The nexus of urban agriculture and health resilience: Insights from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

AbstractUrban agriculture (UA) is useful in improving the health conditions of farmers and urban residents. The study aimed to investigate what and how UA contributes to the improvement of the health of residents engaged in UA in Addis Ababa. A sample size of 180 residents engaged in UA in Addis Ababa was selected based on the standard sample‐taking procedure for interviews. Collected data were entered into the SPSS software (version 2021) and then analyzed using analysis of variance. Results revealed that 89% of the respondents were convinced that their engagements in UA helped them in improving the health of their own and that of family members. UA in Addis Ababa is found to have the role of increasing farmers’ accessibility to healthy and fresh food; availing more food for consumption; increasing physical activity relevant to farm works; improving sanitation at personal, domestic, and environmental levels; and enhancing social capital. Pearson correlation analyses indicated that improved health condition has a statistically significant positive correlation with increased access to healthy and fresh food, increased consumption of diverse food, and improved social capital at α = 0.05 level (two‐tailed). UA in Addis Ababa enhanced the overall health conditions of 89% of the farmers and their families engaged in the practices. Bringing more lands under UA helps realize the endeavor of building a health‐resilient resident in addition to using UA as a tool for restoring the deteriorating social fabric in Ethiopia.