George Kembo¹, Prosper Chopera², Mavis P Dembedza¹ and Lesley Macheka³

¹Food and Nutrition Council of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
²Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
³Centre for Innovation and Industrialisation, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe

*Corresponding Author: Lesley Macheka, Centre for Innovation and Industrialisation, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe.

Received: May 28, 2024; Published: June 29, 2024

Abstract

The study was aimed at investigating the impact of urban agriculture on food and nutrition security in urban households in Zimbabwe. It was based on seconday analysis of data collected from 13 421 urban households during the Urban Livelihoods Assessment conducted by the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee in January 2023. The results show that maize (47.3%) was the most grown crop by urban households followed by leafy vegetables (28.8%). A wide diversity of crops such as cereals tubers, leafy vegetables, and bulbs were being grown. The study revealed that urban agriculture was associated with a decrease in consumption and livelihoods coping strategies, increased household dietary diversity and an increase in consumption of vitamin A rich foods, indicating that practicing households were more food secure. More so, the study showed that age of household head, income status, health status of household head, larger household size, and geographical location were the determinants for practicing urban households. In addition, lack of access to land (71.7%) followed by lack of interest (7.5%) were the main barriers for practicing urban agriculture. In conclusion urban agriculture appears to be decreasing household food insecurity and improving diet quality. Findings from this study are important in the context of developing countries, where rural – urban migration is common. We recommend supportive by laws and policies that increase household access to public land and coordinated agricultural interventions in urban areas.

Keywords: Urban Agriculture; Food Security; Nutrition Security; Zimbabwe

References

1. R Stewart., et al. “What are the impacts of urban agriculture programs on food security in low and middle-income countries?” Environmental Evidence 1 (2013): 7.
2. M Ziga and A Karriem. "R Role of Urban Agriculture Policy in Promoting Food Security in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe”. in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures: Springer (2021): 1-7.
3. "Zimbabwe 2022 Population and Housing Census Preliminary Report”. Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Harare (2022).
4. G Rezai., et al. “Urban Agriculture: A Way Forward to Food and Nutrition Security in Malaysia”. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 216 (2016): 39-45.
5. T Dube., et al. “Adapting peri-urban agriculture to climate change in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: A qualitative assessment”. Cogent Social Sciences 1 (2021): 1944486.
6. JU Nchor. "Livelihood Strategies and Their Determinants among Informal Households in Calabar, Nigeria”. Sustainability 4 (2023): 2855.
7. F Orsini., et al. “Urban agriculture in the developing world: a review”. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 4 (2013): 695-720.
8. S Raja., et al. “Planning for equitable urban and regional food systems”. Built Environment (1978-) 3 (2017): 309-314.
9. A Ramaswami., et al. “A hybrid method to quantify household urban agriculture gardening: Implications for sustainable and equitable food action planning”. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 6 (2022): 997081.
10. J Smart., et al. “Economic crisis and food security in Africa: Exploring the significance of urban agriculture in Zambia’s Copperbelt province”. Geoforum 65 (2015): 37-45.
11. M Ziga and A Karriem. "Role of Urban Agriculture Policy in Promoting Food Security in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe”. in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures. Cham: Springer International Publishing (2020): 1-7.
12. S Kutiwa., et al. “Urban Agriculture in Low Income Households of Harare: An Adaptive Response to Economic Crisis”. Journal of Human Ecology 2 (2010): 85-96.
13. A Jongwe. "Synergies between urban agriculture and urban household food security in Gweru City, Zimbabwe”. Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics 2 (2014): 59-66.
14. D Haberman., et al. “The potential of urban agriculture in Montréal: A quantitative assessment”. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 3 (2014): 1101-1117.
15. P Mambe-Ani., et al. “Assessment of the impact of pesticide use in urban and periurban agriculture in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire”. International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences 6 (2019): 2824-2837.
16. M Chihambakwe., et al. “Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as A Pathway to Food Security: A Review Mapping the Use of Food Sovereignty”. Challenges 1 (2019): 6.
17. P Moyo. "Urban Agriculture and Poverty Mitigation in Zimbabwe: Prospects and Obstacles in Bulawayo Townships”. Journal of Human Ecology 2 (2013): 125-133.
18. A Abu Hatab., et al. “Urbanization, livestock systems and food security in developing countries: A systematic review of the literature”. Food Security 2 (2019): 279-299
19. DM Simatele and T Binns. "Motivation and marginalization in African urban agriculture: The case of Lusaka, Zambia”. in Urban forum, 2008 19: Springer (2008): 1-21.
20. "Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC): Rural Livelihoods Assessment Technical Report”. Harare (2020).
21. C Mutami. "Smallholder Agriculture Production in Zimbabwe A Survey”. Consilience 14 (2015): 140-157.
22. NZ Khumalo and M Sibanda. "Does Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Contribute to Household Food Security? An Assessment of the Food Security Status of Households in Tongaat, eThekwini Municipality”. Sustainability 4 (2019): 1082.
23. N Wagner and L Tasciotti. "Urban agriculture, dietary diversity and child health in a sample of Tanzanian town folk”. Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement 2 (2018): 234-251.
24. E Warren., et al. “Investigating the association between urban agriculture and food security, dietary diversity, and nutritional status: A systematic literature review”. Food Policy 53 (2015): 54-66.
25. PP Audate., et al. “Scoping review of the impacts of urban agriculture on the determinants of health”. BMC Public Health 1 (2019): 672.
26. B Nyamasoka., et al. “Urban farmer practices in soil fertility and water management and the influence of gender in Harare and Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe”. African Journal of Agricultural Research 3 (2015): 100-107.
27. M Gerster-Bentaya. "Nutrition-sensitive urban agriculture”. Food Security 5 (2013): 723-737.
28. OJ Taiwo. "Determinants of peri-urban and urban agricultural locational choice behaviour in Lagos, Nigeria”. Land Use Policy 39 (2014): 320-330.
29. J Davies., et al. “Barriers to urban agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa”. Food Policy 103 (2021): 101999.
30. PC Mireri. "Assessment of the contribution of urban agriculture to employment, income and food security in Kenya: a case of Kisumu municipality”. African Journal of Agricultural Research 23 (2013): 2884-2896.
31. T Chagomoka., et al. “Urban and peri-urban agriculture and its implication on food and nutrition insecurity in northern Ghana: a socio-spatial analysis along the urban–rural continuum”. Population Environment (2018).
32. I Ngome and D Foeken. “My garden is a great help”: gender and urban gardening in Buea, Cameroon”. GeoJournal 1 (2012): 103-118.

Citation

Citation: George Kembo., et al. “Urban Agriculture and its Contribution to Household Food and Nutrition Security in Zimbabwe". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 8.7 (2024): 67-75.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Commey Vida., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.