Urban Food Distribution in Asia and Africa

Adaptive Governance and Market Heterogeneity: An Institutional Analysis of an Urban Food System in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…For the urban poor, the attainment of food security is made more difficult due to accessibility factors that stand as a prominent hurdle for low-income households as food purchases constitute a greater proportion of their income [29]. Battersby and Crush [30] find households in low-income residential areas, on average, spend more than 50% of their income on food.…”

Performance of small reservoir irrigated schemes in the Upper Volta basin: Case studies in Burkina Faso and Ghana

“…These elements have not been provided earlier in our manuscript, and we consider they are very important: the supply of inputs (in time and quality) constitutes a very common constrain for the farmers in West Africa. spot transactions, the absence of formal contracts or annual commitments (Drakakis-Smith, 1991) that led to uncertainty concerning both outlets and prices (Moustier and Leplaideur, 1999). In addition, markets for perishable products like vegetables were very unstable, and producers, especially those in remote areas, were generally at the mercy of the traders.…”

The changing nature of the peri‐urban zone in Africa: Evidence from Dar‐es‐Salaam, Tanzania

“…Indeed, Gefu (1992, 301) has observed that urban agriculture has increased in Nigeria to supplement declining real urban wages 'despite the evident diseconomies of scale and low profit margins'. Downloaded by [The University of Manchester Library] at 04:07 08 December 2014 These views, however, have been refuted by others who have noted both the prevalence and resilience of urban agriculture in African cities, as well as the importance of subsistence food production in circumstances where up to three-quarters of the urban poor's income may be spent on food purchases (Sanyal, 1987;Mosha, 1991;Drakakis-Smith 1991;Memon & Lee-Smith, 1993;Egziabher et al, 1994;Maxwell, 1996). In a survey of six towns in Tanzania, Mlozi et al (1992) observe that urban agriculture is seen by people as a sound cash-saving strategy for households, releasing money that can then be spent elsewhere within the household's consumption patterns.…”

“…Indeed, Smith (1998,214) is of the view that 'there has been an expansion of urban cultivation in recent years as structural adjustment reduces incomes and, together with increased capitalisation of food retailing, raises costs of purchased commodities'. Whether this is the case or not, there is some degree of consensus that urban agriculture has the advantage of reducing household vulnerability to economic fluctuations in the urban economy, as well as of creating valuable productive areas from waste land and improving the general environment with activities such as tree planting (Drakakis-Smith, 1991.…”