Highest and best use?: Access to urban land for semi-subsistence food production

Abstract

Pressures on urban policy-makers in Africa to formalize land tenure and land delivery systems are mounting, while at the same time there is increased demand for informal access to urban land for subsistence production and low-cost housing. In Kampala, Uganda, semi-subsistence agriculture is an important component of the urban economy, yet it is a technically illegal form of land use and largely misunderstood by urban authorities and policy-makers. This paper analyzes the means of access to land, much of it informal, and discusses possible policy responses to competing demands over urban and peri-urban land.