The topic of urban agriculture has, for a significant period of time, been recognized as a key facet of urban survival in the cities in the South. While it normally forms part of multilivelihood strategies and its overall significance is the subject of some debate, it nonetheless is an important feature of both urban landscapes and urban survival. This paper examines the current status quo of urban agriculture in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Structural adjustment and downscaling of the key copper mining sector seems to have forced more people into various informal survival strategies, including urban agriculture. Despite the apparent growing significance of urban agriculture, as illustrated by significant recent vegetation clearances around the city, official policy remains ambivalent and it has not been adequately supported or catered for in urban planning. While it remains officially illegal, controls are seldom enforced and urban farmers persist with what is a key household survival strategy under trying circumstances.

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Abstract

Urban agriculture has become one of the key survival strategies for the urban poor in the developing world. Yet most cities do not have policy to support it and many actively discourage it. This paper reviews the situation in Zambia's four largest cities. During the 1960s-1970s, the Kaunda government attempted to create a supportive policy environment for urban agriculture, which included support for peri-urban cooperatives. However, the current situation reveals that a near absence of institutional support for urban agriculture constrains farmers' activities. The authors' survey of 400 farmers established both the value of such agriculture as a survival strategy and the need for support measures. The paper concludes with an overview of institutions that need to be implemented to enhance the relevance and scope of urban agriculture in Zambia and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.urban agriculture, urban and peri-urban agriculture, cooperatives, survival strategies, malaria, Zambia,