Abstract
Urban and peri-urban forestry has emerged as a complementary measure to contribute towards eliminating urban hunger and improved nutritional security. However, there is scanty knowledge about the composition, diversity, and socioeconomic contributions of urban food trees in African cities. This paper examines the diversity and composition of the urban forest and food trees of Accra and sheds light on perceptions of urbanites regarding food tree cultivation and availability in the city. Using a mixed methods approach, 105 respondents in six neighborhoods of Accra were interviewed while over 200 plots (100-m2 each) were surveyed across five land use types. Twenty-two out of the 70 woody species in Accra have edible parts (leaves, fruits, flowers, etc.). The food-tree abundance in the city is about half of the total number of trees enumerated. The species richness and abundance of the food trees and all trees in the city were significantly different among land use types (p < 0.0001) and neighborhood types (p < 0.0001). The diversity of food-bearing tree species was much higher in the poorer neighborhoods than in the wealthier neighborhoods. Respondents in wealthier neighborhoods indicated that tree and food-tree cover of the city was generally low and showed greater interest in cultivating food (fruit) trees and expanding urban forest cover than poorer neighborhoods. These findings demonstrate the need for urban food policy reforms that integrate urban-grown tree foods in the urban food system/culture.
Highlights
Malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity, once thought to be characteristic of rural areas, have become prevalent in cities of rapidly urbanizing regions such as Africa [1]
There was a significant difference in species richness (χ24 = 33.4, p < 0.0001) and abundance (χ24 = 362.4, p < 0.0001) for all trees among land use types (Table 2), only the latter was significantly different (χ24 = 267.8, p < 0.0001) with respect to neighborhood types (Table 3)
We found that the city of Accra supports a fairly high woody species diversity, and that this diversity was significantly stratified among the vegetated land use types and neighborhood types (Tables 2 and 3)
Summary
Malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity, once thought to be characteristic of rural areas, have become prevalent in cities of rapidly urbanizing regions such as Africa [1]. It is projected to cause about 3% and 9% loss of prime agricultural lands and food production, respectively, in Africa by 2030 [7] It will trigger declines in the agricultural labor force and further depletion of urban green spaces [8,9]. Food and nutritional insecurity is more severe in some urban areas than in rural areas [13]. Addressing these challenges requires locally relevant knowledge, supportive policies, and optimal physical and social environments [14]
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