Planned to perfection?

It is definitely a love-hate relationship and it is evident in towns and cities throughout much of the developing world. On the one hand, people rely heavily upon the food produced within the city - and city authorities know that. And yet much of the farming that goes on in cities is, strictly speaking, illegal. The result is an unsatisfactory mixture of uncontrolled farming on unsuitable sites and sporadic clamp downs and fines, imposed on people who have no other choice but to grow their own food or keep a few animals in order to survive. Health, road safety and other concerns have led authorities to refrain from planning the development of agriculture within city limits but, if urban farming were to be recognised, legalised and controlled, this could have far reaching benefits - for farmers, for consumers, and for city authorities.

Municipal authorities in cities such as Kampala, Uganda, are taking their first tentative steps into land use planning policies that accept urban agriculture as a necessary and valuable part of city life. Kampala is currently reviewing its by-laws on urban agriculture and livestock-keeping, and an 'urban agriculture and health coordinating committee' has been established with participation of elected officials. A resource centre on urban agriculture has also been set up at the university. In Kenya, an NGO called Green Towns has been successful in its efforts to work with authorities and residents in some 40 cities and towns - although not, as yet, Nairobi - to conserve green places for urban agriculture. With legal recognition, national and international institutes, such as the Urban Harvest* programme of the international agricultural research centres, can then swing more effectively into action. City authorities in Africa and Asia could, however, learn interesting lessons from the Latin American experience, perhaps especially that of Cuba and its capital city, Havana.

From garbage to garden

Credit:Valerie Nutley

For many years, Havana's urban farmers had been relatively large scale, commercial enterprises which farmed intensively with heavy use of imported agrochemicals, machinery, fuel and feedstuffs. With the collapse of the former Soviet Union, its principal trading partner, a decade ago, imports of agricultural inputs dropped 67 percent, creating a crisis for agricultural producers. The government responded with a deliberate policy of land use planning for production of food by individual households within the capital. People were given the rights to use (though not own) land that lay idle and were given support to grow crops organically. Indeed non-organic production is not permitted, The authorities' argument was that large populations have a high demand for food. Fresh fruit and vegetables deteriorate when transported over long distances. Growing vegetables and raising livestock are labour intensive processes, and labour - much of it originally from rural areas and therefore experienced in farming - is readily available in towns and cities. By dedicating areas to food production, the city could preserve open spaces and improve the environment while at the same time helping to ease a worsening crisis of unemployment and food insecurity.

Urban agriculture in Havana is organised into 13 urban 'farms' and these provide support to a number of different types of farmer groups. Most numerous are the small orchards and plots that now number more than 20,000, on a total of 2,770 hectares. Basic Cooperative Production Units, of which 178 have been established since 1994, farm principally sugarcane and raise cattle. Loans and Services Cooperatives are groups of farm owners, many of whom grow flowers. The government has financed intensive farming on poor soils where large quantities of organic matter have been incorporated, including 19 hectares of high-yielding organic horticultural units that produce vegetables, spices and medicinal plants. Many of Havana's state-owned organisations have farms for producing food for their cafeterias with the excess sold to workers to take home.

The government has provided seedling production centres, information bureaux and stores to sell seeds, biofertilizers and biopesticides. Cuba is now a recognised world authority on organic pest control. Inspectors enforce the city regulations for organic urban farming and fines are imposed when these regulations are violated.

And elsewhere?

Cuba is undoubtedly an exceptional case. Its well-educated population is not only quick to adopt new techniques, but accepts a level of socialist regulation and control that would be difficult to impose in a less authoritarian regime. Nevertheless, from an almost standing start, its achievements in small-scale urban agriculture are remarkable. How can city authorities working in a less regulated situation achieve better policy-making for land use management?

The first necessity is likely to be the setting up a municipal committee that includes representatives from all departments that have an interest in urban agriculture, including health, water supply and economic development. A policy must be developed and offered for public consultation. Plans must be developed to see what spaces may be available for urban agriculture and what type of farming activity would be most appropriate and where. Laws and regulations, especially relating to land tenure, must be drafted, and land taxation - and tax exemption if appropriate - defined. Tariffs must be set for the use of treated wastewater. For the continuing good management of urban agriculture, committees should be established to provide a link between the municipal authorities and users.

Easier said than done? Perhaps. But urban agriculture is here to stay and municipal authorities must find a way to make it work.

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