The contribution of open spaces in Mekelle city on crop production during absolute siege in Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Urban agriculture is fundamental to attaining sustainable development goals in rapidly growing and expanding urban areas. Urban open spaces such as parks, balconies, community gardens, vacant lots, and rooftops can create a breeding ground for urban agricultural practices. Most of the open spaces available in Mekelle city in Ethiopia are land left for leasing in the future and green areas. Despite the limitation on food grain supply, these open spaces were not used to their maximum potential for crop production before the Tigray siege. After the siege began, the available open spaces were cultivated. However, the area of the open spaces added for cultivation and their contribution to crop production have not been studied and documented. Thus, assessing open spaces in the city and their crop production potential remains crucial. Remote sensing and a household survey were employed to collect the necessary data in this study. Urban open space cultivated after the Tigray siege was estimated using image change detection. The contribution of the open spaces to crop production was calculated and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The available open spaces in Mekelle city contributed 2687 ha of newly cultivated land, producing 3825 tonnes of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and 880 tonnes of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grain. Therefore, utilizing the maximum potential of available open spaces for urban agriculture produces considerable food crops to minimize food shortage.