Urban crop production and poverty alleviation in Eldoret, Kenya: Implications for policy and gender planning

Abstract

Urban agriculture (UA) has recently received increasing attention in both scholarly and policy cycles as a potential tool for poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper focuses on urban crop cultivation (UCC) and examines men's and women's motives and needs in UCC, the (perceived) contribution of UCC to household livelihoods, and the benefits men and women derive from it. Although the contribution of UCC to overall household food and incomes appeared to be modest, for the majority of farming households such benefits were nonetheless greatly valued and bore varied and important meanings for men and women. The paper also examines the implications of recent national UA policy responses in Kenya for urban development and household livelihoods, and for equitable distribution of UA's benefits for men and women.

‘I'm only allowed to sell milk and eggs’: Gender aspects of urban livestock keeping in Eldoret, Kenya

“…The legal and policy framework governing urban farming in Eldoret reflected a greater concern about the (potential) negative impacts of livestock keeping compared with crop cultivation, and the need to regulate the former rather than the latter. The 2009 Eldoret Municipal Council (EMC) by-laws contain a wide range of specific regulatory – often stringent and repressive – provisions on livestock keeping but not a single provision on crop cultivation (Simiyu & Foeken 2011; Simiyu 2012). This reflects the general unfavourable official attitude towards livestock keeping within EMC.…”

“…6.Fifty-eight per cent of the female-headed households in the survey could be classified as ‘poor’, against 37% of the male-headed households. See Simiyu (2012: 68).…”

“…Rather, their impact varies with class, life-course circumstances, and agency of individual men and women. For instance, older, single, and economically independent women tend to enjoy greater mobility, autonomy, decision-making power and property ownership (Mwaipopo 2000; Simiyu 2012; Mandel 2004). The specificities of urban life, especially its commoditisation, have particularly challenged social norms and gender relations in sub-Saharan Africa.…”

Urban Gardening and Rural-Urban Supply Chains: Reassessing Images of the Urban and the Rural in Northern Vietnam

“…The particular discussion of urban gardening as an expression of the right to the city is very much informed by research on cities of the Global North (Certomà and Tornaghi 2015). On the contrary, small-scale agricultural production or urban farming in the cities of the Global South has long been discussed in the context of poverty alleviation, urban informality and thence with a focus on the urban poor (Bakker et al 2000;Ngome and Foeken 2012;Simiyu and Foeken 2014). Overcoming the developed versus developmental divide in urban and development studies (Robinson 2006;Parnell and Robinson 2013), this chapter alludes to the cultural history of urban gardens in Hanoi.…”

Who engages in urban and peri-urban agriculture in the condensed urban slums of Bangladesh?

“…UPA is roughly defined as growing food crops (such as vegetables, root and tuber crops, staple grains, and fruits) and raising domestic animals (such as poultry, cattle, swine, and goats) within and around urban areas. Various empirical studies claim that UPA has been considered a solution for improving poor living conditions in undeveloped urban and peri-urban areas of developing countries, on the grounds of its effects on improving household food and nutrition intakes (Amrullah et al, 2017;Bhatta et al, 2008;Bukusuba et al, 2007;Dossa et al, 2011;Gallaher et al, 2013a;Lynch et al, 2013;Smart et al, 2015;Zezza and Tasciotti, 2010) and the physique of a child (Maxwell, 1995;Maxwell et al, 1998), increasing or diversifying household income (Amrullah et al, 2017;Ashebir et al, 2007;Maxwell, 1995;Smart et al, 2015;Zezza and Tasciotti, 2010), providing remunerative economic activities for women (Mudimu, 1996;Maxwell, 1995), empowering women through economic independence (Gororo and Kashangura, 2016;Masvaure, 2015;Simiyu and Foeken, 2014), and accumulating social capital (Gallaher et al, 2013a).…”