based on the average demand for manure in agriculture and total agricultural land, we estimated that the total demand for manure in the city amounts to over 900,000 tonnes annually. The 281,000 standard animal units in the city (Ali et al., 2004) generate about 500,000 tonnes of animal manure (assuming every standard animal generates 5 kg of dry manure daily), which meets around 57% of the potential demand of UPA in the city (1). Currently no facility is engaged in

12

decomposing over 700,000 tonnes of city waste discharged annually. UPA has the capacity to utilise a part of the urban waste if it is appropriately sorted to avoid pollution from heavy metals and a correct decomposition of the raw material.

A large percentage of farmers in and around the city face a shortage of water during the dry season. Most of these farmers in the urban areas use wastewater on vegetable production; city drainage is one of the major sources for the wastewater use in agriculture.

Currently, no water treatment facility is available in the city. But once such a facility is established, UPA can consume a significant portion of treated water, which will enhance the safety of agricultural products.

CULTURAL FUNCTIONS The traditional villages around the temples are considered to be an important heritage of Vietnam.

Agriculture takes a large place in providing traditional requirements of ornamental, citrus, or medicinal plants in these villages. The outputs from these villages (both for presentation and consumption) have a cultural function.

These villages also have a leisure value for urban dwellers.

CITY PROTECTION Periurban agriculture plays an important role in protecting the city against flooding of the Red River. Outside the dykes, the area left after the drop in water level is cultivated with maize, sweet potatoes, or vegetables on relatively large plots. Inside or outside the dykes, the

UA-Magazine

EMPLOYMENT The agricultural production in the city provides jobs to a large segment of the poor households, especially women. Based on the average farm size and total crop area of the city, 154,000 farm families (or 24% of all households in the city) are engaged just in crop production. About 9% of the skilled labour of the city and an unspecified large proportion of unskilled labour are directly engaged in agriculture (including forestry and fishery). In addition, urban agricultural activities engage a large number of labourers in food processing (e.g., cassava and meat), cooking and distribution, and input production (e.g., seedling nurseries) and supplies.

FOOD SECURITY The food supply of 28% of city farm households comes directly from agriculture. About 38% of the food consumed by farm families comes from their own commercial production, and an additional 5% comes from home gardens.

About 76% of cereals, 18% of aquatic food, and 11% of vegetables come from their own commercial production, while 21% of eggs and milk, 15% of fruits, and 12% of vegetables consumed by farm families comes from home gardens. About 10% of the fruit and vegetables, and 13% of egg and milk supplies for the city dwellers come from these gardens, suggesting the importance of local production of these foods for Hanoi’s residents.

About 6% of farmers in urban areas and 10% of farmers in rural areas have their own fish ponds. These ponds and lakes are important sources of water, food and nutrients for the poor farmers, and they enhance the food security of these households. About 40% of farmers in urban areas and 75% in periurban areas have home gardens. Women are specifically engaged in home garden activities.

SCENIC AND RECREATIONAL VALUES Parks, lakes and agricultural gardens are part of the Hanoi landscape. Despite the development of commercial sites in Hanoi, the establishment of new gardens such as

December 2005

Hubert de Bon

lowlands are cultivated with rice in hydromorphic soils. In the event of heavy flooding, water is diverted to upstream agricultural lands or to fill the ponds which are later used for irrigation.

Fishing in a pond in Hanoi rural district

Ho Tay Park and Thanh Nien Park continues. Apart from the scenic values, these parks contribute to improved health of the city residents. In addition, ornamental plant and flower cultivation is gaining importance in and around the Hanoi city, which meets the growing demand of the city but also provides exports to foreign markets (e.g., roses to China). Hanoi is famous for its tall and green trees lining roads even in the centre of the city. The city administration has given high value to these trees and kept at bay the pressure of using the land occupied by these trees for other economic purposes. The city has over 3,000 ha of land under ponds and lakes. In addition to their scenic values they attract thousands of tourists.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS Given its multifunctionality, it is legitimate for the state to support UPA, a cheap provider of public goods. The multifunctional role of UPA may be jeopardised by pressure on land and consumers’ increasing concern about the pollution it generates if market forces are left unregulated (Moustier and Danso, forthcoming). To develop sustainable UPA, environment-friendly technological and institutional innovations need to be introduced in its production and marketing operations.

Technological innovations may include: improved crop varieties and superior crops, livestock and aquaculture breeds and species, and modern crop, livestock, and aquaculture management technologies. Efforts should be put on improved efficiency of the public extension services, especially in the livestock and poultry sub-sectors. The private sector should be involved in the input supply system including extension and training. Encouraging cooperative marketing can also increase farmers’ access to certified seed and other inputs.

In the same way, the availability of improved and affordable feeds for livestock and fish through a competitive

13

private sector can also boost livestock and fish production.

The misuse of pesticides on crops, especially on vegetables, has serious health and environmental consequences.

Moreover, with increasing levels of gas and water pollution, the crop cultivation in the city is threatened with contamination problems. The demand for quality and safe food is increasing with the rising incomes and increasing tourists in the city. Therefore, farmers need to be shown how to produce safe agricultural products by using environment-friendly techniques. Training on good management practices and quality certification are key in promoting longterm UPUA development in line with consumer demand in the city.

An agro-urban development plan should be based on spatial organisation of the territories between agriculture and other urban activities. The input and output chains of the agricultural activities must be clearly specified and bottlenecks of each chain should be identified. The demand for environment protection and safe food should create incentives and rewards for those who incorporate environmental concerns in their production and consumption decisions, rather than punishing farmers for protecting their crops. Creating such an incentive structure would require the needed recognition by all city dwellers and policy planners of the environment-friendly production of UPA. Note 1) Our field survey suggests that about 10 t/ha for every crop ha is used by those farmers who have animals on their farm. Assuming the same rate for the total of 87,600 crop-ha if manure is made available on every farm, total demand for manure will be 876,000 tonnes. The total supply from existing stock of animals is 500,000 tonnes, which is 57% of the total demand.

References Ali, M. and F. Porciuncula (2001). Urban and Periurban Agriculture in Metro Manila: Resources and Opportunities for Food Production. Technical Bulletin No. 26, AVRDC, Shanhua, 45p.

Moustier P., Vagneron I., Bui Thi Thai. 2004. Organisation et efficience des marchés de legumes approvisionnant Hanoi (Vietnam). ). Cahiers Agricultures 2004 ; 13 : 142-7 Moustier, P. and Danso, G. Forthcoming. Local Economic Development and Marketing of Urban Produced Food. In Cities Farming for the Future, a RUAF book.

Phuong Anh, M.T., Ali, M., Lan A. H., and Ha, T.T.T. 2004.

Urban and Periurban Agriculture in Hanoi: Opportunities, and Constraints for Sustainable and Safe Food Production and Supplies, Technical Bulletin No. 31. AVRDC, Shanhua, 66p.

Multifunctional Agrotourism in Beijing Apart from the traditional food production function, agricultural land use has been taking other functions in Beijing. Next to the ecological function and the role of agriculture in social security and employment generation, especially for migrants, Agrotourism in Beijing has made great progress in the last two decades.

A

grotourism in Beijing emerged in the late 1980s and has been booming in recent years. By 2002, there were 2,246 agrotourism sites in Beijing that attracted 36.2 million tourists and grossed an annual income of nearly 2.3 billion Yuan (equivalent to about US$285 million), which represents 12.1 times the number of tourists and 7.1 times the amount of income reported in 1996. There are currently 285 large-scale agrotourism parks in Beijing, including fruit-picking plantations, forest parks, meadow or pasture parks, fishery parks, recreation farms, eco-agriculture holiday resorts, renting plantations, education farms, and modern agriculture demonstration gardens.

The rapid development of agrotourism in Beijing has largely been caused by two related trends: (1) With the steady rise of income and spare time, and particularly the increase of private car ownership, urban residents in Beijing and the surrounding areas began to enjoy their weekends in the periurban areas, which offer open landscapes, pretty scenery, fresh air and a simple lifestyle This in turn spurred the development of various kinds of agrotourism activities and formed a multiple land use pattern there. (2) In response to the high ecological and economic benefits of these activities and the new land use pattern, municipal and local governments offered various effective supports to agrotourism development in order to improve farmers’ income as well as the city’s environment.

_________________ Jiang Fang,Yuan Hong, Liu Shenghe, Cai Jianming Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China caijm@igsnrr.ac.cn

✉

FEATURES OF AGROTOURISM Five distinctive features of agrotourism in Beijing can be identified: (1) The majority of agrotourism sites are located in the periurban area, of which 37% are located in the inner periurban area and 63% in the outer periurban area, where the landscape is dominated by mountainous and rural features.

(2) Most sites are made up of one or two specialized plantations that are suitable for sightseeing activities. Of the total number of agrotourism parks, about 91.2% are orchards that offer sightseeing.

(3) Each site requires large-scale investments, which are made by various types of owners. Presently, the state and collectively owned enterprises account for 29%, while the privately owned enterprises account for 41%. The remaining enterprises are either joint venture or shareholdings.

(4) Most sites are still subject to strong seasonal fluctuations. Nearly half of the agrotourism parks are open for only 3 to 4 months or even less due to the characteristics of the sightseeing activity.

Some are open only for special festivals.

(5) Up to 40 % of the total income is still earned directly from agricultural products, while the income from services accounts for about 30%. The smallest source of income is tickets sales.

AGROTOURISM CLASSIFICATION Agrotourism is based on multifunctional land use. That is why it is flourishing in the periurban areas, where the various functions of the land can be easily mixed and developed. Periurban agricultural land use can be classified into four types based on the major function of the land: as a natural resource, area of production, landscape or ecological environment.

Accordingly, we can divide agrotourism in Beijing into four types based on the sites’ leading activities, i.e. sightseeing, leisure

14

and vacation, participation and experience, or exhibition and demonstration (see Figure 1).

TYPE 1: SIGHTSEEING As indicated above, this is the major type of agrotourism in Beijing so far. It utilises mainly the landscape function of the land, depending on the surrounding natural scenery, and it accommodates visitors who want to enjoy the natural landscape.

This type of activity is usually a one-day trip, and the tourists normally do not stay overnight at the sites. The sites are mostly forest parks, meadows or pasture parks. At present, there are 8 national level forest parks and 13 municipal or district level forest parks in Beijing. The total area of these forest parks amounts to 41,000 hectares. Meadow or pasture parks mainly use the meadow or pasture resources as a location for large-scale entertainment events, which attracts a large number of urban residents each year.

TYPE 2: LEISURE AND VACATION This type of agrotourism mainly utilises the ecological function of land resources, depending on the ecological environment or the rural scenery, and it provides recreation or vacation sites for urban residents. People involved in this type of activity will usually stay one or more nights at the sites. These are mostly fishery parks, recreation farms, and ecoagriculture holiday resorts. Ecoagricultural holiday resorts generally have a high construction standard and require large investments.

TYPE 3: PARTICIPATION AND EXPERIENCE This type of agrotourism mainly utilises the production function of land resources, and provides opportunities for visitors to participate in a traditional agricultural production process and experience village life as well. The length of stay for this type of activity can vary depending on the group of visitors. These sites are mostly melon- and fruit-picking plantations and education farms, which attract visitors who want to observe the cultivation process or acquire some agricultural labour skills.

UA-Magazine

TYPE 4: EXHIBITION AND DEMONSTRATION This type of agrotourism mainly depends on modern biological technology or agricultural engineering technology and demonstrates the modern agricultural production processes or technical achievements to urban residents, providing a good place for agricultural production technicians to observe, emulate, practice and exchange experience as well. The main form at present in Beijing is modern agriculture demonstration gardens. People involved in this type of activity are mainly students and flower growers from the local area, and researchers and technicians from other cities.

It should be stressed that there is no distinct boundary between the different types of agrotourism. The difference between them is certainly relative rather than absolute. In fact, each type of agrotourism could be a form of multifunctional land use itself. The distinction is based on their leading function. Moreover, with the further development of agrotourism, both the intensity and extensity of multifunctional land use will be increasingly enhanced.

Accordingly, the classification of agrotourism could be different over time.

GOVERNMENT’S SUPPORT POLICIES In order to guide and promote the development of agrotourism, the government has taken the following measures: (1) Agrotourism is an official part of planning at municipal and district level. “Beijing agrotourism development planning� was formulated and some administrative management regulations were stipulated, including application procedures, construction intendance, operation standards etc.

(2) Agrotourism projects are supported, among other ways, through funding, taxation, transportation and water and electricity supplies:. the government has set up an appropriative fund to assist important projects and encourages private investment; taxation is still as low as the taxation standard on traditional agriculture; water and electricity can be obtained at a preferential price; and the transportation department constructed some roads that make ithe agrotourism parks more accessible for urban residents..

December 2005

Shi du agriculture sightseeing area Sightseeing

An li long Eco-agriculture holiday resort Leisure & vacation

a) Landscape b) Beautiful natural scenery c) Forest park, meadow park

a) Ecological b) Good ecological environment c) Fishery park, recreation farm, ecoagriculture holiday resort

Si ji qing Cherry-picking plantation Participation & experience

Jin xiu da di demonstration garden Exhibition & demonstration

a) Production b) Traditional agricultural production c) Fruit-picking plantation, renting plantation, education farm

a) Natural resource b) Modern hi-tech c) Modern hi-tech agriculture demonstration park

Figure 1: Four different types of agrotourism in Beijing a= Main function of the land, b= Feature, c= Activities

(3) The local government supported the development of an agrotourism association. Beijing agrotourism association was established in 2004 and was initially operated by the government.

It not only publicises related policies, laws and regulations for the government, but also makes great efforts to ensure the legitimate rights of its members, works out guild regulations, holds exchange conferences, publishes training references, and maintains contact with other organisations.

(4) Information exchange and dissemination. The government introduces agrotourism to potential customers through different media, such as newspapers, news broadcasts, television and internet. In addition, the government often organises large-scale propaganda activities, including agrotourism festivals,

15

trade conferences, agricultural products exhibitions etc..

In summary, thanks to strong market demands and powerful government support, Beijing agrotourism has a very bright future. Agrotourism is a typical example of multifunctional land use, which greatly improves the efficiency of agricultural land use. Most importantly, it represents a good balance between economic development and land resources utilisation, and demonstrates the future direction of agricultural activities.

References ZHENG Jian-xiong, GUO Huan-cheng, CHEN tian. Leisure agriculture and rural tourism development. China university of mining and technology press. 2005.8.

WANG Ya-zhi, WEN Hua, HU Yan-xia, JIA Jin-song. Beijing sightseeing leisure agriculture situation and consideration.

Agriculture new technology.2004 (4): 1-4.

Research on the development of leisure industry in Beijing suburb, Beijing urban science association, 2004.11.

Urban Farming in the South Durban Basin

I

n South Africa today one can observe conscious movement towards changing the use of urban space to encourage interaction and participation.

Various organisations and bodies are exploring the relationship of land use, citizenship and entitlement. South African civil society is attempting to renegotiate historical distortions regarding land access and usage. This process is understood as“ democratisation in the participation of land governance” (Huchzermeyer, 2004).

Many South Africans are reshaping their communities in response to local needs and interests, and through this process are establishing new identities. Urban residents are breaking down a legacy of planning devised to control movement and segregate communities. Such steps are necessary for a country that previously excluded the majority of its _________________ Paris Marshall Smith1 Mohammed Junaid Yusuf2 Urmilla Bob2 Andreas de Neergaard1 adn@kvl.dk

✉

1

Department of Agricultural Sciences; Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, DK-1871 Frederiksberg, Denmark University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Westville Campus), Durban, South Africa.

2 Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus), Durban, South Africa

Paris Marshall Smith

In an economically and racially segregated city, urban agriculture (UA) can be a tool for political and social transformation that modifies the physical structures by developing meeting grounds, linking areas and eliminating buffer zones. In transforming the physical spaces, UA can change the way people identify themselves and engage with one another. These are critical elements in the discussion of sustainable livelihoods and the alleviation of poverty.

Umlazi demonstration garden

inhabitants from participation and as such full citizenship.

In the municipality of eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal, UA is a multi-functional tool that is increasingly addressing a broad range of livelihood issues. The area represents a diversity of agricultural practices within the periurban and urban confines, from Umbumbulu where organic vegetable production has become popular, to Mpumalanga where numerous community gardens play an important role in achieving food security for the least resourceful. The popularity of UA has attracted attention at all levels of government, from the local Municipal Parks Office to the Department of Agriculture. There has also been international interest and support to local CBOs and NGOs engaged in UA, particularly those extending their efforts to support households affected by HIV/AIDS. But consistently it is individuals, those reliant on UA, who remain the most determined and active in pushing UA forward. A survey conducted in 1992, which looked at the urban areas presently contained within the expanded eThekwini municipality, found that 25% of households surveyed were active in UA, 10% of whom were selling their produce (May et al, 1995).

The study concluded that while the levels vary between economic groups,

16

participation in UA is not so much a question of who does but rather of who doesn’t. UA is most common amongst middle-income earners (i.e. those with relative access to resources).

More recently research was undertaken to investigate the role of UA in three communities: Umlazi, Wentworth and Isipingo, all of which are located in the South Durban Basin (SDB), an area of mixed industrial/residential use located in the southern half of the eThekwini municipality. Described as the “economic heartland” of Durban, the SDB “is an environmental ‘hotspot’ containing areas of heavy industry and residential development located in close proximity to one another in a topographically contained region” (Roberts et al., 2002).

The SDB is home to auto manufacturers, oil refineries, paper mills, and various other forms of light and heavy industrial activity. Despite concerns about pollution, residents are deeply attached to their communities and since democratisation are increasingly vocal about the industrial threat to their lives and livelihoods. Many of the inhabitants can still nostalgically recall the rich natural history, including farming and fishing, of the area.

STUDY AREAS The three areas chosen for investigation –

UA-Magazine

UMLAZI With a population of close to 75,000, Umlazi is by far the largest of the three communities studied. Consisting of both formal and informal housing and settlements, the former township is diverse in its landscape extending broadly about 20 kilometres inland from the East Coast.

Following the international trend of food producers – 80% of respondents from Umlazi are women, mostly retired, living in heavily dependant households. The same percentage of respondents relies on government grants as their primary source of income. UA in Umlazi represents an important source of economic and nutritional benefit. But as the research revealed, UA also provides an important arena for social interaction and community building.

Since its inception in 1894, the area has been a source of discussion and dispute regarding allocation and management of land. Today land management is a complicated confusion of holdings ranging from Traditional Authority to private, municipal, provincial or national ownership. With regards to UA the diversity of titles creates a complex

December 2005

situation. Any request for tenure must first determine the appropriate owner, a process that can take several years, delaying access for the local growers.

There are currently several community projects that have been denied official status from the Parks’ Board due to the lack of clarity of land ownership. And while gardening is still likely to continue, official status is necessary for the funding and information offered by the municipality. In spite of the difficulty in acquiring secure land title, agricultural activity is prolific in Umlazi. There are persistent examples of informal UA

Paris Marshall Smith

Wentworth, Isipingo and Umlazi – represent former Coloured, Indian and African townships respectively and as a result offer distinct economic, social and political perspectives. Research in all areas was divided amongst growers on individual/backyard gardens, communal and school gardens and informal ad-hoc gardening mostly on public land.

Motivations for gardening varied significantly amongst the three areas, reflective of socio-economic access and security. In Umlazi gardening is predominantly a communal socioeconomic activity; in Isipingo individuals (mostly retired) engage in UA for a sense of personal worth and household contribution; and in Wentworth UA is used as a tool for community organising and political mobilising. But while the significant trends vary within each area, all respondents expressed common interests in nutrition, food security, household income, and community development. This article examines UA activity within the three communities giving particular focus to the findings from Umlazi.

Informal gardening along the roads

initiatives on public land, such as the visible roadside vegetable cultivation of beans, pumpkin and maize.

FUNCTIONS/BENEFITS As mentioned, the formal income levels for the majority of respondents are low, necessitating a broad range of economic activities. While UA-related activities in Umlazi contribute to reducing household vulnerability by offering a direct or indirect income source, the primary benefits of the gardens are not economic, but rather social and political.

Currently those most active in UA (women) do not have the necessary resources (time and inputs) to make their gardens economically viable. The profitable commercial gardens are being managed full time by individuals with limited constraints (primarily men).

Therefore, although the potential for economically beneficial UA exists in Umlazi, the current socio-economic distortions make such a reality inaccessible to the most vulnerable.

Within this context, UA has a diversity of functions with regards to community development. The gardens support a range of projects and interests from individual households to communal kitchens for people infected with HIV/AIDS.

17

The abundance of informal production on public land in Umlazi is indicative of the dense settlement planning and the decreased accessibility of households to open spaces compared to neighbouring Isipingo and Wentworth. With limited private landholdings and marginal public gathering spaces, the spatial allotment of UA meets an important demand.

Respondents placed socialising as one of their primary motivations for engaging in UA, above nutrition and income. In the gardens people come together to organise and build networks thereby facilitating an important link in local political development. Growers use their gardens as a spatial tool for community building, something that was previously restricted during apartheid. The gardens, communal and individual, operate on subsistence and commercial levels, with memberships consisting of of women’s groups, neighbours and community organisations.

The consequences of HIV/AIDS permeate all three communities and efforts to support those affected are extensive. Projects include a support group run out of the Prince Mshiyene Hospital in Umlazi and the distribution of food to affected households identified by local growers. In many instances, gardens are being cultivated simply to feed neighbouring households. “Nutrition is important” one woman exclaimed, “If we do not eat we will not survive”. Gardeners in all three communities recognise the real and immediate benefit of locally grown food. This sentiment was confirmed with the HIV/AIDS support group at the hospital in Umlazi whose membership has tripled in the last year.

Participating growers welcome the possibility of sidestepping lengthy bureaucratic processes of other support programmes to receive the direct consumable benefits of food from the gardens. Community response through UA alleviates a household’s inability to meet its nutritional needs whether because of a limited budget or debilitating illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. In most cases, growers (especially those gardening informally on public land) maintain good relations with their neighbours, as they understand that their existence is dependant on community support. Furthermore, growers promote the notion that their UA activities provide

a service by discouraging squatters and thieves who would potentially make use of vacant untended land. Growers often mentioned the issue of crop theft, either as a source of conflict and loss of income or as an indication that food security is eroding and people are hungry.

The support provided by Umlazi’s communal UA activities is necessary and appreciated. Similar efforts exist in Wentworth and Isipingo, where local women are using their gardens to offer safe spaces for those who are at risk: battered women and youth. The gardens are refuges for both emotional and physical healing. Entire gardens are devoted to benefiting physically disadvantaged children and orphaned children. The direct and indirect benefits associated with UA in the SDB are filling a gap not met by formal systems of assistance.

ORGANISATION AND MUNICIPAL SUPPORT Levels of organisation and representation varied amongst the three communities.

UA is often one branch of a larger network of activism that feeds into local politics both at a municipal and provincial level. In Umlazi, where socio-economic access has historically been the most distorted, the farmers themselves create the primary mechanism of support for the UA. Together with all those interested, the farmers have formed the Umlazi Farmers Association (UFA), which has close links, with not only the eThekwini Municipality but also with the Department of Agriculture. This association bridges the periurban division of rural and urban and is a major stakeholder in facilitating and supporting urban agriculture.

Discussions with local consultants and city managers revealed a high level of interest, awareness and enthusiasm for UA in the area. But the problem of limited resources for inputs and support was also repeatedly reiterated. The eThekwini Parks Office, largely responsible for UA, made it clear that the municipality’s interest is to see UA as part of the successful recycling, of people producing goods that can be sold in the local market, thereby creating self-sufficient households that can grow their own food and earn an income. Although there are numerous successful individual gardens in all three areas, the municipal focus is directed towards supporting community

efforts with the intention that benefits will diffuse into households once larger growth is achieved. Local-level food security is the first priority of the gardens.

Once this has been achieved, market opportunities can be considered, including expansion projects like irrigation, nurseries and composting. But above all, housing is the municipality’s foremost objective. UA applications in competition with housing projects will be rejected.

At the eTheKwini Municipal Depot in Umlazi, there is an Urban Agriculture Demonstration Garden, a unique feature in the municipality. Here growers are invited to attend free weekly permaculture classes. As well as crop production, growers are taught good farming practices including organic pest control, green manure, composting and water harvesting. Umlazi community farmers chronically lack basic production inputs such as seeds, tools and information. Demonstration Garden facilitators offer the farmers appropriate methods and space to share experiences and knowledge and build community linkages. At the Depot, farmers can also collect materials and seedlings supplied by the Municipal Parks Office.

Beyond the Demonstration Garden, municipal fallow land under Parks Office jurisdiction can be “leased” at no cost to community groups if they show initiative, organise collectively and complete the necessary application forms. Organised growers with official community garden status can also receive moderate support from the municipality in the form of Starter-Packs (tools, seeds and information). The Parks Office recognises the resource constraints of households and therefore encourages alternative programmes such as water harvesting, composting and grey-water recycling systems. Officially communal plots can be divided and farmed individually, but eThekwini would like to see “sharing” of crops, to promote diversification of diet and better nutrition.

There are further plans for collaboration between the Parks Office and the Department of Agriculture to encourage broader funding opportunities, knowledge dissemination (extension agents), etc. Parks officials recognise the potential of coordinating funding efforts

18

and development strategies to facilitate UA and small business ventures. Working with the Department of Agriculture, connections between farmers and projects in areas such as the Umbumbulu and Mpumalanga could be strengthened.

Linkages between various sectors and stakeholders also expand the possibilities of exposing farmers to the skills needed not only to farm but also to run businesses and market their products.

There is currently a project to create a database of all local UA activity, from community gardens to individual farmers.

With this information, authorities will be more able to recognise the needs and capabilities of local farmers. However the transmission of information is difficult in such an environment, which is largely made up of non-affiliated individuals and groups. In addition to information gathering and distribution, the economic accessibility of female gardeners must also be strengthened in order to increase the benefits of UA. Basic infrastructure (fencing, storage and irrigation) is required to support the current efforts of the local growers. And finally, the growers must be acknowledged for their contribution to community sustainability by providing a source of fresh food to vulnerable households.

UA is diverse and prolific in the South Durban Basin. The multiple roles of the gardens reflect the multiple needs of the community as well as the versatility of UA to adapt to local conditions. Within the SDB, UA is providing a tool for strengthening food security, a source for building social networks and a space to challenge and redefine historical patterns of distribution and support. UA in the SDB offers a model of local development for South Africa. The historical patterns of inaccessible planning can be addressed by the spatial claims made through the gardens.

References Huchzermeyer, M. (2003) From “contravention of laws” to “lack of rights”” redefining the problem of informal settlements in South Africa Habitat Int’l Vol. 28. pp 333-347, 2004.

May, J. and C.M. Rogerson. Poverty and Sustainable Cities in South Africa: the Role of Urban Cultivation Habitat Int’l Vol. 19, No. 2 pp 165-181, 1995.

Roberts, D. and N. Diederichs. Durban’s Local Agenda 21 programme: tackling sustainable development in a post-apartheid city Environment and Urbanization Vol 14 No 1, April 2002.

UA-Magazine

The World Bank classifies the Philippines as one of the world’s fastest urbanising countries. Urban areas grew by 5 percent annually between 1980 and 2000. If this trend continues, an estimated 65% of the total population will be living in urban areas by the year 2020.

Cagayan de Oro, one of the secondary cities located in the southern part of the country, has at present a population of about 600,000 with an annual growth rate of 4.4% compared to the 2.3% national average.

Robert J. Holmer

Building Food-Secure Neighbourhoods: the role of allotment gardens

A food security survey was conducted

C

agayan de Oro is one of the three model cities in the Philippines under the UN-Habitat Sustainable Cities Program due to its efforts in addressing the challenges of urban environmental management and food security. This is particularly evident in its allotment garden programme, which enables multifunctional land uses such as food production and income generation, treatment and nutrient recycling of biodegradable household wastes and excreta, as well as open spaces for community and family activities.

The first allotment garden of Cagayan de Oro was established in 2003 (Holmer et al., 2003). Since then, this number has grown to five self-sustaining gardens located in different urban areas of the city, enabling a total of 50 urban poor families the legal access to land for vegetable _________________ Robert J. Holmer Periurban Vegetable Project (PUVeP), Xavier University College of Agriculture, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines rjholmer@philcom.ph

✉

✉

Axel Drescher Applied Geography of the Tropics and Subtropics, Albert-Luwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany Axel.Drescher@sonne.uni-freiburg.de

December 2005

production. These allotment gardens are characterised by a concentration in one place of six to twenty small land parcels of about 300 m2 each that are assigned to individual families, which are organised in an association. In the allotment gardens, the parcels are cultivated individually, contrary to other community garden types where the entire area is tended collectively by a group of people (MacNair, 2002).

Unlike in Europe, where allotment gardens are usually located on public lands owned by different government entities, all allotment gardens of Cagayan de Oro are established on private land due to the lack of publicly owned open spaces.

Prior to the establishment of the allotment gardens, the chairmen of the barangay (= city district) approached private landowners and asked if poor residents of the barangay could use their vacant land for food production as well as for the establishment of compost heaps to process segregated biodegradable wastes from neighbouring private households.

The conditions for the land use as well as the corresponding roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders (i.e. the landowner, the local government unit, the academe and the community members) were then formalised into a memorandum of agreement: The urban poor families committed themselves to using the land for agricultural purposes only and to not

19

construct residential structures. Xavier University transferred the knowledge on integrated crop management and composting under tropical low-elevation conditions (Guanzon & Holmer, 2003) through a series of workshops and hands-on trainings to the urban poor communities while the local government facilitated the collection and delivery of the biodegradable wastes to the gardens.

The city government was also in charge of community organising including the formation of associations with corresponding constitutions and by-laws and the election of officers. As regards rental payment, the landowners of three gardens did not ask for any fees, while in the other two areas the annual rental fee corresponds to the amount of land tax they have to pay to the government.

Aside from the production of vegetables, fruits such as papaya, banana and pineapple are maintained as border crops in all gardens. In one location, ornamentals are grown as additional source of income, while in another garden, small animals such as chickens and pigs are also kept. In the most recent garden established, the existing drainage sump was converted into a fish pond.

Prior to the establishment of the allotment gardens, a food security survey was conducted among 300 respondents in four

Two years after the implementation of the allotment gardens (and one year after the outside funding had ended and the gardeners were able to sustain their activities without financial support), a survey was conducted to assess the socioeconomic effects of the project (Urbina et al., 2005). The perceived benefits of the allotment gardens in Cagayan de Oro are multiple. 25% of the vegetables produced are consumed by the farming family, 7% are given away to friends and relatives while 68% are sold to walk-in clients, who come mostly from the direct neighbourhood. They appreciate the

Robert J. Holmer

of the pilot city districts to determine the present food security status level of households and, thus, compile baseline data in order to evaluate the impact of the allotment gardens at a later stage (Guanzon et al., 2004). Since the full range of food insecurity and hunger cannot be captured by any single indicator, the socalled “CPS Food Security Supplement (1)” was applied in the study to measure the food security scale. Specifically, the CPS core module asks about household conditions, events, behaviours, and subjective reactions such as (1) anxiety that the household food budget or food supply may be insufficient to meet basic needs; (2) the experience of running out of food, without money to obtain more; (3) perceptions by the respondent that the food eaten by household members was inadequate in quality or quantity; (4) adjustments to normal food use, substituting fewer and cheaper foods than usual and (5) instances of reduced food intake by adults and children in the household. The results showed that on the adult scale, only 29.3% of the respondents were considered food secure, while 31.3% were food insecure without hunger and a high 39.4% were food insecure with hunger. The levels on the child scale were somewhat different. Only 22.3% could be considered food secure, while 43% were food insecure without hunger and 17.7% food insecure with hunger. The Philippine Association of Nutrition estimates that the poorest sector of the Philippines, which comprises almost 40% of all households, spends about 60% of its available income on food alone. The urban poor are especially vulnerable to food price increases as encountered in the later part of 2004 with an increasing number of Filipinos experiencing hunger as reported in newspapers and TV news.

Perceived benefits of the allotment gardens are multiple

freshness of the produce, the convenience of proximity as well as the lower price compared to the public markets. The gardening activities, a secondary occupation for all the association members, have augmented the available income by about 20% while the vegetable consumption has doubled for 75% of its members. This is especially notable since the average vegetable consumption in Cagayan de Oro is only 36 kg per capita and year, which is one half of the minimum recommended intake as suggested by FAO (Agbayani et al., 2001).

Aside from these benefits, the respondents particularly appreciate that the allotment gardens have strengthened their community values since they provide a place where they can meet, discuss issues and enjoy spending quality time with their families and friends in a clean and quiet natural environment, which they are deprived of in the densely populated areas where they live.

Aside from contributing to the food security of the community, the gardens are also essential for the successful implementation of the city’s integrated solid waste management programme as mandated under Philippine law. In the city districts that have an allotment garden, the amount of residual wastes delivered to the landfill site could be reduced by more than one third since the segregated biodegradable household wastes are converted into compost in the gardens.

So-called ecological sanitation (‘Ecosan’) toilets have been recently established in four of the five areas. They serve as show cases for improved sanitation in a country where more than 90% of the sewage is discharged without treatment into rivers, ponds, underground waters and seas causing serious pollution and public health problems. In the survey conducted

by Urbina (2005), more than 90% of the allotment gardeners did not see any constraints to using properly treated urine as a nutrient source for production of

20

vegetables and ornamentals and to apply composted faecal matter in fruit production.

The city government of Cagayan de Oro is presently mainstreaming the allotment garden concept into its overall city planning and development, which will also use participatory GIS-based approaches to identify suitable areas for further garden sites. A city ordinance is presently being prepared to reduce taxes for landowners who make their land available for this purpose. The PUDSEA (2) Network is one of the major vehicles to promote allotment gardening to other urban areas in Southeast Asia.

Representatives from Indonesia, Thailand and other Philippine cities have already expressed their interest to replicate this model. Xavier University through its international training centre SEARSOLIN (3) also offers a corresponding one-month module within its social leadership development course.

Notes 1) The Current Population Survey (CPS) Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS) is the source of national and State-level statistics on food insecurity and hunger used in USDA’s annual reports on household food security (http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/FoodSecurity/CPS/) 2) Periurban Development in Southeast Asia (www.pudsea.net) 3) See www.xu.edu.ph/searsolin/module9.htm References Agbayani, A.L.P., Holmer, R.J., Potutan, G.E., and Schnitzler, W.H., 2001. Quality and quantity requirements for vegetables by private households, vendors and institutional users in a Philippine urban setting. Urban Agriculture Magazine, 5, 56-57.

Guanzon, Y.B, Holmer, R.J., 2003. Basic cultural management practices for vegetable production in urban areas of the Philippines. Urban Agriculture Magazine, 10, 14-15.

Guanzon, Y.B,, Nord, M., Holmer, R.J., 2004. Food Security Status Level of Households in Four Pilot Barangays of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. Paper presented at the NOMCARRD Regional Symposium on Research & Development Highlights, Central Mindanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon, Philippines, August 5-6, 2004.

Holmer, R.J., Clavejo, M.T., Dongus, S., and Drescher, A., 2003. Allotment gardens for Philippine cities. Urban Agriculture Magazine, 11, 29-31.

MacNair, E., 2002. The Garden City Handbook: How to Create and Protect Community Gardens in Greater Victoria. Polis Project on Ecological Governance. University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada Urbina, C. O., Miso A.U., and Holmer, R.J., 2005.

The socioeconomic impact of the allotment garden project in Cagayan de Oro City. Paper presented at the 6th International PUDSEA Conference “Strategies for Community Development in Urban and Periurban Areas of South-East Asia”, July 11-15, 2005, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.

UA-Magazine

Urban Agriculture as a Mechanism for Urban Upgrading

K.A. Jayaratne

Traditionally, agriculture is not included as an activity in land use and zoning plans in urban development, although city greening is accepted as part of city beautification and landscaping. Still, people in urban areas in Colombo have always been involved in various agricultural activities, like growing vegetables, plants for curry leaves trees such as coconut, raising livestock and pigeons and fishing in inland waterways.

Medicinal plant can be grown on or inside houses

T

hese activities are considered nonurban, and increasingly agricultural lands have been converted into other uses. Fortunately, people in Colombo irrespective of the income or other divisions in the society, still use whatever space is available for growing vegetables, trees and for livestock farming.

Colombo is the capital city of Sri Lanka and over the past twenty years it has introduced various innovative methods for improving housing. In the 1970s, more than half of the city’s population was living in underserved, congested slums. Now the majority of the urban poor have secure land tenure and access to private and individual water and sanitation facilities. According to the 2002 Poverty Profile of the City of Colombo, 70% of families in underserved settlements are living in their own houses and 45% have access to an individual water supply and private toilet facilities.

Most of these families are living in settlements that have been upgraded by

✉

_________________ K.A. Jayaratne SEVANATHA kajay@sri.lanka.net

December 2005

government housing programmes since 1980. Despite this achievement, still 23,116 out of 77,612 poor families live in underserved settlements (Sevanatha and Colombo Municipal Council, 2002).

There are several reasons for this. One is the city’s bureaucracy, another is the over-dependency on government. As a result, only those settlements situated on public lands with fewer legal and physical constraints have been upgraded.

Halgahakumbura Low-income Settlement Halgahakumbura is located in Ward 32, Wanathamulla, in CMC on approximately 10 acres of land. The settlement comprises 2,742 people living in 556 housing units. Of these, only 79 (less than 15%) can be considered permanent housing units. The settlement was formed by illegal occupation of an area formerly used as a dumpsite, next to a canal. The settlement does not have common facilities. The main income sources of the people are unskilled labour and informal business activities. The average monthly income per family is estimated at Rs. 4,000. Twenty years ago, only 48 households had individual water connections: the other 508 were sharing 8 water stand-posts to collect their water. Only 162 houses had improvised individual toilets and there was no proper drainage system, which increased the risk of flooding. Since that time, people in Halgahakumbura have built their own homes, obtained basic water supply needs and enjoyed other municipal services such as education and health facilities. They now also have voting rights to elect members for the municipal council and national assembly.

21

People living in areas that are vulnerable to flooding and who have no alternative land available for relocation are still living in underserved shanties.

Within this context, Sevanatha with the support of Colombo Municipal Council selected a settlement called Halgahakumbura as the pilot site for an urban agriculture project called “Making the Edible Landscape”. The objective of this project initiated in 2003 was to preserve and promote the practice of urban agriculture to improve family income and food security. The project sought to mobilise communities and local authorities to use urban spaces (arable lands in private and public ownership, along canals, roads and power lines, on rooftops, etc.) for growing vegetables, raising livestock and to use inland water bodies for fisheries. In general, city people like to grow plants and trees more than raise animals, and growing trees is a tradition in Sri Lanka.

In an early analysis, Sevanatha concluded that formal upgrading of Halgahakumbura would not be possible, but that there was a vast potential within the community for improvement of housing and basic amenities. Sevanatha took on this challenge and proposed this settlement as a pilot site of the project for urban agriculture. The Halgahakumbura community was mobilised, and community organisation strengthened, through the existing Community Development Councils (CDC) established by the Public Health Department of Colombo Municipal Council. Four CDCs were formed by demarcating the settlement into four zones based on the

physical boundaries and the size of population to ensure a large community representation in settlement upgrading.

The next activity of the project was the preparation of a Community Action Plan (CAP) in partnership with the municipality. In a community workshop people were given the opportunity to identify problems to decide on solutions and strategic actions for each of the prioritised issues.

The Major issues identified by the people in Halgahakumbura settlement were: lack of drinking water supplylack of sanitation facilities including drains flooding during the rainy season insecure land tenure improvised housing high rate of unemployment among youth As this settlement is located close to a major canal of the city under a high-tension electricity power line, no government agency was willing to carry out the on-site upgrading, although government agencies like National Water Supply Board agreed to provide water as this is common practice in other parts of the city as well (without considering ownership). The next step was mobilisation of the households to improve their agricultural activities.

People in Halgahakumbura had already been growing various vegetable plants for their own consumption and trees to provide shade and landscape their own housing premises.

More than 500 families in Halgahakumbura are talking about the improvement work done in lane A. It has given a new look to all of the houses. People use the improved lane happily and proudly because they improved it themselves. It is used not only for walking but also for other purposes such as a space for drying cloths and some food items, a meeting place and a children’s play area.

Local residents have named this lane “Ekamuthu Mawatha”, which means “United Lane”. House numbers are displayed at the entrance to the lane, so postal carriers can now easily identify houses to deliver letters. Lane improvement has increased the value of houses and reduced people’s fear of eviction. This activity has led people to improve their houses and home gardens.

Under the urban agriculture project in Halgahakumbura the people were first encouraged to continue and improve their agricultural practices. Existing agricultural practices by people were recorded on a map and photographed.

This helped the project team to understand the available knowledge among the people about agriculture.

Secondly, information and new knowledge on agriculture in an urban context was provided. The project team was assisted in this by the Department of

Agriculture. Many people were keen to be engaged in agricultural production since this as an activity through which people can get recognition from the municipality for their occupancy in the city. The participants indicated that they like to practise agriculture collectively in order to obtain project support and municipal services. Collective activities by the people in the settlement have been organised in relation to access roads or lanes, as they are commonly known in low-income settlements.

Improvement of urban agriculture goes hand-in-hand with a better organised living space. Project guidelines include increasing access to housing units, improving sanitation and wastewater disposal on site, minimising solid waste through household composting, improving lighting and ventilation of housing units and improving home gardens.

The “Making the Edible Landscape” project has motivated people to develop their own rules for lane improvement.

Lane improvement has added previously unused space to housing plots and neighbours collectively agreed to recognise their housing plots in order to build better housing. Improved access roads have increased the value of houses and the beauty of the neighbourhood.

Each housing plot is now connected to small drains, which are eventually connected to the main drains of the settlement. Small drains now prevent frequent flooding in the settlement.

People themselves have named their improved lanes and house numbers are displayed at the entrance to the lane.

Naming the lane and numbering the houses are important steps because they allow people to have various services provided at the household level, especially postal service and water and electricity, since the bills have to be delivered to their houses.

People engage in agricultural activities after lane improvement because this is encouraged and supported by the municipality and Department of Agriculture. Sevanatha helps people in the settlement improve their own houses, provides information together with the Department of Agriculture, and holds demonstrations on urban agriculture practices such as cultivation tower, crop

22

management, technology adaptation, cultivation racks, edible air-scrapers, hydroponics, cultivation bags, and composting methods. In addition, communities have been given learning opportunities to adapt various edible landscaping tools jointly developed under the research project on edible landscaping conducted by McGill University, Canada. This includes settlement upgrading, space arrangement for livelihood development, growing techniques and integration of edible plants into home and settlement landscaping.

People living in settlements that have not yet been upgraded welcome municipal support for this purpose as it is an important way for them to obtain security of tenure. More importantly, when the settlement is upgraded and improved by its inhabitants, the government tends to relax strict rules and regulations and eventually people have more chances to obtain ownership of land that they currently occupy. Thanks to all the positive contributions made by the inhabitants themselves,, Sevanatha and the municipality, the households have been able to collectively reduce their fear of eviction and improve their living conditions.

Notes 1) The project is executed by the Colombo Municipality and SEVANATHA, and is technically and financially supported by McGill UniversityMontreal, ETC Urban Agriculture –the Netherlands and IDRC-Canada.

The author is heading a leading urban-based NGO called SEVANATHA - Urban Resource Center that has been successful in carrying out various innovative practices related to urban land tenure, housing, service delivery, waste management, community building and livelihood improvement.

References K.A. Jayaratne, 2005. Community Contract System in Colombo, Sri Lanka - Innovative Practice for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals at the Local Level Elizabeth Riley and Patrick Wakely, 2005.

Communities and Communication - building urban partnerships ITDG publication.

Sevanatha and Colombo Municipal Council, 2002. Poverty Profile - Colombo City.

Sevanatha, 2001. Urban Poverty Reduction through Community Empowerment.

UA-Magazine

Building Food Secure Neighbourhoods in Rosario

S

Following this latter objective, the actionoriented research project Making the Edible Landscape started in September 2004 (see box). Its main goal is to build collective strategies to facilitate the transition of traditional state-funded housing projects to “productive neighbourhoods” that aim to integrate UA in urban design, upgrading and development, thus providing households with food-production and incomegenerating opportunities apart from housing and basic services. Participatory and community-based design of spaces for organic production and related activities are currently under way. In 2001, the 91 irregular settlements of Rosario housed 22,006 families (110,212 habitants) or 12.1% of the total population. This number increased with 10.4% as compared to 1992. At the same time and over the last four years, a steady increase in both _________________ Antonio Lattuca Raul Terrile Urban Agriculture Programme, Municipality of Rosario raulterril@arnet.com.ar

✉

Laura Bracalenti and Laura Lagorio National University of Rosario Gustavo Ramos and Fernando Moreira Service for Public Housing, Municipality of Rosario

December 2005

The Urban Agriculture Programme (UAP) was launched by the Municipality of Rosario in 2002, amidst an unprecedented nationwide socio-economic crisis. This initiative marked an important step in further development of municipal policies and programmes towards supporting and strengthening this alternative production system.

Raul Terrile

ince its inception, the UAP has successfully undertaken activities aimed at consolidation of urban agriculture as a legitimate urban land use and strategy for social and local economic development through: a) organisation and implementation of urban agriculture projects related to production, processing (in agroindustries) and marketing; b) optimising use of vacant land areas for agro-ecological farming; c) facilitating and formalising access to land for UA of both occupied and potentially useable plots; d) designing use of different public spaces (roadsides, flood areas, public squares) for urban agriculture.

Participatory design public square La Lagunita

unemployment and the number of people living in poverty has taken its toll on the population.

19.8% of those older than 24 have completed primary school and only 3% have finished high school.

INTER-INSTITUTIONAL ACTION-ORIENTED RESEARCH The Service for Public Housing of the Municipality (SPV in Spanish), is implementing the Rosario Habitat Programme (1) in which neighbourhood upgrading and new residential construction are combined with —and complemented by— training of the target population to undertake productive activities. Collaboration between the SPV, the UAP and the National University of Rosario for the Making the Edible Landscape project is based on the assumption that this joint work can lead to important synergies. Under this scenario, the university provides knowledge and experience in research and design, the UAP its vast experience in agricultural and participatory work, and the SPV human and practical resources and knowledge related to upgrading and development.

The areas selected for this project were the Molino Blanco and La Lagunita settlements. Situated at the southern fringe of the city limit, Molino Blanco is a neighbourhood of 798 families (3,500 people), of whom almost 30% will be relocated to a new settlement as their houses were built on flooding areas or over planned roads. The settlement will then be regularised, giving not only titles to residents, but also providing them with the basic municipal services such as potable water, sewage, drainage, gas, electricity, paved roads, and footpaths.

The majority of the population aged 14 and over does not have a steady job, only

La Lagunita (Lagoon in Spanish) is located in the west of Rosario. It owes its name to the fact that the area becomes flooded after heavy rain, mostly during the rainy season. The area was first occupied over twenty years ago by families coming from the Chaco province, who basically settled on private land. Over the years the original families brought their relatives from the provinces resulting in a very close-knit community. After 2001, a second wave of settlers (about 50 families) occupied stateowned land inside the settlement. A participatory upgrading programme coordinated by SPV is underway. The Making the Edible Landscape project focuses on the participatory design and implementation of the following types of spaces:

23

GARDEN-PARKS The garden parks integrate different activities and users, minimising construction and maintenance costs and providing ecological services important to urban systems. The most innovative feature for the city is the incorporation of a productive dimension into the park design, which is based on previous urban agriculture experience. Urban landscape design blends with productive use while securing urban farmers user rights to the land. Educative and leisure activities are also planned.

PRODUCTIVE SQUARES These are neighbourhood squares designed for recreational, productive and

possibly commercial activities. Their structure and functioning will respond to the community needs for playgrounds, social meeting places, urban greening and production.

PRODUCTIVE STREETS These streets will allow for farming on available roadsides. The design will also consider spaces for food selling and bartering and growing of food trees and aromatic herbs. This will enhance the streets’ potential as a space for social interaction, without obstructing the normal traffic and pedestrian flow.

DEMONSTRATION GARDENS Training is a key element for urban agriculture. A demonstration garden set up inside the neighbourhood will give visibility to urban agriculture and provide free access to a space specially designed for people to learn how to grow food. This will hopefully improve use of other productive spaces in the neighbourhood, as mentioned above, and make the project more sustainable.

All these new land uses will be developed on land that is currently in poor condition. Therefore attention is also paid to soil improvement techniques. Projects include promotion of production, processing and marketing. The participatory approach taken (for design, decision making, implementation and functioning) embedded in the project will contribute to greater participation and appropriation of the results by the population. In order to achieve this, scheduling of activities needs to take into account municipal plans and deadlines as well as community availability and processes.

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN In the Molino Blanco neighbourhood two productive streets, a demonstration garden and a garden park are being designed in the flooding area where urban agriculture is already currently practised.

The participatory design of Rosario’s first productive square was completed in La Lagunita settlement. The five participatory workshops held in La Lagunita allowed key stakeholders to reach a consensus on the components, size and spatial organisation of the square. Additionally, new housing units and basic infrastructure will be built in the community.

The most innovative result of the project will be the incorporation of productive features within the physical and functional structure of poor neighbourhoods. The project will hopefully —depending on the completion of the scheduled work —positively affect the willingness of government officials to support these kinds of processes in future housing projects and urban upgrading programmes.

Notes 1) The Rosario Habitat programme started in 2002 and is co-financed by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Municipality of Rosario.

Making the Edible Landscape: Integrating productive growing in urban developments

Little or no attention is paid to landscaping while designing affordable housing and neighbourhoods. Particularly, when designing low-income settlements resources are limited, so most of the attention, and of course investments, are spent on the provision of minimum shelters and/or related infrastructure. It is only towards the completion of the project that a landscape architect might be consulted; by then, it is too late to get their meaningful input in the design process. Planting occurs in public spaces, but in these neighbourhoods there is no one responsible to tend to it, and soon after residents move in, the planting starts to wither. Obviously, local officials responsible for such initiatives see landscaping as a luxury that is appropriate only for high and middle-income residential developments.

In popular or informal sector housing, often referred to as slums and squatter settlements; we have observed a wide variety of trees and plants. Not only are they carefully chosen and planted, but are maintained and protected. This is because trees and plants have been considered the source of life; and in traditional societies, many social and religious activities are centred around them. Moreover, family activities can take place under trees, their shade can be substituted for built structures, which are expensive to construct. Not only do they support the daily lifestyle, but urban growing – UA – makes a significant economic contribution to the daily

lives of residents. Providing urban edible landscapes should involve setting new principles for urban design and planning that include food security and urban land-use considerations.

But how can productive urban growing be made an integral part of housing and neighbourhood design?

The project ‘Making the Edible Landscape’ hopes to answerer this question, by considering the role of urban agriculture as a catalyst for neighbourhood upgrading and as an important factor in new housing construction and in managing public lands. McGill University’s Schools of Architecture, Planning and the Environment in Canada and the ETC Foundation in the Netherlands are collaborating with three city partners in (Colombo, Sri Lanka; Kampala, Uganda; and Rosario, Argentina), to carry out this project (see other articles in this magazine).

The project is supported by IDRC, Ottawa, and the UN-HABITAT’s Urban Management Programme.

The project aims to demonstrate how designers could and should consider productive planting right from the beginning of the design process. It is also our firm belief that without the involvement of the community, it would be impossible to develop good housing. Therefore, in all three cities, we are working very closely with the communities concerned. Results of the project will be shared by the city partners during the next World Urban Forum, June 2006 in Vancouver. For further information on the WUF sessions, please contact Rune Kongshaug, Project Coordinator (Email: rune.kongshaug@mcgill.ca).

_________________ Vikram Bhatt McGill University School of Architecture, Canada vikram.bhatt@mcgill.ca

✉ 24

UA-Magazine

Demonstration Gardens in Almirante Brown, Argentina Demonstration gardens are a valuable and multi-functional use of land. Two programmes – Pro-Huerta and Plan Jefe y Jefas de Hogares Desocupados – have taken the lead in introducing such gardens in lowincome neighbourhoods in the municipality of Almirante Brown, Buenos Aires.

A

lmirante Brown is an outer partido, or municipality, of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, encompassing 13,000 hectares and supporting a population of 514,622 residents. It is located approximately 20 kilometres south of the centre of Buenos Aires.

Almirante Brown continues to be one of the under-serviced partidos, and, like much of the country, has seen a significant increase in conditions of poverty since the economic crisis in 2001.

Pro-Huerta (“Pro-Garden”) is a programme developed by the Argentine government in August of 1990 aimed at helping poor and food-insecure families acquire a stable and more diversified diet through the small-scale self-production of food. Pro-Huerta promotes organic gardens and small organic farms for consumption and production at the household, school and community level.

The primary objective of Pro-Huerta is to augment family nutrition through the self-production of food. But the programme also works to improve diet quality, help families manage food expenditures, generate appropriate technologies for small-scale production, promote community participation in the production of food, and provide a forum for community organisation and development.

In the barrio of Rafael Calzada, Centro Demonstrativo Alas occupies one square _________________ Kate Casale University of California, Davis, USA Kecasale@ucdavis.edu

✉

December 2005

block of previously undeveloped land.

Began in 1996, it is the centre for ProHuerta in Almirante Brown. Coordinated by one INTA technician and voluntarily maintained by four to six families, Centro Alas promotes agro-ecological farming techniques and community development through a wide range of services and activities. On site it hosts an organic demonstration garden, a small nursery, chicken and rabbit production areas, and a building for courses and meetings. Free weekly courses are offered in these areas as well as in integrated pest management, worm composting, and cooking. Through theses courses and activities the demonstration garden models urban

training opportunities. Thus, it has a much wider scope of activities than ProHuerta, but is one of the main programmes through which gardening efforts are promoted. Community gardens are the most common form of Plan Jefe agricultural activities, though household gardening, as well as municipal mini-granjas (or mini-farms) also exist in many areas. In San José, Almirante Brown, where Espacio Verde operates, one Plan Jefe garden coordinator boasted of over 200 family gardens and 20 community gardens under the plan. In José Mármol, a delegación bordering that of San José, 13 community gardens were recorded as of

Table 1. Comparison of activities of two demonstration gardens Centro Alas, Barrio Rafael Calzada Pro-Huerta Seed & chick distribution Cash generation for growers at centre Courses in organic gardening, aromatic and medicinal herbs, animal (chicken & rabbit) husbandry, bees, cooking & conserving, and dancing & music.

Cultural events Training centre for promotores or monitors in Pro-Huerta.

Espacio Verde, Barrio San José Plan Jefe Production of food for local comedores Employment for Plan Jefe participants Production of ornamentals for municipal parks Workshops for new hydroponics initiative, supported by FAO Centre for Plan Jefe coordinators and gardeners in surrounding neighbourhoods.

food self-sufficiency while allowing participants, both those in Pro-Huerta as well as the Plan Jefe, a space for learning about the many components of the food system.

August 2004.

A few miles away from Centro Alas in delegación San José is Espacio Verde, a demonstration and production garden for Plan Jefe. Situated next to a local school, it occupies 600 m2 and employs 48 gardeners and 3 construction workers in Plan Jefe, as well as 2 municipal extension agents. A variety of vegetable and fruit crops are grown, the majority of which are destined for local comedores, or community dining halls. Output varies, though the garden yielded 300 kilos of produce from June to December in 2003.

With the recent introduction of a hydroponics project in the area, in part funded by the FAO, Espacio Verde has become the demonstration centre for hydroponics activities in the area.

Though each demonstration garden operates within different structural

The emergency work programme, Plan Jefe y Jefas de Hogares Desocupados (Unemployed Heads of Household Plan), is a programme funded by the national government and via loans from the World Bank and intended to provide financial assistance to households with children. Municipal governments are responsible for implementing the programme at the local level. Plan Jefe provides beneficiaries with a monthly sum of AR$150 for working in community projects (e.g., community kitchens, vegetable gardens, park cleanup) or participating in education and

25

Beyond the gardeners themselves, urban planners and designers acknowledge the ways in which the demonstration gardens have become hubs of neighbourhood life and are using its design to encourage functionality and productivity in community space. In a broader sense, the ability of urban agriculture to address a variety of problems, such as unemployment, environmental issues associated with the current food system, and community food security, demonstrates the vital role it can play in supporting integrated food systems and sustainable cities. Part of the focus is not only the proven successes, but also the untapped potential. To fully capitalise on this potential, land management processes, the planners, policymakers, and citizens, must all be involved when defining the space, the scale, the activities, and the tools that will make urban agriculture an integral part of urban land management and community life. Despite significant bureaucratic and organisational challenges, which are the hallmark of the Argentine government, both Pro-Huerta and Plan Jefe demonstration gardens are becoming symbols of vitality and growth in neighbourhoods traditionally known for chronic crime and poverty. This has been accomplished through multi-level cooperation which demonstrates the diversity not only of gardening and farming, but of the interplay between the natural environment, the political realm, and the local communities.

Urban Agriculture in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

Ahmed Sourani

organisations and through distinct activities (see Table 1), they both accomplish the larger goals of establishing community food security, providing economic benefits to individuals and neighbourhoods, serving as vehicles for information distribution, turning abandoned lots into productive lands, and acting as community space to foment cultural revival, offer opportunities for sports activities, or simply provide barbequing space.

Gardeners use the venues to take initiative in defining the path forward for themselves and their communities – through consistent presence and maintenance, requests for funding for special projects, attempts to install a permanent weekly market or feria, and continued outreach into the surrounding neighbourhoods to promote organic gardening.

Support is given to develop rooftop gardening

The population in Gaza is increasing rapidly as cities and refugee camps continue to expand. Large-scale, export-oriented agricultural production has reached its limits and is not able to meet the growing need for food security and income generation. However, almost all agriculture in Gaza can be considered to be urban agriculture and its potential is high.

T

he Gaza Strip is a small stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea, 46 kilometres long by 6-10 kilometres wide. The population on this area of approximately 360 km?has increased dramatically over the last 50 years: from about 50,000 in 1948 to an estimated 1.3 million today. With population densities of 20,000 to 100,000 persons per square kilometre, Gaza is one _________________ Luc Laeremans Free University of Brussels, Belgium Ahmed Sourani Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, Gaza, Palestine adming@palnet.com

✉

26

of the most highly populated areas in the world (Catherine, 2002). Despite its small area, rainfall varies spatially, but is concentrated during the winter months.

STATUS OF AGRICULTURE The agricultural sector in Gaza is important within the local society as it supplies food to the majority of the local population, and contributes significantly to the economy as a source of foreign exchange (with a share of the GDP of about 9 % [CIA, 2002]). In times of political-economical difficulties such as the prevailing intifada, the sector absorbs large numbers of unemployed people who lost their jobs in Israel or in other local sectors of the shrinking economy.

Over the last 30 years there has been a significant shift in irrigated agriculture from fruit trees to high cash-value crops (vegetables and flowers) and in rain-fed farming from field crops to olives.

Shifting from local to foreign markets, farmers adopted new agricultural technologies and practices, like greenhouses. As a result, Gaza now imports field crops and certain types of fruits and vegetables. These shifts also led to an increase in the use of fertilisers and pesticides.

The production shift in the Palestinian

UA-Magazine

Nearly half the total area of Gaza (170,000 dunums: 1 dunum is 0,1 ha) is arable land. Almost all open land is under agriculture, with other areas under settlement. Due to a yearly population growth rate of more than 3% (CIA, 2002) and an urbanisation rate of 6% over the last 10 years, a decrease of arable land can only be expected (Abu Karsh, 1999).

Limited land resources and harsh economic conditions are stimuli for intensive, non-sustainable agricultural practices which often exceed the carrying capacity of the soil and the water resources. Soil degradation and negative effects on the existing water resources have been the obvious results.

URBAN AGRICULTURE IN PALESTINE Ashour al-Lahm, a Gaza farmer, explains how plants and animals are traditionally part of Palestinian urban society: “… fishponds, chicken gardens, pigeon cages, spinach and mulukhia, green pepper, mint, palm trees, olives, vines and lemon trees; they represent a continuation of inherited traditions” (Lahm, 1999).

Household gardens have long held an ornamental function of bringing shade and beauty to a place, besides the function of food supply. Dr. Hatim alShanti of the Al-Azhar University of Gaza refers to animal husbandry in a similar way: “The life of Palestinian people witnessed domestic animal raising. This habit was inherited and became part of the Palestinian culture. It was hard to find a house in the camps or villages without a place for raising animals, such as hens, rabbits, pigeons, ducks, sheep, goats and sometimes cows’ (Shanti, 1999).

Limited economic benefits, work opportunities in other sectors, and unfavourable building practices led to a decrease in this tradition of urban food production. However, interest arose

December 2005

The Gaza branch of Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), the leading Palestinian NGO involved in agricultural and rural development has been the driving force in the creation and support of the GUAC. In July 2000, PARC presented a first project “Urban agricultural activities in Gaza”, which introduced the production of seven types of vegetables or animals, such as pigeons and chickens which were to be raised on rooftops . The project contributed to the greening of the different locations, increased food security and to small-scale income generation, particularly for women.

again along with the economic difficulties and long-lasting curfews under the first intifada (1987-1991). Food insecurity brought Palestinians back to the earlier practices of domestic agriculture. People who had not been involved in agriculture before started to plant their gardens and lands. Small domestic animal farming also gained in popularity. “Even when a long siege was imposed or the refugee camp was placed under curfew for a long time, local citizens provided vegetables, milk and other things to camp dwellers” (Lahm, 1999). Research in 1997 revealed that domestic animal-raising remained significant in Gaza in the period between the two intifadas (Shanti, 1999). Urban agriculture is seen nowadays as having an important potential for the future of Gaza agriculture, by governmental and nongovernmental organisations working in the agricultural field.

In March 2003, a second project on “Supporting and encouraging initiatives of urban agriculture in Gaza Refugee Camps” was proposed and funded as a pilot project. Under this project 150 families with access to a rooftop or yard (50-150 m?) were selected together with 24 public locations to receive trees, seedlings and seeds. Another 150 families received 10 domestic pigeons. The project also integrated techniques of rainwater collection and safe handling of grey water.

GUAC aims at a wide-reaching strategy carried out by the active participation of stakeholders at all levels of society.

Supportive policies, awareness raising, educational training and institutional development are important tools, amongst others, in the promotion and facilitation of urban agriculture as a strategy towards food security and income generation.

A workshop on “The Future of Urban Agriculture in Gaza” was held in Gaza City at the end of 1998.

As a result the Gaza Urban Agriculture Committee (GUAC) was subsequently established. The potentials of urban agriculture for enhanced food security, employment creation, small enterprise development and environmental management by productive use of urban wastes were acknowledged by a wide range of participants. Since then, individual farmers, farmers’ unions, representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations, local authorities, researchers and academics have formulated their interest and intentions in developing urban agriculture in Gaza (Sourani, 2003).

A major outcome of the workshop was an overall strategy to promote and facilitate UA practices. A supportive legislative framework, more investments in securing safe resources by the authorities, capacity building and technical assistance by farmers and unions together with research, practical and logistical assistance and awareness-raising by universities and NGOs were considered to be major instruments towards creating an encouraging environment for UA practices. Since 1998 GUAC has been the central consultative body, and the formulated strategy is serving as a general guideline to generate further annual action plans.

References Abu Karsh, Ata (Assistant deputy, Ministry of Agriculture).

1999. “Urban Agriculture in Palestine”.

Lahm, Ashour al- (Palestinian Farmers Union). 1999. “Urban Agriculture and the Interest of Urban Farmers in Gaza”.

Shanti, Hatim al- (Al-Azhar University of Gaza). 1999.

“Urban Agriculture and Animal Production in Gaza.”

In: Said I. Abdelwahed. Future of Urban Agriculture in Gaza; proceedings of workshop held in Gaza City on 13-15 September.

Catherine, Lucas. 2002. Palestina: De Laatste kolonie?

Berchem, Belgium: EPO. CIA. 2002. The World Fact Book 2002. Langley, VA, USA: Central Intelligence Agency.

Hansen, Peter (Commissioner General of UNWRA). 2003.

“Hungry in Gaza.” The Guardian, March 5.

Ahmed Sourani

territories towards export-oriented markets has revealed its drawbacks in the past few years. Since the failure of the peace process and the outbreak of the second intifada (in 2000), food security has become one of the most pressing issues in Palestinian society. The UN food programme has grown in importance (reaching 220,000 families of the territories) and almost a quarter of Palestinian children are suffering from acute or chronic malnutrition (Hansen, 2003).

27

Sourani, Ahmed. 2003. “Supporting and Encouraging Initiatives of Urban Agriculture in Gaza Refugee Camps”.

Working paper. Gaza, Palestine: Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees.

Multifunctionality of Periurban Open Spaces in Setif, Algeria

U

rban open spaces are nowadays subject to a controversial development debate on whether they should be seen as a land reserve necessary for urban expansion, or as a factor of territorial quality. Maintenance and rehabilitation of natural spaces is addressed differently from one country to another, according to their history, culture and resources. Many cities boast ancient central or peripheral green areas, like botanical gardens, parks, recreational and artificial forests, amusement parks, etc.

Cities that embarked on reconstruction after World War II, or cities in demographic or spatial expansion, have given a new and more ventilated configuration to their cities, like large roads, ventilated constructions, big public spaces, etc. These older cities put a lot of effort into the rehabilitation of the peripheral environmental spaces through the creation of artificial leisure and recreational spaces.

Under the prevailing market economy in Algeria, there is a new dynamic of local sustainable development. An important question is evolving though: Does rethinking the local development of Setif involve management of open spaces as a new parameter of urbanism or are these open spaces still seen as land reserves for _________________ Abdelmalek Boudjenouia1, André Fleury2, Abdelmalek Tacherift1 (1): Laboratory of Urban Project, City and Territory, University of Ferhat Abbas Setif, Algeria; (2): Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, National Advanced School of Versailles, France. aboudjenouia@yahoo.fr

✉

Abdelmalek Boudjenouia

Nowadays, quality of living is considered as a key factor for the physical and psychological wellbeing of city dwellers. The presence of nature in the city is an important component due to the diversity of its functions. In addition, it can be a valuable source for companies, improving their corporate image and working environment. The environmental space of a city determines in part its fitness for habitation and economic resources under the concept of a sustainable city. For farmers, the environmental space primarily represents a production area, but increasingly this space is seen as being multifunctional.

Landscape of the Boussellam wadi

urbanisation? And what role is there for multifunctional agriculture (in producing agricultural commodities and quality spaces)?

MAIN COMMUNAL OPEN SPACES The social demand for natural urban spaces has evolved over the years. Such spaces are now expected to be ecological and landscaped and provide social services (conservation of biodiversity, leisure, recreation). In Setif, natural spaces are effectively used by the inhabitants (for leisure, recreation). These areas belong to the city’s territory and justify a specific management, but their sustainability is not recognised and secured in the context of strong demographic growth.

There is a great variety of open spaces in Setif: from the public square to the small public garden and amusement park. On the whole, the dynamic of these spaces is very slow compared to the urban growth.

No garden has been created since independence in Algeria. The town council is making great efforts to manage this patrimony, and the current state of the public gardens, the amusement park and, to a lesser extent, the alignment trees illustrates the move to upgrade the city’s landscape. However, other spaces reveal a

28

state of abandonment, particularly the playgrounds and certain public gardens. A major problem is the lack of a specialised agency in charge of managing the city’s natural environment.

Forested spaces are mainly distinguished by the variety of recreational social practices that take place there. The periurban forest of Zenadia stretching over 175 ha at an altitude of 1,090 m is located north of the urban centre It represents the green lung of the city and plays an important role in the conservation of a pleasant environment.

However, just like green and agricultural spaces, this forest suffers from urban encroachment and man-made damage like frequent fires. The poplar grove of Boussellam boasts considerable floral and wildlife diversity, as demonstrated by the Biology Department of the University of Setif. The area, developed as a leisure site that covers 12 ha (URBASE, 1997), is nowadays frequented by the city dwellers who stage various sports activities there.

However, this site is subject to clearance and illegal felling of trees and draining of wastewater to the Boussellam wadi. Public debate on the issue is totally lacking.

NATURAL MEADOWS: BETWEEN LANDSCAPE AND PRODUCTION In addition to their productive function, the natural meadows serve a remarkable landscape function. In fact, these spaces represent a special place of relaxation and leisure for the city residents. The meadows located alongside the Boussellam wadi are frequented all year long.

The Boussellam wadi has always been neglected as a biotope. It is used for the drainage of wastewater. A new urban project is being developed, thanks to the awareness of political authorities and mobilised funding. The project began with a cleaning operation launched in 2003, which stretched from the flour-milling complex of Lahmar Cherif to the district of El Ouricia. The planned works are cleaning (elimination of materials in suspension, bank cleaning); repair of facilities; disinfection (liming); and transport of waste to the public dump.

The initial project only covers the

UA-Magazine

Abdelmalek Boudjenouia

northern part of the site; once it is expanded all over the site, the Boussellam wadi will obtain a new place in the city’s landscape, hence the recommendation for a change of use. In addition, a solution has been found for the drainage of wastewater.

Aside from the function of wastewater drainage, the area has another function related to agricultural production. The Boussellam wadi is characterised by livestock farming, mainly bovine. Large herds are often seen grazing on the banks, particularly near secondary urban centres such as Chouf El Keddad, El Bez and Abid Ali, where informal cattle breeding is very common. This presence of livestock is facilitated by the natural meadows occupying the lower flood-prone bed of the river. The wadi is highly multifunctional as it attracts many sightseers looking for greenery and peace, particularly on weekends and public holidays.

Culture of apples alongside the Boussellam wadi

Farmers operating near the wadi exploit its water for the irrigation of their crops, mainly market gardening of potatoes: this practice is widespread in Cheikh Laïfa and Chouf El Keddad. Others use this water for cereal production. Yet, the quality of the water is still a big issue as the wadi receives wastewater from the neighbouring secondary urban centres, the university and its periphery (not connected to the sanitation network), as well as the rejected wastes of the flourmilling company of Lahmar Cherif. The use of this water for agriculture is officially forbidden by the local authorities, and every year a joint commission comprising the different public services is set up to see to it that the regulation is observed.

However, this does not seem to have dissuaded people from using the water (2).

December 2005

On the whole, the stability of this market gardening/forage/livestock system alongside the valley is noteworthy. These “social” needs are very important and should they be forbidden here, they would have to be met elsewhere. And yet, the city does not have other available water resources, hence the need for a territorial policy geared towards the multifunctionality of this type of space.

MOBILISATION OF NEW SPATIAL RESOURCES In addition to the current diversity of its functions (recreation, landscape, production, irrigation, etc.), a new function could be added to the Boussellam wadi valley: that of a green belt. The City Planning and Urbanism Master Plan (PDAU) of the district of Setif has recommended the creation of a green strip west of the city, on the flood-prone Boussellam fields, on a surface area of 139 ha, and the maintenance and rehabilitation of the poplar grove (URBASE, 1997).

Such a green plan should go further; if the wadi valley offers real richness, insofar as the poplar grove and natural meadows form the basis of agricultural, recreational and cultural multifunctionality, the periurban agricultural space, particularly the one separating the city from the satellite estates and the new road network, should probably be shaped in the same direction.

Thanks to this landscape project, with its clear attribution of an urban status to the natural or agricultural open spaces, the town of Setif will be a nicer place to live in for its inhabitants, but also will be more attractive for investors. These are two essential points of sustainable development. The green plan will give back to the natural landscape the place it deserves in Algerian social development.

CONCLUSION The periurban valley of the Boussellam wadi has a clear recreational and productive function. The urban project described above is ambitious and inventive in that it includes agricultural use as one of the principles of open space conservation, and it accords these principles the status of structuring elements in designing the future shape of urban Setif.

However, there is a major contradiction between this project and reality. These

29

Cheikh El Aïfa Chouf Lakddad

Gaoua

Ville de Sétif El Hassi Abid Ali

Aïn S'fiha

Aïn Terick

areas are in fact spontaneously used and subject to deterioration. This contradiction is noticed in the city’s decision-making processes. Collective action and management is necessary and action should come with consent from the authorities. The future of these natural landscapes in and around the city needs another development approach, with a general objective to reconcile local economic development and nature conservation, partly through agricultural use; it is a clear appeal to a new multifunctionality of agriculture.

Municipal policy must consider the holistic aspect of this space, both its constructed and open areas, and for that, it is necessary to improve the coordination of land use, social, economic, cultural and environmental policies instead of opposing agricultural use of the soil, as is currently the case.

Notes 1) See the works of Magister de S. Lamri and L. El Kolli of the Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences (UFA Sétif).

2) The decision of the Wali (local council) dated 08 May 2001 bans in its article 1 the irrigation of crops with wastewater and polluted waters, including the market gardening and fruit products.

Bibliography D U C., 1995. Model of development of the towns of Setif, El Eulma and Ain Arnat. Department of Urbanism and Construction of Setif (Algeria).

Cote M., 1999. La ville, la terre et l’eau en Algérie. Anthology of presentations from the International Seminar on City management (SIGV 99), M’sila (Algeria).

URBASE, 1979. Urbanism and City Development Master Plan of the district of Setif (PDAU): Reglement. Realisation and Urbanism Study Centre - Setif, 90 pages.

Who would have thought that a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project could regenerate pride in a community rifted by youth on drugs, high crime and poverty rates, and unemployment? This was the situation facing the young couple, the Maunakea-Forths, who conceived of the idea to develop a CSA - the Mala ‘Ai ‘Opio (hereafter MA’O) Organic Farm - in Wai’anae, Hawai’i.

T

he rationale behind their nascent plans was to reverse the social decline by reclaiming the community’s identity and Hawai’i’s longstanding tradition with local agriculture.

The Farm also aims to give the at-risk youth population a career direction through a youth training and entrepreneurial volunteer programme that provides hands-on business skills, and which will build up the fledgling project.

This article is the result of a semester-long, community-based planning seminar taught in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai’i. It draws upon information obtained from interviews with the Maunakea-Forths and a community attitudes survey with community residents in the Wai’anae area.

A LINK TO THE PAST The MA’O Farm is embedded in a longstanding practice of community agriculture, which can be traced back to Japan over thirty years ago. Japanese women began this movement in 1965, concerned as they were about the increasing reliance on imported foods and the loss of farm land to urban development. This movement to “put the farmers’ face on food” was called teikei (Demuth, 1993). It eventually spread to Europe and was adapted to North American communities (in 1984) through Robyn van En, who also organised the first programme in North America (in 1986) - the Indian Line Farm in South Egremont, Massachusetts (see: http://www.csacenter.org). The

_________________ Camille Tuason Mata Partnership for Human Rights and Development (PaHRD), Valencia City, Philippines. c_tuasonmata@yahoo.com

✉

principles were and are the same as that of the original teikei: farmer-oriented, organic, and bio-dynamic.

The MA’O Farm is the latest addition to what has grown into an international movement. Today, throughout the United States and Canada alone, CSAs number over 1000. The CSA has also entered agricultural policy in some states.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Massachusetts, for instance, allocates a portion of their annual budget to expand operating CSAs. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMMUNITY What the CSA contributes to the community has been well documented.

When consumers buy less than 20% of their food locally, that means billions of dollars that could be spent on the region is invested elsewhere. Money leaking out of the economy translates into lost revenue, reducing a community’s ability to be self-sufficient. Consumer dollars spent on local farms, in contrast, support not only the economy but the farmers as well, as the revenue can be re-routed in several ways. It can be applied to cover the farm’s production costs, enabling the farmer to continue operating the farm. It can be used as seed money to subsidise the genesis of additional CSAs. The profits have also been known to sustain low-income households, seasonally, with petty cash.

Apart from economic benefits, the CSA strengthens community networks and spiritual ties between distant neighbours, as a medium for bringing people together. Average folks come together to produce something healthy and wholesome for the community. Events sponsored on CSA farms, celebrating

30

Honolulu Star Bulletin, March 3, 2004

Bringing Soul Back to Wai’anae: the Mala ‘Ai ’Opio Farm

The MA’O Farm is operated on 5-acres of leased land transplanted to rows.

local agriculture, inspire the pride that often arises when identity is attached to “place”. Because the burden of operating the farm is shared between the buyers and the farmer, there is an additional feeling of mutuality between farm and community, and a common desire to see an investment succeed.

What the CSA also contributes to the community, which park spaces cannot, is an abundance of healthy produce.

Cheaper to maintain than park space by thousands of dollars, and more bountiful in terms of rendering something consumable, the CSA feeds the community with non-synthetic, freshfrom-the-ground foods, a gift of health to households. Given all that the CSA can potentially bring into a community, the MA’O Farm seems an antidote to the despair obscuring the town’s complexion.

LINKING UP FOOD SECURITY TO WAI’ANAE Wai’anae’s reputation as a drug- and crime-infested, impoverished, welfare community echoes throughout the island of Oahu. The high unemployment rate is implied only by the cube-shaped, onelevel plantation houses inland that are reminiscent of Hawai’i’s plantation past.

One expects to see shattered needle vials scattered on the paved streets and boarded up windows of graffiti buildings, common illnesses of inner-city, disenfranchised neighbourhoods on the United States continent. Therefore, the tropical serenity of this periurban settlement comes as an unexpected surprise, but the predominantly Polynesian population is largely homeless. Teenagers daunted by the

UA-Magazine

With the median age being 21 in 2000, Wai’anae is clearly a young community.

Because youth represent a strong labour force, they are normally considered a regional asset by demographers.

Unfortunately, in Wai’anae, this strength is cancelled out by limited educational attainment. One implication of this is a paucity of skilled labour that can generate new businesses or other employment incentives for the area.

Another, too frequent consequence, is that the youth slide into criminal behaviour or engage in drug use, which tends to perpetuate the downward spiral into crime. In Wai’anae, rape, theft, and crystal methamphetamine (street name, “ice”) abuse bring young people into incursions with the law.

The MA’O Farm is the bright spot, the silver lining if you will, to the abysmal social conditions in Wai’anae. Residents warmed up to it immediately even before knowing much else apart from a brief description of its mission. In fact, in a community attitudes telephone survey, more than half of those surveyed expressed interest in becoming members.

One could also sense that local ownership of the farm influenced respondents’ approval; this is natural as MA’O Farm represents productivity and

December 2005

is contributory. Economically, it provides a food source at less than the market price, allowing even those on welfare to participate. Their entry into the CSA market can be further eased if the Farm began accepting food stamps.

N

Camille Tuason Mata

FOOD SECURITY AND BEYOND The MA’O Farm is located a short drive inland from the coast. It is operated on 5 acres of leased land (from a nearby church), with a green house, where seedlings are sprouted before being transplanted to rows.

Oahu

costs of higher education rarely proceed to college, and fail to pick up any real job skills because they don’t see the point.

Drugs normally crop up in such circumstances.

The locals’ story is checked against other island residents’ testimonies. Verification against the Census 2000 data-sets further proves the accuracy of residents’ responses. Although the median family income was $48,145, per capita income was only $13,348, somewhat less than that of the island’s average ($16,256).

These figures juxtaposed against the cost of living - which rose to 80.3% of per capita income (in 2000) from 55.1% in 1992 - significantly represent the economic hardship that households face daily. The poverty rate (19.8%) exceeded that of the State (10.4%) and the entire country (12.4%). The unemployment rate (at 8.2%) was equally high, but the percentage of the population that received public assistance (25%) is more compelling; even employed households must rely on welfare. Wages are clearly not sufficient for households to live on.

Hawaii

Waianae Coast

Waianae, O’ahu, Hawaii

The vegetables grown are fairly typical of CSAs. There are the usual mesculun greens, varieties of lettuce, bok choy, herbs (especially basil and cilantro), radishes, and green onions. What makes MA’O Farms unique from those located in cooler climates is the tropical produce, like apple bananas and papayas, as well as the kalo (taro plant), which is strongly associated with Native Hawai’ian culture and has been adopted by contemporary residents.

Like many other indigenous cultures, agriculture is profoundly rooted in the Native Hawai’ian identity.

Ethnographers have published a large volume of literature carefully expounding on the intricate Native Hawai’ian agricultural techniques and elaborate irrigation systems.

The highlight of the Farm is the youth programme. At-risk youth are recruited to spend ten months on the farm learning leadership skills and the mechanics of running an entire business. During this term, they volunteer time working in the fields, planting seeds and weeding in exchange for business skills, namely cash handling, marketing, designing shares, and building the membership base. In the meantime, they also learn about small-scale ecological agriculture, from developing plots to sowing, nurturing the soil, and harvesting.

As the youth plan for the growth of the MA’O Farm CSA, they are also preparing to manage its future. In the process, they learn to collaborate with each other and simultaneously enrich community networks by forging new links between themselves and the community.

POTENTIAL FOR EXPANSION The biggest challenge for the youth

31

volunteers has been to expand the membership base, a prime marketing target because buyers propagate the Farm’s financial sustainability. At the time of research, there were only three steady members, so the youth volunteers have issued fliers and press releases to disseminate word about the Farm’s existence Presently, the Farm is connected to another equally fortuitous business: the Aloha ‘Aina Café (which means love the land), a complementary food business also conceived, managed, and run by the Maunakea-Forths.

On the day of the research visit, the Farm already boasted rows and rows of readyto-be-picked produce. The bright red, oval-shaped radishes were bursting from the soil, the basil thickets swollen to maximum density. The youth volunteers’ earnestness is revealed in the new linkages they have developed with other institutions around the island, namely the Centre for Organic Sustainable Agriculture in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) at the University of Hawai’i in Manoa Valley (Honolulu). With faculty support, they can improve their organic farming techniques to ensure healthy plantings, yearly. Clearly, the youth are paving the way towards a successful business, and hopefully their experience with the MA’O Farm will be the springboard for future entrepreneurial ventures in Wai’anae.

References Robyn van En Center for Community Supported Agriculture Website www.csacenter.org Demuth, Suzanne (1993). “Defining Community Supported Agriculture”. In Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): An Annotated Bibliography and Resource Guide. Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, National Agriculture Library, United States Department of Agriculture. www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa/csadef.html United States Census (2002), www.census.gov

Urban Agriculture in the Netherlands: multifunctionality as an organisational strategy Multifunctional land use and the Netherlands have become synonymous as the population of this small country on the rim of the North Sea has increased over the decades to a current density matched only by a small number of places on this earth (1). The experiences of two organisations involved in urban agriculture and multifunctional land use in the Netherlands show how both utilise their multifunctional character as an organisational strategy.

T

he two organisations described in this article are the Bond van Volktuinders (BVV) or Association of Gardeners in Amsterdam and the Overlegplatform Duinboeren or Dialogue Platform Dune Farmers, in the South of the Netherlands.

MULTIFUNCTIONALITY AS A POLICY-INFLUENCING STRATEGY Established in 1917, the BVV was originally meant to join the forces of the working class people who had been producing food on small plots to complement their daily meals during the economically harsh years of the First World War. After the war, the Amsterdam municipality looked for new locations to accommodate urban expansion and set its sights on the working class’ urban gardens. To this very day, the BVV’s main activities concern negotiations with the municipality in an ongoing attempt to withstand the omni-present urban pressure.

Unified in parks, the 6,000 urban gardens of today’s Amsterdam are spread out over the city in clusters, most of them located near the fringes. Of the total ground surface of the city (21,907 ha), the garden parks constitute 300 ha, which is considerable in a city whose population density reaches over 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre in some districts.

✉

_________________ Marije Pouw Joanna Wilbers ETC-Urban Agriculture, Leusden, The Netherlands j.wilbers@etcnl.nl, m.pouw@etcnl.nl

Since 1994, Dutch urban planners have had to adhere to the ”Compact City Policy”, initiated by the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environment and intended to ensure that rural areas stay rural, while urban areas are ”compacted” to be able to absorb and house the growing number of people, industries and businesses (2). This policy also poses a threat to the BVV’s urban gardens.

In its constant struggle for continuity of the existence of the urban gardens, the BVV applies the concept of multifunctionality as an argument in negotiations with local government, stating that the urban gardens are not only of use to their proprietors (3), but also to the remaining part of the Amsterdam population. While in the early 1900s the gardens were mostly used to produce food, they now serve a highly diverse set of functions for an equally diverse group of beneficiaries (4).

Firstly, the urban gardens provide the urban population with a leisure space where they can be outdoors, where they can recreate in an active manner at low costs and where they can be in contact with nature, a scarcity in an urban environment. Secondly, the urban gardens provide a space where children (through integration of nature classes into the primary school education curriculum) as well as adults can be educated about nature and the environment. The third function concerns nature and ecology: the gardens provide an opportunity to practice environment-friendly gardening and contribute to the maintenance and stimulation of urban biodiversity, adding to its variety of animals, insects and plants.

32

Joanna Wilbers

0

Food production garden in Amsterdam

Fourthly, the garden parks are used as a cultural location for the organisation of art exhibitions, which provide local artists with an opportunity to exhibit their artwork. They also allow the central city districts to retain the middle-income groups, that is, people who can afford to leave the inner-city and move to the suburbs in search of a higher-quality living environment, which usually involves more green facilities. Maintaining “the green” in the central city districts in the form of urban gardens will prevent the economic impoverishment of these districts.

Additionally, urban garden parks contribute to an improved social climate in the city, as they stimulate the social contact between their users and hereby prevent often-witnessed urban problems such as loneliness, violence and intolerance. Moreover, urban gardens provide the urban population with an opportunity to live in a green environment, which has proven to be beneficial for a person’s physical and mental health. Moreover, the parks fulfil a societal function, as contacts between them and societal institutes (mostly health care) have been increasing in number as well as in intensity as the gardens for example provide leisure opportunities for the elderly, mentally and physically handicapped people and psychiatric patients. In addition, the urban gardens

UA-Magazine

MULTIFUNCTIONALITY AS AN ECONOMIC STRATEGY The Loonse en Drunense Duinen is an area designated as a National Park with a total area of 3,500 ha. The area is called “dunes” as it consists of sand plains that shift and are altered by the wind. Farmers located around these dunes feared they would lose their livelihoods when the region was nominated as a national park. Therefore, in 1995 around 170 farmers established the Overlegplatform Duinboeren (Dialogue Platform Dune Farmers). Traditionally, farmers have created and maintained the landscape of the dunes. To continue this existence, the producers had to be provided with positive long-term economic prospects. However, at the same time, if the National Park’s highly valued nature was to be preserved, the agricultural companies would have to make changes in the way they used the land. To resolve these issues, the periurban community set up a constructive dialogue with local government and environmental organisations, leading to the adoption of more sustainable and environmentfriendly practices. In this way, the area became a source of inspiration and renewal for local farmers, instead of a threat. This change of heart also captured the attention of the local community, where residents have become far more active in developing their own region. As such, the farmers involved have become initiators in landscape management, periurban education and agrotourism.

Although the dunes are located in (what we call in the Netherlands) a mainly rural area, they are surrounded by three large cities: Waalwijk, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg. In total the area accommodates around half a million people. Inhabitants from the surrounding cities visit the dunes for leisure and an increasing number of people are moving into the area, thereby influencing its development. Farmers, the

December 2005

original inhabitants of the area, have to deal with this in a positive way by offering services oriented toward the people living in the cities, like open space and peace.

At the moment, the area is undergoing changes initiated by the provincial authorities in response to the continued pressure on land and changing public opinion about the often animal-unfriendly form of intensive livestock keeping practiced there. This situation has led to a new context for the dune farmers: increasingly they cannot only concentrate on farming for economic sustainability but need to conduct other activities as well.

The Overlegplatform Duinboeren is a good example of a group of farmers who are oriented toward the surrounding cities and organised as “urban actors”. In doing so, they not only defend their own interests but also respond to the needs of other (mostly) urban actors. The National Park and the farms bordering it cater to the needs of urban people to recreate in a green, open and healthy environment.

Some farmers offer health care services at their farms, whereby elderly or mentally handicapped people come to the farms to rest or help and thereby improve their health. Moreover, the farmers offer several leisure activities, like excursions on the farm or a nature walk on the farm’s premises. The farms provide a space where children and adults can learn about farming, nature and the environment.

Many farmers engage in agricultural nature conservation on and around their farms. They are important for the maintenance of the (typical) landscape in the area. Moreover, many farmers engage in several environmental projects of companies in the area.

A number of farmers grow and sell local products. These local products have been grown here for a long time and are therefore part of the cultural history of the area.

All of these diversification strategies lead to a continuity of farming and consequently provide the farmers with income, while at the same time maintaining the landscape. Without farmers, landscape maintenance would have to be performed and paid for by the government. Moreover, the farmers are strengthening the local economy through the selling of local produce.

33

Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.minbuza.nl

provide a space where different cultural groups in an ever-more diversely composed urban society can meet and learn from, as well as about, each other.

Finally, it is envisaged by the BVV that, as urban gardens are located in and around residential areas, this will decrease the need to construct houses with gardens.

This will permit residential areas to be built in a more compact manner and demonstrates the gardens’ urbanisation function.

Amsterdam

Den Bosch

DUINBOEREN AREA

Tilburg

Eindhoven

The Netherlands: location of Amsterdam and Duinboeren area

Lastly, contacts between the periurban and urban people have improved since a debate between these two groups was initiated by the Duinboeren organisation.

Miscommunication between the two groups is common; they therefore need to be in contact in order to understand each other’s positions, as well as to realise that they need each other. Urban people need the periurban farming area for leisure and food, while the rural people need the cities as a market for their products and services.

CONCLUSION In the authors’ view, the fact that the urban and/or periurban green areas fulfil many different functions for many different groups in society justifies the existence of this form of land use in the scarce urban space. Demonstrating and transmitting this added value with all its different aspects, in an effective manner, both towards political bodies as well as towards the groups targeted, should be an important sustainability strategy of the organisations representing urban producers and recreationists and is thus an important challenge for Dutch urban spatial development.

References and notes (1) The average population density of the Netherlands in 2005 is 392 inhabitants per square kilometre (see http://www.internetstad.nl/index.php/Nederland).

(2) See http://www.vrom.nl, the website of the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environment for more information on the ‘Compact City Policy’.

(3) Urban gardeners in Amsterdam do not own the land they garden on, but they rent it from the municipality, through the BVV. (4) Presentation Johan van Schaick at the BVV office in Amsterdam, September 11th 2005, at the Urban Producers’ Exchange Visit organised by ETC Urban Agriculture in The Netherlands.

Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: urban agriculture as an essential infrastructure Experiences showing the beneficial effects, and in some cases essential benefits, of urban agriculture have been described in this magazine, other journals and websites.

Most of these experiences show benefits related to food security and income, with a primary focus on the South. However, the benefits of urban agriculture are potentially applicable to a far wider population, as the integration of urban agriculture into a multifunctional (mixed) land use strategy has the potential to significantly reduce a city’s ecological footprint. The question arises as to why urban agriculture is not being implemented or propagated on a far wider scale in existing and emerging cities,

W

ithin the design professions, the reason for this neglect of attention to urban agriculture results partly from the lack of quantified and comparative data for the environmental impact of remote food production. In the case of agriculture the energy used on a farm is relatively small, but once “food miles” and petrochemical and food processing inputs are taken into account, the energy impact becomes much larger.

Apart from lack of knowledge about the energy arguments in favour of urban agriculture, at least two other reasons can be found for the lack of support for urban agriculture in mixed-use development. A major reason is that it is seen as producing less financial return from land which could otherwise be commercially developed. Another reason is that there is

_________________ Andre Viljoen & Katrin Bohn School of Architecture and Design, University of Brighton, UK. a.viljoen@brighton.ac.uk

✉

Bohn & Viljoen Architects (copyright)

This paper is written from a U.K. perspective and uses London as an example of an expanding city.

The Beam Valley Fields proposal for the Thames Gateway.

(Bohn & Viljoen architects)

no understanding of what a city, in which urban agriculture is integrated, would be like to live in.

To answer the first concern it is necessary to articulate the reasons for considering urban agriculture as an element of “essential infrastructure” within sustainable cities. Just as we see roads and energy systems as essential, urban agriculture should be considered likewise. The big advantage of urban agriculture over other elements of infrastructure is that it offers a number of ancillary benefits at no or low cost to the city.

The first part of this paper will articulate some of the main advantages of urban agriculture, and the second part will present a vision for a city that integrates urban agriculture.

ARTICULATING THE ADVANTAGES OF UA The (potential) benefits of urban agriculture in terms of social impacts, health improvement, community building, poverty alleviation and environmental improvement are already fairly well covered in a number of publications. Such arguments include: The potential for combining sustainable transport strategies with open space strategies including urban agriculture (green grids / ecological corridors).

Bringing qualities and functions, traditionally associated with the “countryside”, into the city.

The potential for retaining an urban density while developing urban agriculture: utilising open space to maximise the use of natural energy

This negative environmental impact of remote non-organic food production is highlighted in a study commissioned by the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, on Food Miles. (ED56254, Issue 7, The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development, Final Report for DEFRA, July 2005). An article titled “Food miles report suggests cost of food transport is £9bn” in Farmers Weekly on the 15 July 2005 summarised its conclusions as follows: -“The total economic, environmental and social costs of food transport is estimated at £9bn.

-Food transport has a significant and growing impact on road congestion, road accidents, climate change, noise and air pollution.

-The quantity of food transported by Heavy Goods Vehicles in the UK has doubled since 1974 and food transport currently accounts for 25% of the distance covered by HGVs. -Consumers travel an average of 898 miles a year by car to shop for food.

-In total, food transport produced 19mt of carbon dioxide in 2002 of which 10mt were emitted in the UK.”

34

UA-Magazine

systems in buildings.

The potential for hybrid buildings, combining food and (solar) energy functions. Other indirect benefits regarding quality of life, due to adjacency to cultivated fields and/or market gardens (see also the article by Wolff in UAM no. 13).

Table: Comparison of indicative costs of transport and urban agriculture

However, further new emerging and reemerging arguments need to be highlighted and developed.

production. This theoretical position makes the case for the central (urban) location of horticulture and dairying.

This work is of contemporary relevance since it is based on non-mechanical transportation and minimum access to preservation (e.g. refrigeration), both essential factors affecting the embodied energy of food, both in the North and the South. Another two practical concerns need to be addressed when discussing the integration of urban agriculture in the city: cost and available space.

At the scale of urban development, density of occupation (people per square metre) has become a single measure for sustainable development. This emphasis on density has arisen as the result of a partial acceptance of influential reports on sustainable development, such as the UK’s 1999 Urban Task Force report . This report strongly advocates mixed use development at relatively high densities as a means of achieving sustainable cities.

While the report takes a broad view of sustainable development, and does not exclude urban agriculture, in many instances density is being used as a rarely challenged single measure for sustainability. The consequence of this over-simplification, is that little opportunity is left for urban agriculture or other forms of greening.

Other recent and old concerns are (re-) emerging, which support the case for considering urban agriculture as part of a city’s essential infrastructure. The issue of Peak Oil for instance (Peak Oil is the point in time when half of all oil reserves will have been extracted). There is a growing consensus that the peak has or is close to being reached. This has clear implications for the contemporary food industry, and it is receiving increasing attention. Another debate is about the question of what to do with the countryside when farmers have stopped producing food due to imports. Although a case is made for urban agriculture, there is no consensus about the desirability to reduce food imports, indeed it is argued that importing food can provide vital revenue to exporting countries.

The work of the nineteenth century farmer and theoretician von Thünen deserves revaluation here, since his economic theory related agricultural yields to transportation, value and

December 2005

*Full specification public highway 10m wide *Basic specification private access road 10m wide *Raised beds on contaminated ground, based on the Cuban organoponico model *Market garden on uncontaminated ground, planting directly in the earth

A comprehensive financial appraisal of UPA in relation to cities within Europe or cities at a similar stage of economic development has not yet been undertaken. There is an urgent need for such an appraisal of local food systems (such as the CPUL concept described below) versus current food strategies. But a rough calculation, comparing the costs of constructing roads and urban agriculture, already gives interesting insights.

This table, which is based on cost estimates supplied to the authors in June 2005 by the quantity surveying firm RLF Consulting, shows the relatively low cost of developing and maintaining urban agriculture as compared to roads.

While a full economic comparison would need to include many other external factors such as health benefits from fresh local food, verses food mile costs, etc., it appears that a strong economic case may be made for UPA, if a full costing taking account of transport savings and environmental benefits is undertaken.

CONTINUOUS PRODUCTIVE URBAN LANDSCAPES (CPULS) A comprehensive and illustrated design concept is required if people are expected to imagine a city enhanced by urban agriculture. The Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) concept attempts to provide such a vision and coherent design framework. CPULs have

35

£2000 /m2 £200 /m2 £50 /m2 £0.5 /m2

been defined by the authors as a coherently planned combination of connected open urban spaces which include space for urban agriculture and ecologically productive landscapes.

CPULs may be thought of as a new kind of extended public park, integrating traditional recreational and leisure facilities, with areas devoted to urban agriculture fields, ecological corridors, cycle and pedestrian routes. CPULs aim to be productive in economical (food production), socio-cultural (quality of life) and environmental (carbon dioxide emission reduction, improved biodiversity, air quality and the provision of heat island sinks) terms.

An essential feature of CPULs is that they are developed at an urban scale, and contribute to a city-wide landscape strategy. They would be constructed to incorporate living and natural elements and are designed to encourage and allow urban dwellers to observe activities and processes traditionally associated with the countryside, thereby re-establishing a relationship between life and the processes required to support it.

A CPUL IN LONDON In order to assess the space available for CPULs within an expanding European city, the authors and Dr Jorge Pena Diaz, from the Instituto Superior Politécnico “José Antonio Echeverría”, (ISPJAE) Havana, undertook a study in 2004 with the Architecture and Urbanism Unit at the Greater London Authority entitled, London Thames Gateway: Proposals for implementing CPULs in London Riverside and the Lower Lea Valley (Viljoen et al.

2004).

London Riverside and the Lower Lea Valley, are sites east of London, designated for the city’s future expansion and are respectively planned to accommodate 32,875 and 21,754 new housing units by 2016. Both of these sites contain large areas of contaminated

CONCLUSIONS FROM THE LONDON CPUL STUDY Several specific problems need to be addressed before CPULs can be implemented more widely. These are similar to those encountered when planning for other large-scale urban infrastructure projects. Some of the main issues are:

brownfield sites, and both are adjacent to potentially uncontaminated land available for periurban agriculture. The Lea Valley, site for the 2012 Olympics, is also famous as home to London’s at onetime extensive but now depleted market gardens, which supplied the city’s fruit and vegetable requirements.

At the time of writing, work continues on the development of proposals for the green grid strategy, and it appears that a number of different consultants are being commissioned to undertake design studies. It is evident given the large number of stakeholders and bodies involved with different aspects of implementing the Thames Gateway plan that the follow-through of these ambitious strategic plans will prove to be difficult.

The authors have raised the idea, with the Olympic team, of integrating the CPUL concept into the London 2012 Olympic plans to enhance the organisers’ stated aim of running the “greenest games the world has ever seen.” At the time of writing it is unclear if this idea will be taken any further.

Industrial landscape near West Ham

Open urban space in Daggenham.

Bohn & Viljoen Architects (copyright)

The CPUL concept compliments an ambitious “green grid” strategy for creating a network of connected open spaces, currently being promoted by the Greater London Authority. The CPUL study indicated that notwithstanding constraints on the availability of land, sufficient land is available to create a viable CPUL. The potential yield from urban agriculture sites within the proposed CPUL will vary enormously depending upon the type of agriculture practised. If yields found on traditional English allotments are assumed, then one could expect sufficient fruit and vegetable production, within the London Riverside CPUL, to feed 4000 persons. If, however, yields based on 50% of those produced by high-yield organoponicos in Cuba are assumed, then 39,000 people could be fed (50% is an estimate to allow for climatic differences). Thus a CPUL strategy could make a significant contribution to the improvement of urban sustainability within the London Thames Gateway. The authors suggested that pilot projects be set up to validate yields, for instance, and to identify other practical issues that a theoretical study alone cannot address.

Pylon landscape near Choats Road.

Land ownership and the need for agreements to purchase or provide access to land. This can be extremely complex, and requires long-term spatial and acquisition policies. It is at this level of policy that a new single space planning body / authority, capable of interacting meaningfully with all stakeholders is required. Lessons can be learnt for governmental bodies and NGOs such as the UK-based sustainable transport organisation, SUSTRANs, which is independently developing an extensive cycle network across the country.

Competing demands for land, not only from traditional developers / investors, but also from diverse interest groups such as sports organisations and environmental groups promoting wilderness areas. Building a consensus or linkages between these different stakeholders will be an important task.

Providing adequate infrastructure for market gardeners willing to take on UPA sites.

Utilising periurban agriculture sites to support new development should be encouraged, but not to the exclusion of urban

36

agriculture. Sole reliance on periurban agriculture would result in the loss of associated social benefits of urban agriculture, such as community building, facilities for children’s experiences and learning about natural cycles and sustainable development, neighbourhood improvement, etc. Furthermore, expanding cities would never start to implement a CPUL strategy and would thus minimise the opportunities for local food production, ecological and sustainable transport corridors. Ultimately this would minimise potential food miles savings, and the quality of life, health and environmental benefits associated with urban agriculture.

In addition to these practical and policyrelated issues, there is a need to address the public appreciation of CPULs. If CPULs are to compete with urban life consisting of apartment blocks and superstores, awareness needs to be created and approval gained for the “good life” associated with UA and CPULs. In the UK, as elsewhere in Europe this process is still in its infancy, but encouraging signs are emerging.

References ED 56254, Issue 7, 2005. The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development, Final Report for DEFRA, July 2005.

Urban Task Force, 1999. Towards an Urban Renaissance. London: E&FSpon Viljoen. A, Bohn. K, Pena Diaz. J, 2004. London Thames Gateway: Proposals for implementing CPULs in London Riverside and the Lower Lea Valley. PDF copies of the full report are available from http://www.brighton.ac.uk/arts/research.

Follow links for Research Activity, Individual Researchers, Viljoen. The report is found under publications.

Viljoen. A (ed.), 2005. Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities. Oxford: Architectural Press.

UA-Magazine

FoodSpace: Food production in the city Existing alternatives to factory foods can be remarkably nostalgic, relying on models of rural purity and tiny homesteads, separated from the urban centres these farms serve. Our cultural associations with the purity of the countryside and the pollution of cities have limited our incorporation of new urban farming methods. By relying on standard, and horizontal, spatial relationships to our food, we have overlooked the potential of cities to provide us with fresh, seasonal, and local foods.

FoodSpace is a design thesis at the University of California at Berkeley, and as such not (yet) implemented.

C

urrent food production systems rely on a spatial separation between food production and food consumption.

Mono-cropped fields stretch across the North American landscape on a massive scale. Interstate highways snake through them, supporting the movement of trucks carrying our food over thousands of miles. Food is grown, processed, and packaged far from the spaces in which it is consumed. From the point of view of the consumer, most, if not all, food production and delivery to our plates remains an entirely invisible process, and yet it shapes what we eat and how we eat the food that keeps us alive.

Design and architecture have rarely challenged this separation. Production occurs far from where consumption takes place, allowing for the exploitation of human labour and an unsustainable dependence on fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Urban design provides an architectural infrastructure only for the consumption of food, never the production of it. Urban agriculture in North America has been forced to take up forgotten shards of land and limited container spaces on few rooftops.

Historically, livestock and gardens were necessary parts of American cities, but cities have become significantly less productive during the past 50-100 years.

ROLE OF CONSUMERS Since the late nineteenth century, we have been dependent on brands to

✉

_________________ Ursula Lang ursula.a.lang@gmail.com

December 2005

differentiate products, as well as to increasingly define who we are, and what is important to us. For consumers, alternatives to status quo farming take shape in how we choose our foods. We have in recent years increasingly bought food based on its origins and production methods, with labels such as: “organic,” “pesticide-free,” “minimally-processed,” “free range,” “no antibiotics,” “nonGMO”.

What if, in addition to the current “alternative models” of health food coops, CSA boxes, and farmers’ markets, urban food production could play a more active role in food consumption? Rather than depend on brands and labels to represent the food production methods, we could consume – visually, aurally, olfactorily, sensorily – the whole process, and not just the end result. As a highly visible structure in the city, FoodSpace would instantly reveal the state of food production to passers-by on foot, freeways, buses and trains. Consumers could move throughout the building, picking their own tomatoes, or filling bottles with honey. Visitors to the restaurant would munch on goat cheese as goats cavort past them.

FoodSpace could become an approach to food consumption (and production) with a variety of shapes, sizes and materials, depending on regional weather, species produced, and consumption patterns. In San Francisco, FoodSpace would be a highly visible high-rise food production centre, run by a non-profit cooperative of at least 18 full-time workers, and house five organisms at a variety of scales – honeybees, tomatoes, dairy goats, mushrooms and snails.

SITING FOODSPACE Shaping the North American discourse

37

on food origins, seasonal and local fresh foods, food justice issues, as well as obsessions with flavour, pleasure, and taste for the past 30 years, chef and restaurant-owner Alice Waters and her compatriots in the San Francisco Bay Area have articulated with much acclaim the importance of being connected to one’s food. Alice Waters’ simple ideas about fresh and seasonal produce in the 1970s gave rise to a “California cuisine”, led by her famous restaurant Chez Panisse, and have enabled the San Francisco area to become ground zero for North American forays into “authentic” and “artisanal” foods and cafes. The concentration of affluence and education, immigration, and the willingness to engage in thinking about issues of the origins of food make it an ideal testing ground for a project such as FoodSpace. The Bay Area’s mild climate and the year-round availability of locally grown produce, as well as geographical access to a variety of nearby foodgrowing regions, have contributed to this regional identity based in large part on food. FoodSpace would be sited on the south-eastern edge of San Francisco’s Financial District, a half block from a major transportation hub, and with increasing residential and mixed-use projects underway nearby. FoodSpace would intersect the paths of commuters and residents, as well as visitors from throughout the city, with a variety of food consumption options. In an area where consumers are already active and engaged in food origins, FoodSpace would generate discussion and interest, as well as fresh local foods.

FOODSPACE TAKES SHAPE FoodSpace has been designed by analysing the spatial characteristics, including basic biology and resource needs, of five organisms – honey bees, tomatoes, dairy goats, mushrooms, and snails. The various species were initially researched individually, and then analysed for overlapping resource needs.

While a snail can thrive in low to medium levels of light, tomatoes need bright light.

High humidity is required for mushrooms, but honey bees need dry air

FOODSPACE Land value (12 acres)

Structures and materials Infrastructure (water, sewer connections) Transportation

Environmental impacts Labour practices Inputs (water and hay) Restaurant and access to running water. With such varied needs, especially also considering the complex biology, lifespan, behaviour, social perceptions and productivity of each species, analysis focused on the two most basic resources for design – light and water.

The necessary types and amounts of light would vary with the five species living in FoodSpace, and would form the basic organising relationships for the building, as coordinated with the varying light levels on the site due to adjacent buildings and solar geometry. Water would move throughout the building in a variety of forms, depending on the organisms’ needs – standing water in troughs, foggy mist for mushrooms and snails, running water for the restaurant and dairy.

Four main routes, each including freight elevators and stairs, would be used throughout the building for the movement of water and hay, manure, people, and foods ready for consumption.

The two major inputs to FoodSpace would be water and hay. The 1,000 goats of FoodSpace would produce about 5,000 lbs of manure and used bedding each day.

This manure would be transported down from the goat floors onto the first level, where it would be autoclaved for sterilisation, and subsequently used as growing medium for the mushrooms and snails.

New roles for consumers are made possible with the third route for circulation, focused on public access.

Consumers could move up through the

$8,781,703 (based on current assessed value from the City and County of San Francisco) $3,900,000 0 (connections to existing infrastructure easy and cheap) 0 (minimal – surplus produce transported 0.76 miles to Ferry Building Market) minimal and transparent $720,000 (18 full-time staff at $40,000/yr, including benefits) 8,580 gallons water/day $20,800 hay/yr $1,314,000 annual profit

CONVENTIONAL FARMLAND CENTRAL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA $240, 000

$3,120,000 $200,000 $1,148 per truckload (frequency of truckloads depends on product) high and opaque (invisible to consumers) exploited – especially immigrants and poor $200 – 400/acre for water $20,800 hay/yr (same) $0

building along a series of ramps, stairs, and an elevator to consume (see, taste, listen, smell) different parts of the food production process. The marketplace on the ground floor, easily accessible to passers-by and pedestrians going about their everyday downtown activities, would sell food produced in FoodSpace.

By providing a spectrum of consumption modes, the purely didactic nature of the project – showing people where their food comes from – fits into a larger experience of both food production and consumption.

The project could be described as a giant vending machine – as foods are made ready for consumption, they would move (generally down) through the consumption core to the various points of consumption – from the growing areas, to the goat milk dairy, or honey extraction rooms, or mushroom sorting areas, to the restaurant, cafe, and market areas. The fourth core would be devoted to these foods, intersecting with the four dairy areas, and located adjacent to the loading dock. Foods not consumed in FoodSpace would travel by truck 0.71 miles to the nearby Ferry Building, a redevelopment project housing a variety of local food markets and cafes.

productive outputs for twelve acres of Central Valley farmland were compared with the twelve acres of FoodSpace.

Because of the high land value of downtown San Francisco real estate, the economic costs of FoodSpace are significant, but not insurmountable.

Urban agriculture can benefit from accessing directly the existing infrastructure for water and waste of the city, and with this asset, in addition to almost no transportation costs and relatively little pollution, FoodSpace could become an entirely feasible project (see table).

CONCLUSION FoodSpace aims to generate discussion amongst those involved with urban agriculture of all kinds. While the form of a high-rise building devoted entirely to urban agriculture may not be the best solution to each city and region’s emerging foodways, this example tries to highlight new ways of imagining the powerful arguments for more local, fresh, seasonal foods incorporated into our urban architecture. I hope to further investigate urban spaces that are inclusive of agricultural activity at all scales.

TWELVE ACRES DOWNTOWN In terms of square footage, FoodSpace would equal twelve acres (about 4.8 ha).

Conventional agriculture in the Central Valley of California remains relatively inexpensive, despite the hidden costs of pollution, irrigation, and exploited human labour. To compare this “cheap” land use with FoodSpace, land values and

38

UA-Magazine

Farmer Response to Urban Pressures on Land, the Tamale experience Over the last two decades, land use in Tamale has been changing from predominantly agricultural (for cropping and animal husbandry) uses to non-agricultural uses, such as provision of residential and recreational space, transportation facilities, waste disposal and industrial production, mainly dictated by the urbanisation phenomenon.

T

CHANGING LAND USE Adapting to urbanisation, farmers use the land in the urban and periurban areas for

✉

_________________ Christina A. Amarchey ActionAid Ghana, Tamale, Ghana Christina.Amarchey@actionaid.org

December 2005

multiple purposes, like economic, educational or recreational. Vegetable production has now gained significant prominence as an income-generating activity. Farmers are taking advantage of the changing lifestyles of urban dwellers and the growing market to produce more exotic vegetables such as carrots, lettuce and cabbage. In Tamale, there are a number of water sources around which production activities are carried out on

Christina A. Amarchey

his change has been driven by such factors as economic demands, consumption patterns and lifestyles (Heilig, 2002). Since land is now needed for uses besides agriculture and forestry in the urban centre, its value has shifted from a consideration of its fertility and other favourable bio-physical characteristics to that of its functions.

This has resulted in the acquisition of some of the most suitable agricultural lands for residential developments, particularly those near the centre. There is a consequent decline in the farmed area and an increasingly limited access to the natural resources on which the livelihoods of the poorest depend.

Nonetheless, urbanisation also presents a growing market.

Tamale in Northern Ghana is a fastgrowing city and has a population density of 326 persons per km2 - the highest in the region (Ghana Statistical Service, 2000). Agriculture is the main occupation of most people in the metropolis, particularly those in the periurban areas (employing about 70% of the indigenous people). As agriculture keeps getting squeezed out of land use in the city, farmers find different ways of coping with the situation. Two main strategies can be identified that farmers have adopted in Tamale. These include changes in the land use pattern and joining forces with other individuals and groups.

Farmers now produce exotic vegetables for the urban market

open spaces. These include Builpela, Water Works, Zagyuri, Sognayili, Kpeni and Sangani. However, a common feature of all these locations is the dwindling size of land available for production. Apart from Sangani, farmers at the other areas cannot farm yearround, because landowners (who are also farmers) take back their lands in order to grow their own maize or sorghum crops (the main staples) during the rainy season. This is because crop farming is mainly rain-fed and these cereal farmers also have lost most of their farmlands to urban development and thus are compelled to use the same plots of land for their annual cereal farming. There is therefore a rotation of vegetable and cereal production each year on the same pieces of land. This arrangement among the farmers enhances the economic value of the land because it is never left fallow.

The yield of the cereal crops is also

39

improved as the crops benefit from the soil improvement materials (e.g. compost and chemical fertilisers) vegetable farmers apply on the land.

At Sangani, students of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University for Development Studies have been doing research in the last few years with the farmers in vegetable production and have in turn introduced the farmers to organic farming. Due to its proximity to the city centre the Sangani fields also provide recreational services to tourists. These functions have survived the encroachment pressure largely because of the availability of water sources, which are believed to be sacred and are being preserved as a cultural heritage.

JOINING FORCES Next to changing land use an emerging phenomenon is the formation of commodity-based associations and networks of farmers. These groups are not highly developed but it is common to come across loose groups of producers that can rally together for social or economic interests (URBANET-N/G, 2005). Such groups have existed for some time now mainly for social reasons, such as attending weddings and funerals.

However the trend now is towards the pursuit of more economic interests like securing credit, market access, etc. This serves as a good starting point for the development of viable farmer movements/coalitions for advocacy purposes.

The Urban Agriculture Network – Northern Ghana (URBANET-N/G) is a coalition of farmer associations, NGOs and government agencies (including research and training institutions).

URBANET–N/G started as a pressure group called Tamale Urban Agriculture Working Group (TUAWG) to influence development of urban agriculture in Tamale in 2000. At a dissemination workshop held in 2003 on the findings of a study (The Potentials of Agriculture in Tamale) commissioned by ActionAid Ghana in 2000 participants decided to formalise the network as URBANET–N/G. The land issue is seen as a priority area for advocacy.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING AND POLICY MAKING Realising the fast disappearance of farmlands in the metropolis, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly indicated in its Medium Term Development Plan for 2001-2004 that it would reserve some green spaces in the city. However, this has yet to take shape. It is necessary for the city authorities to better integrate urban agriculture into physical planning and ensure secure land tenure for urban farmers. Multiple land use in the city has a high potential of contributing to the food security of urban dwellers as well as the social and environmental management of the city. The city authorities should therefore consider making strategic investments for food security and urban agriculture. These may include strategic investment plans (e.g. for micro-credit, technology, etc.) and participatory budgeting to promote good governance at the metropolitan level.

CHALLENGES The real contribution of urban agriculture to food security is not quite clear to many stakeholders, especially metropolitan authorities and traditional authorities who control the acquisition and use of land. This may be a major contributing factor to the low commitment to implement plans even when an attempt is made to incorporate urban agriculture into metropolitan management. All stakeholders (farmer coalitions, advocacy organisations, city authorities, traditional authorities, etc.) will need to work together to ensure that urban agriculture is not only included in metropolitan planning but also as an element in the multiple use of land and in environmental protection (Cabannes et al, 2001).

References Cabannes, Y.; Dubbeling, M.; UMP-LAC/UNCHS-HABITAT/IPES (2001), Food Security, Urban Agriculture and Urban Management, City Farmer Ghana Statistical Service, (2000), The 2000 Population and Housing Census, Ghana Publishing Corporation, Accra.

Heilig, G. K., (2002), The Multifunctional Use of Landscapes – Some thoughts on the diversity of land use in rural areas of Europe; Paper presented at 2nd Expert meeting on European Land Use Scenarios, European Environmental Agency, November 25-26, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark Urban Agriculture Network – Northern Ghana (URBANETN/G) (2005), Farmer Group Needs Assessment Report, A survey commissioned by URBANET-N/G and conducted by the Department of Co-operatives in August, 2005.

Multifunctional Land Use in a Small Urban Agricultural Community in Lagos Land use reflects the functional activities assigned to a particular piece of land. In the past fifty years of Nigerian National Agricultural Development Planning, urban agriculture has not been promoted as a feasible urban land use or activity. Its contribution to urban food security and employment has not been acknowledged yet because food production is often perceived as a rural-based activity.

H

owever, with increasing urban population growth, accelerated rural-urban migration, and food insecurity, the high cost of housing, traffic congestion and delays and a high unemployment rate, informal land use allocation for urban agriculture has become a common feature in the past twenty years. There are land use changes and multifunctional uses of informal urban agricultural land in Lagos. This paper investigates the functional linkages in land use types in urban agricultural land and the implication for urban food production using a case study approach.

STUDY AREA The study area, Alapere farm, covers 66.45 hectares, lies between latitude 060 35’ and 060 36’ and longitude 030 23’ and 030 24’ and is situated on the mainland portion of Lagos metropolis. It is one of the three cells within Kosofe agricultural block, which is one of the ten agricultural blocks delineated by the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority.

This enclave encompasses a small

_________________ Vide Anosike, Shakirudeen Odunuga & Mayowa Fasona Department of Geography, University of Lagos vide3q@yahoo.com

✉

40

farming community, where farmers share a common interest but cultivate and take decisions individually about what affects them collectively. This site was purposely selected because it is one of the vibrant commercial vegetable production areas in Lagos metropolis and it is typical of other agricultural areas in the study area.

METHODOLOGY Arc view GIS was used to map the enclave. The landuse classes used for the classification of Alapere Farm Enclave are: Agriculture (Market Gardening), Housing, Recreation, Commercial (Market), Refuse Dump, Religious Use, and Transportation. The proportion occupied was calculated using the GIS functions. IKONOS image with 1m spatial resolution acquired in 2004 was used for the mapping because it was the most recent image available. A questionnaire survey, informal discussions and observation methods were used to collect socio-economic data as well as other information on reasons for land use systems in the enclave.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The study revealed that large numbers of farmers are male and earn about US $53.50 a month with little or no formal education. Women and children provide labour and marketing support to their husbands and fathers, and over half of the farmers belong to the Hausa- Fulani ethnic group, which migrated from the northern parts of Nigeria for dry season farming. There are farm owners who only coordinate farming activities, farm labourers and farmers who coordinate and who also perform cultivation activities.

The land was formally owned by the state government but has been sold to private individuals and organisations. Various types of land use activities take place at

UA-Magazine

Vide Anosike

the agricultural enclave of Alapere farm.

As indicated in figure 1, agricultural land use constitutes 43.56 hectares (65.56%) of the total area of the Alapere farm enclave.

This is followed by housing which covers 8.07 hectares (12.23%), recreation on 4.47 hectares (6.72%), commercial activities occupying 3.07 hectares ( 4.62%), the refuse dump site 2.57 hectares (3.87%), and transportation on 2.57 hectares (3.87%). Religious activities (both Muslim and Christian) occupy the least space within the enclave with 2.14 hectares (3.22%). The most common

Uncompleted building used as a residence by farmers

crops include both exotic (letus, spring onion, Parsley, Dheal, Radish and India spinage) and local (Water leaf, Amaranth spp, Ewedu C Oliferus, Bitter leaf, Fluted pumpkin, Tomatoes and Okra) vegetables.

Prior to the present developments, land use in Alapere was mainly for informal agriculture and landfill, but with the transfer of ownership to private individuals and organisations, land development for residential housing, religious activities, recreation and commercial activities has increased rapidly; and this has affected land use for food and food production related activities. For instance, the area of cultivated land within the Alapere farm enclave decreased from about 63 hectares in the 1970s to 43.56 hectares in 2004.

Based on these changes, it can be deduced that multifunctional land use is due in part to a lack of proper planning, poor implementation and inefficient monitoring of the urban activities.

Other incentives for a multifunctional land use system include poor socioeconomic status of the farmers, the perceived low cost of informal agricultural land, traffic delays and congestion that are common in Lagos, as well as the constant attention needed by cultivated vegetables. For these reasons farmers choose to construct and live in

December 2005

wood and corrugated sheet buildings close to their crops or occupy uncompleted buildings that dot the farming landscape. For instance, the building in the photo houses over sixty farmers.

The findings also revealed that farmsteads act as centres where farmers socialise, entertain visitors and meet for discussions and deliberations on issues that enhance the social and economic development of the farming community.

The enclave also acts as a location where food vendors, sachet water vendors, seed and fertiliser hawkers, as well as buyers of farm products can meet and trade.

Islamic religious groups among farmers have common prayer areas, where other Alapere community members also worship. The farm enclave also serves as a domestic landfill for residents and farmers within the community.

IMPLICATIONS FOR MUNICIPAL POLICY AND REGULATIONS This multifunctional use of the land in the Alapere farming community has both positive and negative effects. It shows that living and farming in the same environment enhances sustainable socialisation and the community togetherness necessary for peaceful coexistence in a multi-ethnic society such as Lagos.

It further facilitates the close attention required to tend vegetable crops, reduces crop theft and also enables farmers to react promptly to pest and insect infestations. Multifunctional land use within an urban farm environment saves time that would otherwise be wasted due to traffic congestion and delays that are common in Lagos, thereby increasing productivity, raising income, improving nutrition and health and alleviating poverty. This is particularly true now that the Lagos government has intensified its efforts to ensure food security and to increase the socio-economic statues of the urban poor. Multifunctional land use allows poor urban households access to cheap and affordable land for accommodation, which makes living in the city affordable and possible for them (Oyeleye, 2001).

However, because Alapere lies within the unplanned areas, it (like other farming enclaves) lacks sanitation and sewage

41

facilities and waste is dumped intermittently with farming activities.

This combined with the use of pesticides and other chemicals, and the pooling of water can present risks to those living in this environment (Birley et al 1999; Zeeuw, 2000). Women and children are particularly exposed to health and environmental threats as children play around the contaminated areas unprotected. The negative impact of the situation could undermine efforts by the urban poor to increase the food supply for the growing Lagos population. Thus official support, acknowledgment, proper planning and services, among other steps, are necessary to improve the agricultural system in the study area.

RECOMMENDATIONS ● Policy issues should be geared towards reducing sudden ejection of farmers from urban land used for cultivation as it has been shown that agricultural activities enhance the livelihood status of the urban poor. ● A plan for urban agricultural land use should be encouraged to boost sustainable urban agriculture in the cities. ● Urban agricultural activities should be integrated into government programmes aimed at reducing poverty, creating income and employment opportunities and improving local economic development. ● Public awareness campaigns should be initiated on the relevance of urban agriculture for urban food security, employment and income generating activities. ● Farmers should be educated on the health-related problems associated with farming activities to increase needed precautionary measures. ● Research should also be encouraged by both government and private individuals to allow greater availability of data and create opportunities for further research and interventions.

References Birley, M.H and Lock K. 1999. Health and Peri-Urban Natural resources production. Environment and Urbanization 10 (1) 89-106.

Oyeleye, D.A. 2000. Agriculture and Human Settlement: A Symbiotic Relationship. Inaugural Lecture delivered at University of Lagos.

Zeeuw, H. de. 2000, Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture, Health and Environment. FAO/RUAF electronic conference ‘Urban agriculture on Policy agenda’.

From Food Security to Food Safety: urban development in Bucharest

A

multi-disciplinary team project (SWAPUA) funded by the EU was the first to look at the performances and needs of urban agriculture in Romania (De Zeeuw, 2002). The major outcome is that today the Local Action Plan for Environment Bucharest (Regional Environment Plan Bucharest - Ilfov, 2004, Ministry of Environment), coordinated by the Regional Agency of Environmental Protection Bucharest, has recognised the socio-economic and environmental importance of urban farming practices in the city.

Since 1998, the periurban agricultural area under cultivation in Bucharest has dropped from 4130 ha to 3760 ha. The official records indicate that there are 81 agricultural commercial entities, 161 family enterprises and almost 4000 small individual farms smaller than 1 ha in size scattered on the outskirts of the city. Some of them, having less then 0.3 ha, were not counted in the overall municipal agricultural land figure. The main crops are cereals, vegetables and fodder (Agricultural Department of Bucharest, Annual Report, 2004).

The uncontrolled expansion of the city made the municipal authorities temporarily cease authorisation of new building construction in the northern agricultural zone (the most exposed to residential pressure).

_________________ Sorin Liviu Stefanescu Monica Dumitrascu Research Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry, Bucharest, Romania sorin@icpa.ro

✉

In 1999, the SWAPUA assessment of the reasons for undertaking agricultural activities on the outskirts of Bucharest revealed that only 5% of the interviewed farmers gave income generation and selfemployment as the main reason. Since then, the share of the producers less oriented towards surviving and subsistence farming and more focused on selling produce has continually increased.

9% of the farmers on the outskirts of Bucharest are now market oriented (Socio-economic database, RISSA, Bucharest, 2005). The average wages at country level continuously increased and doubled between 1999 and 2005.

There is a constant rise in the demand for food in terms of quantity in Bucharest (proved by the logarithmic increase in the number of super/hypermarkets built between 1996 and 2005). But as social research has ascertained, satisfaction of this demand has always been accompanied by some degree of anxiety (Fischler, 1988 cited by Torjusen et al., 2004). In Bucharest, one of the fears has centred on the doubtful quality (taste, scent and consistence) of the fresh vegetables and fruits (the imported products prevail over the local ones in the municipal markets).

BUILDING UP A PLATFORM Within a project targeted on increasing the quality of available land for farming and the quality of periurban agricultural production delivered to the municipal market (ASSP nr. 2482, Platform for ecologizing the local resources and municipal market oriented vegetables production granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and the World Bank), a platform has been set up,

42

comprising representatives of the commercially oriented periurban farmers, research, education and extension units, NGOs, administrative authorities (heads of the public vegetables markets and municipality departments), the Regional Agency of Environmental Protection Bucharest and the Municipal Office for Consumers Protection. During a two-day meeting (28-29 July 2004), a common action plan was developed and agreed upon and then the actors assumed responsibilities according to their experience, resources, capabilities and level of decision making. The project actions included technical research (socio-economic, environmental and market assessments), on-farm demonstration and training developments, and wide use of extension tools (leaflets, practical guides, media campaign, etc). Part of the planned activities were financially supported by the project, whilst other activities were supported by the actors’ own resources, like allowing periurban organic farmers to sell eco-products on tax-free stands in the public markets. The platform succeeded in building bridges between different and complex networks and urban farming.

CONVERSION TO ORGANIC FARMING The project continued with a survey among the small-scale periurban vegetable growers comprising over 400 questionnaires as well as on-field extensive interviews. The assessment revealed that converting to organic production would be not make a big difference, since 80% of the investigated farmers use less then 100 kg N -

Sorin Liviu Stefanescu

The expected integration of Romania in the EU has led to a significant change of perception on environmental issues by policy makers both in the rural areas as well in urban sites. With over 2 million residents, Bucharest is the largest city in Romania, has the lowest rate of unemployment in the country (4%) and faces high residential pressure. In the past decade, urban agriculture was seen as a minor issue at national and local level, but recently the quality of periurban agriculture and the impact of the industry on the quality of municipal food consumption have received increasing attention.

Tomato crop in a periurban organic demonstration plot

UA-Magazine

Sorin Liviu Stefanescu

relationships between both parties are based on “personal” trust.

Periurban farmers visiting an organic demonstration plot

fertiliser/ha and half of them apply less then 3 chemical pest-control treatments/year/crop. Only 29% of the respondents identified an organic product as one that is inspected, certified and labelled as such, while 51% confused organic with “natural”. The large majority still knows nothing about organic regulations. Nevertheless, over half of the respondents would like to undertake a conversion to organic. This interest is directly related to the education level of the farmer. An interesting result is the identified difference in the quality of the inputs used by a significant number of farmers on the parcels cultivated for self consumption vs. parcels cultivated for the market. One third of the commercially oriented farmers using synthetic agrochemicals recognised that they strongly limit the use of these on the selfconsumption parcels.

Part of the survey was oriented at consumers at the municipal fresh vegetables market. A similar percentage of respondents in this group (29%) were aware of the identification of organic products. 20% of the respondents were willing to buy organic products at a slightly higher price than conventional ones. 77% of the respondents prefer to purchase vegetables produced in Romania rather then imported ones. The market interviews revealed that some “food scares” emerging from the West (like salmonella, mad cow disease, genetically modified foods and crops) have been noticed by the most educated and high-income consumers. Moreover, many low and middle-income aged consumers expressed the view that urbanisation increases the distance between producers and consumers, thereby reducing the possibility that

December 2005

Learning from experiences in Western Europe, where organic farming seems to be more relevant next to urban settlements (Van Hirtum et al., 2002), the project developed 6 demonstration plots in the periurban area of Bucharest. At the same time, an intensive organic training programme was implemented and well received by the periurban farmers. But next to overall positive economic results (in 2004, average yields of tomatoes ranged between 36.7 and 44.3 t/ha and reached profits up to 2.8%), at one farm located the closest to Bucharest, it was perceived that high exposure to pests and climatic extremes was related to its close proximity to a residential area). The farm located on the municipal border faced yield losses of up to 40% due to a strong aphid attack followed by a summer storm with heavy rainfall and hail (the climatic event occurred only in the city on 26 July 2004). The coordinators of the project suggested that the organic network should be redesigned to be located at least 10 km further away from the municipal border.

ASSESSING AND IMPROVING THE LAND QUALITY The industrialisation process that has taken place during the last decades in Bucharest has caused diverse environmental problems due to polluting emissions generated by the chemical industry, factories, power stations and traffic. In addition, agricultural practices undertaken on the city outskirts contributed to environmental pollution due to the unsuitable rates of mineral/organic fertilisers and pesticides used. On several periurban agricultural sites, study cases revealed nitrate, heavy metal and pesticide levels in the soil exceeding the maximum allowable limits (Stefanescu and Dumitru, 2002).

A nationally funded project was initiated in 2005 to map urban land resources, vulnerability and pollution levels (AGRAL nr. 342, “Evaluation of the agro-ecologic potential and quality management of the agricultural land exposed to the environmental impact of urban settlements” granted by the Ministry of Education and Research). The maps will be used by the Municipal Office for Agricultural Consultancy as tools for improving the

43

advisory services delivered to farmers (limiting cultivation, reshaping crop structure on contaminated land, introducing rehabilitation measures, etc) and by the General Municipality to find viable ways to extend the city’s area (a proposal that is currently being debated in the media)while preserving the land fertility and meeting infrastructural needs. A next step in this process will be the design of an urban soil monitoring system for Bucharest (that will be connected to water and air monitoring systems).

Each month Bucharest releases 70,000 tonnes of wastes. The General Council of the Municipality has decided to implement starting in 2006 a separate waste collection system and to simultaneously organise an intensive educational programme for the residents.

One of the project’s tasks is to closely connect this decision with the periurban organic farming needs.

As a result of the specific semi-arid climatic features of Bucharest, the most important farm management elements for organic matter are based on plant residues and green manure. This is a consequence of low stocking densities and the resulting necessity of importing animal manure, which is the case for most of the organic farms in the Mediterranean countries (Vizioli, 1998, cited by Stolze et al., 2000). To address this issue, an urban farming waste selection, disposal and composting brochure, based on the experience of the Vienna Municipality in the field, will soon be printed and distributed among periurban farmers.

References De Zeeuw H., 2002, Main report of the Project, Soil and Water Management in Agricultural Production in Urban areas of CEE/NIS countries (INCO, IC 15 CT980109), part 1, 1.1-1.45.

Stefanescu S.L., Dumitru M., 2002, “Soil and Water Contamination and Management in Urban and Periurban agriculture: synthesis report of the tests implemented in five CEE/NIS countries”. Project “Soil and Water Management in Agricultural Production in Urban areas of CEE/NIS countries (INCO, IC 15 CT980109), part 4, 4.1 - 4.31.

Stolze M., Piorr A.,. Haring A., Dabbert S., 2000, The Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe (Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy, vol. 6, University of Hohenheim/Department of Farm Economics.

Torjusen H., Sangstad L., O’Doherty Jensen K., Kjernes U., 2004, European Consumers’ Conceptions of Organic Food: A Review of Available Research, National Institute for Consumer Research, Oslo (SIFO), Norway.

Van Hirtum M., Goewie E., Getachew Z., Van Veerhuizen R., 2002, Transition to Ecological Urban Agriculture: a Challenge, Urban Agriculture Magazine, RUAF, no.6, 1-4.

Books Urban Agriculture in Tanzania, Issues of Sustainability D. Foeken, M. Sofer and M. Mlozi, 2004. African Studies Centre Research Report 75/2004, Leiden, ISBN 90 5448.060.2

Urban Place: Reconnecting with the Natural World (Urban & Industrial Environments).2005.

Bartlett (Editor) and Nash. Paperback. The MIT Press, ISBN: 0262524430

The issue of urban agriculture has gained momentum in recent years in terms of research and policy, as well as in practical terms. The paradox of accelerated urbanisation and the increase in urban agriculture in developing countries is widely recognised. More than ever, urban residents all over the developing world cultivate urban plots and/or keep some animals in order to sustain their living. This book describes the results of a comprehensive study conducted in two middle-sized Tanzanian towns – Morogoro and Mbeya. It contains a wide body of data and information describing and analysing crop cultivation and livestock-keeping activities and examines the factors promoting different modes of urban agriculture by different socio-economic groups. The book focuses on various issues that are thought to influence the sustainability of urban agriculture, in particular food supply, income generation, employment creation, environmental aspects, and the legal setting.

The Peri-Urban Interface, Approaches to Sustainable Natural and Human Resource Use. Edited by Duncan Mcgregor et al. 2005.

Earthscan, Paperback: ISBN 1-84407-188-X, Hardback: ISBN 1-84407-187-1 Periurban interfaces – the places where urban and rural areas meet – suffer from large problems caused by rapid urbanisation. This includes intense pressures on resources, slum formation, lack of adequate services such as water and sanitation, poor planning and agriculture land degradation. These areas, home to hundreds of millions of people, face unique problems and need unique and innovative approaches and solutions. This book gives a comprehensive overview of periurban (rural–urban) areas of the developing world, with extensive case material from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It lays out strategies for research and overcoming these problems and promoting truly sustainable natural and human resource development.

Amidst city concrete and suburban sprawl, Americans are discovering new ways to reconnect with the natural world. From community gardens in New York’s Lower East Side to homeless shelters in California, the search for a more sustainable future has led grassroots groups to a profound reconnection to place and to the natural world. This volume brings together research from anthropology, sociology, public health, psychology, and landscape design.

A Hidden Harvest – Growing Aquatic Plants in Four SE Asian Cities This DVD is produced by the Papussa project. It describes the considerable impact, value and importance of growing edible aquatic plants in the four Papussa study cities and shows the production cycle from pond/field, through harvesting, processing and marketing to the growing numbers of urban consumers. It highlights the benefits in employment and income generation future constraints and increasing pressures from urbanisation are also discussed in relation to the many periurban dwellers whose livelihoods are dependent on aquatic plant cultivation. Copies of the DVD can be obtained by contacting Papussa through the forum page of its website (www.papussa.org), stating your background and interest in aquatic plants and periurban aquaculture.

44

44

Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Hanoi: Opportunities and Constraints for Safe and Sustainable Food Production The study provides a complete summary of the demography, climate, institutions, and physical resources available to produce and market food in Hanoi, Vietnam. This publication includes an evaluation of the impacts of urban and peri-urban agriculture on food supply, income generation, job creation and environmental pollution. The full study can be downloaded from: http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/TB32.pdf At the end of the pipe Report of public debate “Are we connected?” conducted by WASTE (2005). Gouda, The Netherlands, WASTE. Proceedings of the four expert meetings held from January – March 2005 to discuss the relationship between sustainable sanitation and integrated urban planning. The participants’ observations led to a critical evaluation of the sustainability of current sanitation systems and to a series of recommendations to ensure the implementation of sustainable and efficient approaches now and in the future. The recommendations were shared with the 13th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) in New York. Download from: http://www.ecosan.nl/page/423 Agriculture in Hanoi-A Model for Success, SUSPER 2005 The development of most megacities in Asia is accompanied by an extensive loss of farmland and a high dependence on rural areas for food supplies - but this is not true for Hanoi. The SUSPER project recently published this report that shows that farmers in periurban and urban areas of Hanoi supply nearly half (44%) of the city’s food requirements.

See http://www.avrdc.org/susper/news3.htm#agriinhanoi Scoping Study on Interactions between Gender Relations and Livestock Keeping in Kisumu Zarina Ishani and P. Kuria Gathuru, 2005 The focus of the study is the improvement of gender-based division of labour, inequality between males and females in power and resources, gender biases in rights and entitlements to increased productivity and remuneration, and development of women livestock keepers in Kisumu. The study was carried out in five slum areas of Kisumu.

See: http://www.mazinst.org/kisumustudy.htm

www.planum.net/newsletter/newsletter-05-11-23.htm Planum is the on-line European Journal of Planning, which was first released in September 1999. Planum, focuses on EU member states, As a www and on-line journal, is entirely devoted to the planners and to the community of people involved in city development and the protection of the environment. It has an excellent search engine on websites and news per country or region. www.iapad.org This website features a lot of online resource material about community mapping, participatory GIS, participatory 3D modelling (P3DM), spatial information management, etc. www.citiesforpeople.org/ Cities for People is a (Netherlands) Habitat Platform initiative that aims to put the Habitat Agenda into practice, both within and outside the Netherlands. The site describes a wide range of projects and initiatives designed to get the best out of people living in disadvantaged situations. Patterns have been identified lessons learned from these projects and translated them into tools that can be applied in a wide variety of situations. www.portals.wdi.wur.nl/msp/ On this website you can find practical information on how to facilitate participatory learning processes with various stakeholders. It provides theoretical foundations, concrete case studies, methods and tools to create learning processes, facilitation tips, examples, literature and links and aims to build capacity for multi-stakeholder processes and social learning.

Websites

www.carbon.org/ The Institute for Simplified Hydroponics is a non-profit corporation and international non-government organization (NGO) that seeks to support development projects in providing educational materials and supplies, or support mentoring programs for teaching simplified hydroponics. The site features information and photos on Hydroponic Micro-gardens and related projects in different countries. www.ediblesanfrancisco.net Edible San Francisco is a new quarterly magazine that promotes the abundance of local foods in the San Francisco area. This new magazine features stories on family farmers, fishmongers, food artisans, chefs, and other food-related businesses for their dedication to using the highest quality, fresh, seasonal foods) www.peoplesgrocery.org/ Another California based organisation is featured on this site.

The People’s Grocery is developing community-based programs through a mobile market, community gardens, etc.

www.worldhungeryear.org/fslc/ This online Food Security Learning Centre was created to provide site visitors “with an in-depth look at common hunger and poverty issues facing many U.S. communities.

The site also contains a Community Food Security section with subcategories pertaining to Community Supported Agriculture, Community Gardens, Food Policy Councils, Farmers’ Markets, Farm to Cafeteria, and more. In addition, the Centre links to several funding opportunities, an extensive Hunger & Poverty Resource Guide, and current Action Alerts. www.biodevelopments.org/innovation This site aims to share creative and innovative ideas and experiences about global issues in agriculture, health, and environment facing developing countries. All issues can download for free: www.livelihoods.org This site will keep you informed of developments in the area of sustainable livelihoods, including new resources from Livelihoods Connect, and opening a channel for you to share your news, views, reports and experiences. Recent contribution discusses Urban Rural Change at http://www.livelihoods.org/hot_topics/UrbanRural.html#4 www.unicef.org/wes/ UNICEF’s first action in the area of water and sanitation was in response to a crippling drought that affected hundreds of villages in northern India in 1966. Since then, UNICEF has worked in more than 80 countries improving access to safe water and sanitation and promoting hygiene awareness.

This website includes statistics, information about the importance of hygiene, priorities and strategies, the role of woman and girls, UNICEF’s actions and news. www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en/ WHO works on aspects of water, sanitation and hygiene where the health burden is high, where interventions could make a major difference and where the present state of knowledge is poor: drinking water quality, bathing waters, water resource quality, water supply and sanitation monitoring, water, sanitation and hygiene development, water-related disease, wastewater use, healthcare waste, health in water resources development, emerging issues in water and infectious disease and household water treatment and safe storage. www.wsp.org/ The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is an international partnership of the world’s leading development agencies concerned with improving sector policies, practices and capacities to serve poor people. The goal is to alleviate poverty by helping the poor gain sustained access to water and sanitation services.

This website contains information about sanitation, health, and hygiene, the Millennium Development Goals, participation, gender, publications, news, jobs, links and events. www.sfu.ca/cscd/research The Vancouver Food System Assessment Report is now available on SFU’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development’s website. This report, produced by a consortium of Vancouver food researchers, presents our assessment of the current state of Vancouver’s food system. It explores how that system might be transformed to enhance food security for all residents through community-led economic development and the promotion of policies that build food system sustainability.

45

45

Events

World Conference on Accelerating Excellence in the Built Environment (Birmingham, United Kingdom)

2-4 October 2006 WCAEBE is an integrated world conference series for practitioners, government policy makers, scientific and management innovators on physical regeneration, urban development and construction. This international conference aims to share knowledge on areas such as Strategic Leadership, Innovation, Productivity and Policy, to enable the delivery of regeneration, urban development and construction programmes that realise maximum value for clients, end users and all stakeholders.

More information: www.acceleratingexcellence.com International Convention of the Cities of the Future (Bangalore, India) 5-12 August 2006 Project Agastya, Bangalore, India is an initiative of the Bangalore Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation. In association with several other organisations, both Indian & International, Agastya is organising this International Convention, which aims to bring together individuals, NGOs, city and provincial administrations, research and financial institutions, experts, industry, and others who are actively involved in developmental and transformational activities in the urban environment, and to create a sharing network. The Convention includes an e Conference & eDiscussion, Satellite Events, Citizens Programmes. For more details, please contact: Project Agastya: Phone : (+91) 98 8010 7467 or (+91) 98 8619 4776 email : ecocity6@gmail.com or project.agastya@gmail.com Symposium on peri-urban horticulture, IHC 2006 (Seoul, Korea) 13-19 August 2006 The Korean Society for Horticultural Science (KSHS) organises the 27th International Horticultural Congress and Exhibition (IHC 2006) The theme of IHC 2006, “Global Horticulture: Diversity and Harmony”. As part of this Congress, a symposium will be organised on peri-urban horticulture. More information: www.ihc2006.org World Urban Forum 2006 (Vancouver, Canada) 19-23 June 2006 The World Urban Forum is convened by UN-HABITAT every two years to discuss urban issues for the purposes of developing action-oriented proposals to create sustainable cities. The next WUF (WUF3) will be hosted by the Government of Canada in Vancouver, B.C. next June 2006. More than six thousand participants from around the world are expected, including decision-makers and practitioners from grassroots, national and international civil society organisations, local, national and international governments and urban and business professionals including financiers, academics and students. On request of the Canadian Government, IDRC is organising a number of sessions on urban agriculture, food security and good governance as part of the official programme of the World Urban Forum in Vancouver in 2006. IDRC invited the RUAF partners to participate in the preparations of two of these sessions. Plans include panel presentations by local authorities on their experiences with developing urban agriculture, presentations by various local partners of the RUAF programme as well as

46

presentations by young researchers participating in the Agropolis awards programme. More information at www.unhabitat.org The organisers of the WUF organised a global internet-based consultation event named Habitat JAM held December 1- 3, in order to get inputs from the field regarding the priority issues to be discussed. The Habitat JAM results are considered in the finalisation of the official WUF3 agenda. See www.habitatjam.com 75th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Toronto, Canada) 27 May – 3 June, 2006 The CIDA-CFHSS Graduate Student Competition invites graduate students from around the world to submit proposals for research papers that will be presented at the 2006 Congress of the Humanities and al Sciences at York. The organisers are seeking new perspectives and fresh ideas on a research topic that addresses issues closely related to international development as well as the 2006 Congress theme, “The City.” This competition is open to all graduate students in developed and developing countries. Submissions will be accepted online only at www.fedcan.ca/congress2006 until Friday, January 6, 2006. For more information, please visit www.cida-acdi.gc.ca or www.fedcan.ca.

Fourth International Conference “Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities” (Boston, MA. USA).

11-12 May 2006 This conference will offer several presentations of green roof experts, over 75 trade show exhibitions, and facilitate networking with members of research, policy and design institutions. More information: www.greenroofs.org International course on communication issues in forestry and green-space management serving urban societies (Noedebo, Copenhagen) 1-5 May 2006 The Danish Centre of Forest, Landscape and Planning, in cooperation with EUFORIC, the European Urban Forestry Research and Information Centre, will host an international course on communication issues in forestry and green-space management serving urban societies. The course is aimed at policy-makers, higher-level managers, and communication and marketing officers working within forestry administrations, municipal park organisations, nature conservation and other green-space organisations, as well as for researchers and PhDstudents interested in the theme. This international course aims to familiarise participants with some of the main elements of communication in natural resource management, based on the state-of-art of research and practice.

Please contact the Course coordinator Cecil Konijnendijk: email cecil@woodscape-consult.com 7th International Conference on Urban Drainage Modelling & the 4th International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design (Melbourne, Australia) 3-7 April 2006 The Conference is organised by the Institute for Sustainable Water Resources, Australia; Engineers Australia; International Water Association (IWA); Stormwater Industry Association,

Events Australia. It will deal with two highly topical issues in Urban Water management: modelling of urban drainage systems and the interfaces to other parts of the urban water cycle and current achievements and problems in Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), also known as Low Impact Development Design.

See also: http://www.unesco.org/water/water_events/Detailed/1114.shtml 4th World Water Forum (Mexico City) 16-22 March, 2006 The World Water Forum is an initiative of the World Water Council that has the aim of raising the awareness on water issues all over the world. The main theme of the 4th World Water Forum is Local Actions for a Global Challenge. When reflecting on local action, it is important to consider it as a process which is not necessarily individual, small-scale, insular, or parochial. The 4th World Water Forum will review these and other decisive factors in the accomplishment of common goals, searching to enable an improved involvement and empowerment of local actors in the social construction of solutions to water issues and a more appropriate channeling of domestic and international support for local actions worldwide.

2nd IWA specialised conference on Ecological Sanitation (Merida, Mexico) 07-10 March 2006 The conference, organised by the International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on Ecological Sanitation, will be integrated into the 7th IWA Specialised Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems. The Specialist Group focuses on sanitation systems enabling nutrient reuse, mainly by source separation. The full range from high- through medium- to lowtech and from decentralised to centralised solutions is covered.

Please contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Otterpohl, Institute of Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Management, Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH), Email:otterpohl@tuhh.de or visit the Website: http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/umweltinfrastruktur/wasser/877.htm Out of Africa: Local Solutions for Global Challenges, ICLEI’s World Congress (Cape Town, South Africa) 27 February to 3 March 2006.

Over 600 senior representatives from local governments and their associations are expected to convene in South Africa for the ICLEI World Congress. It will be hosted by the City of Cape Town and organised by the international association ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. Pressing urban issues such as climate protection, water resource management and sustainable transport will be discussed. Inter-relations of problems but also multi-benefits when searching for sustainable solutions will be highlighted in case studies from local governments that have been working with ICLEI for many years.

Reduction of CO2 emissions, renewable energies and resilience are central issues. For any further information please contact Kirsten Wolfrath Conference Officer world.congress@iclei.org or visit www.iclei.org/worldcongress2006 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (North America) October 2005 – February 2006 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is co-hosting, with various

municipal governments, a series of symposiums across North America. Primary objectives of these symposiums are to demonstrate the benefits of a green roof system and to develop an action plan on how to establish a local green roof industry through research and policy development.

The one-day symposia provide an opportunity for participants to learn from local and national experts about the general design and implementation of green roofs. Local case studies will be featured wherever possible.

Afternoon focus group sessions will allow attendees the chance to identify with relevant city officials the local research needs and obstacles to implementation.

Input gathered from the participants at the symposiums will be used to create an action plan that will help guide the development of the local municipality’s research program to further explore green roof technical performance and introduce supportive policy options.

Boston: Thursday, October 20, 2005 (8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

Cincinnati: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 (8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

Knoxville: Thursday, February 2, 2006 (8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) http://www.greenroofs.net Peri-Urban Aquatic Production and Improvement of the Livelihoods of the urban poor in SE Asia (Dhaka Bangladesh) 22-23rd November 2005 A wide range of stakeholders from Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia attended this two day workshop which had the main objective of setting up a platform for communication and information exchange towards the sustainable development of peri-urban aquaculture in the region. Papussa representatives from Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Phnom Penh gave presentations disseminating their findings from the project, whilst a 25 minute Papussa video entitled “ The Hidden Harvest” which describes the considerable importance of edible aquatic plants cultivation in the four cities was also shown. Workshop minutes and photographs can be viewed at www.papussa.org.

Course in Aquatic Resource Development The Institute of aquaculture, University of Stirling, UK runs this new course in collaboration with Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, Bangladesh. This part-time course provides appropriate and flexible learning opportunities through Distance Learning.

The principal course objective is to empower individuals who wish to advance their education and develop the skills necessary to run and manage aquatic systems without having to leave their employment and lose income earning potential.

The course offers a unique opportunity to acquire the skills needed for aquatic resource development and livelihoods analysis and fills a vital demand for higher education that offers training relevant to international development. It provides participants with a range of skills and abilities, supported by a strong theoretical framework that is relevant to their employment and future career development. Emphasis is also placed on the development of transferable skills and knowledge in information technology, experimental design and statistics, and communication and interpersonal skills. For further information please visit the website at http://www.aquaculture.stir.ac.uk/MScARD/Index.htm or mail to ARD@stir.ac.uk

47

The Urban Agriculture Magazine No. 16: Policies, Norms and Regulations on Urban Agriculture, May 2006 Deadline for submissions is 1 March 2006.

Urban agriculture is a dynamic concept that comprises a variety of livelihood systems, ranging from subsistence production and processing at household level to fully commercialised agriculture. Urban agriculture enhances food security, provides additional income and employment for poor and middle-income urban dwellers, and contributes to an ecologically sound urban environment. These different functions for urban agriculture (see this UA Magazine) co-exist in a range of different combinations. The demand of policy makers and local practitioners for inspiring examples of successful policies and action programmes from other countries and cities is therefore growing.

Interventions must be linked with specific development objectives, to which urban agriculture is expected to make a significant contribution and be based on participatory and multi-stakeholder diagnosis and planning processes. A range of potential suitable policy responses to urban agriculture have been presented in the various issues of the UA Magazine so far. These recommendations were of a general nature. An overview and discussion of initiatives that have led to policy change will provide important insights for those currently planning or operating similar activities.

Historically urban agriculture does not have an institutional home. Organisations like a Ministry of Agriculture usually lack a political mandate for urban agriculture. Urban agriculture projects are rarely integrated in overall urban planning. Generally there is little co-ordination between NGOs and municipal agencies, and urban farmers are often not organised. The RUAF partners have initiated socalled Multi Stakeholder Policy Making and Action Planning (MPAP) processes in 6 cities in 2005 and will start again in 6 other cities in 2007. Preliminary results will be reported in this magazine.

For this issue of the UA Magazine, we are seeking examples of policies, of initiatives driven by farmers or local communities or facilitated by multi stakeholder processes that have influenced change at policy level, and (sometimes) lead to further positive changes at local level.

We welcome your contributions, * Describing examples of participatory and multi-stakeholder policy making and action planning on urban agriculture, and/or * Describing and critically analyzing, the innovative policies, norms and regulations resulting from such processes.

This issue of the UA Magazine will be presented at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, 2006.

Therefore we seek to incorporate experiences (including of the RUAF partners and their wider network) that present best practices and give clear suggestions for the way forward.

Articles Articles on urban agriculture should consist of approximately 2,300 words (three pages), 1,600 words (two pages), or 700 words (one page), preferably accompanied by an abstract, references (maximum of 5), figures and digital images or photographs of good quality. The articles should be written in a manner that is readily understood by a wide variety of stakeholders all over the world. We also invite you to submit information on recent publications, journals, videos, photographs, cartoons, letters, technology descriptions and assessments, workshops, training courses, conferences, networks, web-links, etc.

Future issues of UA Magazine 2006 -No. 17, September: Strengthening Urban Producers Organisations and Micro- Enterprises Working Materials: - Participatory Methods, GIS and other tools for land use and action planning - Monitoring and Evaluation 2007 / 2008 -No. 18: April: Sustainable Urban Water Management; Other suggested issues: -Role of Urban Agriculture in Emergency Situations (currently being explored: suggestions welcome).

-Institutions for Urban Agriculture.

-Youth, Education and Urban Agriculture.

-Health and Food Security.

-Urban agriculture as an additional strategy for mitigation of the HIV-AIDS epidemic

Urban Agriculture Magazine Multiple functions of Urban Agriculture ISSN 1571-6244 No. 15, December 2005

UA Magazine is published three times a year by the Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF), under the Cities Farming for the Future Programme, which is financed by DGIS, the Netherlands, and IDRC, Canada.

UA Magazine is translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish, and distributed in separate editions through the RUAF regional networks, and is also available on www.ruaf.org.

The RUAF Partners are * Latin America: IPES Promoción del Desarrollo Sostenible, Lima Peru; email: au@ipes.org.pe; Magazine in Spanish: www.ipes.org * French Speaking West Africa: IAGU Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine, Dakar, Senegal; email: moussa@iagu.org; Magazine in French: www.iagu.org * English Speaking West Africa: International Water Management Institute, IWMI-Ghana; email: o.cofie@cgiar.org * East and Southern Africa: MDP Municipal Development Partnership (MDP); email: smushamba@mdpesa.org * South and South East Asia: International Water Management Institute, IWMI-India; email: r.simmons@cgiar.org * North Africa and Middle East: American University of Beirut, email: zm13@aub.edu.lb; Magazine in Arabic: www.ecosystems.org/esduhomepage.php * China: IGSNRR Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; email: caijm@igsnrr.ac.cn; Magazine in Chinese: www.cnruaf.com * Coordination and Support: ETC Foundation; email: ruaf@etcnl.nl; Magazine in English: www.ruaf.org Editors, No. 15 This issue has been compiled by René van Veenhuizen (Responsible Editor), together with Leo van den Berg of ALTERRA. Web Editing and Books Marije Pouw and René van Veenhuizen Administration Ellen Radstake Language Editor Catharina de Kat-Reynen Design, Layout and Printing Koninklijke BDU Subscriptions The editor: ruaf@etcnl.nl Address Urban Agriculture Magazine P.O. Box 64 3830 AB Leusden The Netherlands Visitors’ address: Kastanjelaan 5, Leusden.

Tel: +31.33.4326000 Fax: +31.33.4940791 e-mail: ruaf@etcnl.nl website: www.ruaf.org