Category — Africa

Along with the IDRC and the RUAF, Urban Harvest, headquartered in Lima, Peru, is a major centre for international urban agriculture development. This recent publication, 2007, is available for download as a 64 page PDF (3.2MB).

“Although many migrants move to cities in the
expectation of more and better-paid jobs than in the
country-side, we know that many cities have as much as
90% informal employment, meaning occasional and
precarious opportunities for earning income. Urban crop
production and livestock-keeping have been shown to be
complementary activities to casual non-farm work for
many families and improving their income-generating
potential can help them move out of poverty.

[Read more →]

Glouster, Leicester and Sumiala Towns are found in the western urban area within the Freetown municipality. They have a population of about 562,000 people; 60% take part in backyard gardening; most are women who depend on their garden to augment their basic livelihood. These activities were interrupted during the war but there is now a renewed interest in this activity.

35% of the population depend on the production of cash crops and a few other mixed crops, which they use to support their children and pay for household expenses.

[Read more →]

You can go to Kiva’s website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Hanifa Namutebi in Uganda. Hanifa is married, and has four children. Her current business is poultry farming. She has applied for a loan to purchase more birds and increase her business.

Entrepreneurial Urban Agriculturists should take advantage of this program.

Go to Kiva’s website to find out about making a loan.

Prof. Dr. Willem Van Cotthem, Honorary Professor University of Ghent (Belgium), has set up a wonderful program to help people in desertified regions.

“In every village of the developing countries where we have constructed family gardens and school gardens in the past, there is now less risk of famine. Indeed, we have shown the people and the children how to produce their own vegetables and fruit trees with a combination of traditional methods and modern technologies, e.g. soil conditioning to keep a garden soil moistened with a minimum of irrigation water. Such things are never forgotten, even if these people move to urban areas, where they will try to set up a tiny little garden.”

“That is the reason why I make this appeal upon you : please help us to collect seeds of vegetables and tropical fruits that can be grown in family gardens and school gardens in desertified regions.”

Read more here.