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Agriculture and Food Security

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Is a City Also a Garden?
Andrew Draper

Case Studies on Africa and the Middle East External Review and Impact Assessment of the African Highlands Initiative (AHI) Innovations can change lives in rural Latin America Meet two rural innovators

From Urban Wasteland to Food and Flowers Every day in developing countries, thousands of individuals and families migrate from the countryside to cities in pursuit of economic opportunities and a better future. But for most, urban realities are harsh: too few jobs, inadequate housing, and a daily struggle simply to survive. Many have responded by bringing rural survival skills to the city. On rooftops and in window boxes, on roadsides, riverbanks, and vacant lots, they are growing food to feed their families and to sell. Urban agriculture is rapidly gaining acceptance as a key means of addressing urban poverty issues. For 20 years, IDRC-spons ored researchers have been at the forefront of a movement to encourage and expand urban agriculture (UA). Key is eliminating outdated bylaws and restrictive regulations and helping urban farmers find and share growing spaces, as well as cooperate to process and market their crops. Through more than 90 research projects in 40 countries over the past decade, IDRC has helped the cities of the South develop urban agriculture policies and methods that are increasing the food supply, raising income levels, and protecting health and at the same time improving management of urban waste, water, and land. A UA Pioneer SEE ALSO... External Links Third World Urban Forum (WUF3) Urban Agriculture Notes: non-profit society promoting urban food production and environmental conservation Urban Harvest: worldwide network of 16 food and environmental research centres Food for the Cities: a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) site offering information and technical guidance on securing urban food supplies

Senior Program Specialist Luc Mougeot, recognized internationally as a leading UAexpert, joined IDRC in 1989 and has focused on UAsince 1992. Luc, who holds a PhD in geography, brought to IDRC extensive Latin American research experience in urban housing and settlement patterns, informal employment in cities, and urban uses of energy. He says, From the beginning, Ive been interested in three vectors of change in urbanization: housing, informal employment, and UA. It has been gratifying for Mougeot to help UAresearch grow from a small number of relatively isolated projects to a worldwide movement supported by a growing number of regional and international networks. Im grateful to IDRC for having taken the risk of supporting programming on a topic that was so new and unproven, and sustaining that commitment, he says. And Im grateful to my colleagues who rallied under this theme and applied their expertise to broaden and deepen the agenda. RUAF: The Power of Cooperation Mougeot cites one project, the Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) Foundation, as a particularly successful example of international cooperation and synergy. Co-funded by IDRC and the Dutch NGO, ETC International Group, RUAF is a global network offering resources such as a UAmagazine published in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese, databases of UAcontacts and bibliographical information, workshops and electronic conferences, and a website (www.ruaf.org). RUAF has created a means for UA participants to communicate about their innovations and successes, Mougeot says. Its helping to rally local governments, professional associations, research institutes, NGOs, and agencies like the World Health Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Its helping move UAmore quickly into the mainstream. As Luc Mougeot suggests, UAis rapidly gaining acceptance as a key means of addressing urban poverty issues. Many universities in the South now include UAin their curriculum, creating a cadre of UAprofessionals. And UAwas on the agenda of the Third World Urban Forum (WUF) in Vancouver, June 19-23, 2006. Research that Matters Through more than 90 research projects in 40 countries over the past decade, IDRC has helped the cities in the South develop urban agriculture policies and methods that are increasing the food supply, raising income levels, and protecting health and at the same time improving management of urban waste, water, and land.

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Feeding the Sustainable City 2006 Thanks to pioneering research initially led by IDRC, many Southern cities are now re-examining their attitudes to urban agriculture. The challenge they face is how to control agricultural activity so that it can benefit the urban farmers and the rest of the citys population.

IDRC funds researchers in the developing world so they can build healthier, more prosperous societies
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