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The Institutional and Regional Context Read chapter Read first chapter

2010 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

2. Urban Agriculture in Africa: What Has Been Learned?

Authors : Gordon Prain, Diana Lee-Smith

Published in: African Urban Harvest

Publisher: Springer New York

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Abstract

Though the crisis in world food prices exploded during 2008, the problem of urban food insecurity in Africa has been a fact of life for many low-income urban dwellers for decades, and especially since the period of structural adjustment in the 1980s (Maxwell 1995). It is not that there is no food; it’s that poor urban consumers cannot afford it. This is the stark but simple truth lying behind much of the agriculture that is widespread within and around African cities. What urban households have known and practiced for generations, urban decision-makers have begun to recognize much more recently: urban agriculture is a livelihood strategy.

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Footnotes
1
Although not elaborated in the chapter, these beliefs appear to relate to the power of these medicines deriving from their wild growth and its absence in cultivated versions (Schippmann et al. 2002).
 
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Metadata
Title
Urban Agriculture in Africa: What Has Been Learned?
Authors
Gordon Prain
Diana Lee-Smith
Copyright Year
2010
Publisher
Springer New York
Book
African Urban Harvest

Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-6249-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4419-6250-8

Copyright Year: 2010

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6250-8_2

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