A SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF URBAN AGRICULTURE THE CASE OF ADDIS ABABA

Abstract

In Ethiopia, urban agriculture is omnipresent as before. Very recently there has been a sizable expansion of it both in outskirts of the cities and in the backyards and vacant space of urban dwellers. Understanding the impact that urban agriculture plays in the socio-economic contribution to the urban dwellers helps to realize its relevance in urban poverty alleviation. Thus, the purpose of this research is to find out the socio-economic characteristics of urban farmers, and its impact on household, level food security and income; and to provide empirical evidences on socio-economic challenges related to the urban farming in Ethiopian cities, taking Addis Ababa as a case study. The study were adopted a cross-sectional survey method that combines both qualitative and quantitative research method and used a mix of probability sampling. In order to test the economic impact of UA on households welfare (income and food security), the study applied probit model followed by PSM. The findings revealed that urban farmers differ in their social backgrounds such as age, occupation, and marital status, sex of the household head, level of education, farm size, and own housing, which might have also implication on their Livelihood strategies. The majorities of farmers have low formal education and consider urban farming as their major occupations. Participation of the youth is relatively low in the sector, leaving it for adults over 45 years old and women who also support large families. Participations of women and uneducated people in the sector are also widely observed.Insufficient earnings from non-farm sector and food insecurity were major reasons for adapting urban agriculture as survival strategy in the city, that is, to fulfill daily food and other essentials. Many urban farmers (51%) engaged in Cow’s milk and poultry production while 24% are involved in vegetable crop production. Urban farming in Addis Ababa and other Ethiopian cities has a significant influence on the household level food security and income as compared to other livelihood options, where over 70% of the households’ income and food expenditure is derived from urban farming. However, UA has constrained with limited access to land; limited farm extension services; lack of veterinary services; lack of access to farm credit; shortage of improved seed and animal breeds; lack of production technologies; limited access and high cost of fertilizers and quality animal feeds; coordination gap among government bodies for the sector are considered among the major factors that constrained urban agricultural development in the urban areas in Ethiopia.