The importance of soil quality in the safe practice of urban agriculture in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa.
Year: 2015
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This chapter explores urban agriculture in Africa, which to date has had relatively little exposure in the academic literature. Further, this chapter focuses on three major cities across the continent: Harare (Zimbabwe), Nairobi (Kenya) and Johannesburg (South Africa). In each case, an overview is provided of urban agricultural activities, authority responses to the practice and an evaluation of the soil properties in which the agriculture occurs. This overview of urban agriculture in selected African cities, particularly the exploration of soil quality and contamination issues breaks new ground since it features one of the first reviews of urban agriculture and soils. Ultimately, this piece aims to provide an insight into practices on the African continent and pave the way for subsequent research. While this review provides evidence to suggest that urban agriculture is still a peripheral component of urban land use in many African cities, it does suggest that the continual search for food security among the urban poor is expanding the practice. However, unless major steps are taken, there will be continual contamination and degradation of soils that, in turn, will further constrain urban food security especially among poor households. Hence, the observation that disjointed practices being experienced in African cities can only be resolved if the nexus between urban land-use planning, food security policies, urban environmental policies and urban health policies is achieved. Further research is required to explore the impact of this type of practice on the African continent: providing empirical material to suggest the potential for urban agriculture and whether populations are able to use this practice to become self-sufficient.
Source: CABI eBooks
Institutions: University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Salford
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Salford Manchester
OpenAlex ID: W46779600