Abstract
The debate about the contribution of urban agriculture to urban household food security has not considered the possible differential effects by geography of production activities, focusing either on urban household’s participation in agriculture irrespective of where the activity takes place, or restricting participation to production within urban and peri-urban areas, or more narrowly, production within build-up urban spaces. Using a sample of 2004 households in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana, this article contributes by disentangling urban household’s participation in agriculture by geography of production activities and the implications for the food security of urban households. We find no evidence from our sample that participation in agriculture in general matters for the food security of urban households. However, urbanites who produced food in both urban and rural areas had better food security in the medium-sized city.
Highlights
Several benefits of urban agriculture (UA) have been mentioned in the literature, including ecosystem services provisioning, social values, and health benefits (Clinton et al 2018; Weidner et al 2019)
Participation in agriculture does not differ significantly across the two cities—about 44% in Techiman and 43% in Tamale (p value = 0.506). For those involved in agriculture, production in only urban spaces (Uonly) was more common than production in rural spaces only (Ronly)—about 48% versus 41%
About 12% of those engaged in agriculture produced in both urban and rural areas (UandR)
Summary
Several benefits of urban agriculture (UA) have been mentioned in the literature, including ecosystem services provisioning, social values, and health benefits (Clinton et al 2018; Weidner et al 2019). We focus on the contribution of UA to urban household food security (FS). UA has received considerable attention over the last decade for its actual and potential contribution to reducing food insecurity and poverty among urban households (Gerstl et al 2002; Rogerson 2003; Mougeot 2005; Shifa and Borel-Saladin 2019). Proponents argue that UA is an important source of food in most developing countries and is a critical food and nutrition security strategy among the urban poor (Armar-Klemesu 2000; Mougeot 2000; Nugent 2000; Maxwell 2001).
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