Urban farming in the informal settlements of Atteridgeville, Pretoria, South Africa

W Van Averbeke

doi:10.4314/wsa.v33i3.49112

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to provide quantitative information on the material benefits generated from urban farming in order to assess the contribution of this activity to the food security and nutrition of participating households and to explore the meaning of urban agriculture in the livelihood of participants. The study was conducted in five informal settlements of Atteridgeville, Pretoria and involved a pilot study, a household survey and multiple case studies using participants in the different types of urban farming projects as units of data collection and analysis. More than half of the households in the studyarea participated in urban farming which consisted of home gardening, group gardening and dryland farming in open urban spaces. Active participation was predominantly by women. The contribution to total household income and food security of the different types of farming found in the study area was generally modest but the livelihood benefits derived from urban farming extended far beyond material gain, reducing social alienation and the disintegration of families associated with urbanpoverty. Lack of space and limited access to water for irrigation were the main constraints that affected participants in urban farming.

Highlights

Post-apartheid South Africa has levels of poverty not found in most other upper middle income countries (Adato et al, 2004)
In 1999, 61% of black South Africans were poor compared to a mere 1% of whites (May, 2000), whilst female-headed households were more likely to be poor than male-headed households (Aliber, 2003) and poverty was mostly located in the rural areas
Alienation and the disintegration of families are associated with urban poverty (Maswikaneng, 2003) and the results of this study showed group gardening to be an effective way of addressing these social problems

Summary

Introduction

Post-apartheid South Africa has levels of poverty not found in most other upper middle income countries (Adato et al, 2004). At the start of the 21st century, an estimated 48% of the South African population (21.9 million people) lived below the national poverty line (UNDP, 2004). The distribution of income in South Africa was highly unequal and disparities between rich and poor were worsening as indicated by the increase in the Gini coefficient of the country from 0.60 in 1995 to 0.73 in 2001 (UNDP, 2004). In 1995, 74% of the poor in South Africa lived in rural areas, where the poverty rate was estimated to be 71% (Adelzadeh et al, 2001)

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Conclusion