The household logic of urban farming in Kampala
Maxwell, D.G.
Cities feeding people an examination of urban agriculture in East Africa Egziabher, A G; Lee Smith, D; Maxwell, D G; Memon, P A; Mougeot, L Journal A; Sawio, C J: 47-65
1994
Document Number: 308324
This paper evaluates the various claims made about urban agriculture (UA) in Kampala. This includes reviewing the limited literature on the importance of UA to the city's economy, attempting to assess what direct evidence is available on the question of nutritional state, examining the means of access to the critical land resource for UA and understanding the logic of different kinds of households involved in urban food production to interpret why different groups of people engage in it. Land tenure arrangements in the city are often unplanned and there is subdivision and fragmentation of land holdings. In order to implement any rational schemes for urban development, there must be adequate means to completely change the present land tenure pattern, which entails considerable interference with the existing rights of property owners and tenants. Current proposed land legislation affecting the country proposes that urban land be converted to freehold tenure. The consequences of tenure formalization for UA in Kampala will entail a loss of land for cultivation. Re-zoning to create agricultural land use areas might make sense in terms of the city's topography. Urban farming could be granted short term legitimacy in its current form, while issues of land use planning, re-zoning and compensation and a review of municipal byelaws could be undertaken at a specified time in the future.