
Urban gardening/agriculture has several benefits in terms of food security and nutrition, improved health status, community building and social inclusion. Not only will UA lead to employment but also help boost local commercial economic activities. The provision of employment and boosting of local commercial economic activities due to UA will certainly improve the incomes of individuals either directly involved in or created businesses out of UA.
UA is a critical component of nature-based solutions that should be considered useful by city authorities in dealing with a myriad of urban constraints and climate emergencies. Thus, UA has the potential to address a city’s environmental, social, and economic benefits through a NBS approach.
Urban agriculture practices (UAP) plays a significant role in diversifying urban diets, expanding job opportunities, landscape management and improving urban ecosystem services. With the exception of some conflicting anecdotal literature as well as micro-level case-studies of small sub-samples, there is little to no quantitative research documenting the extent and contribution of urban agriculture in Ethiopia. Descriptive, let alone causal, research on the subject are scanty.
The major objective of this study is to improve our knowledge on the role and potential of urban agriculture in and around Ethiopian cities, by taking Addis Ababa as an experiment. We collected and examine a number of existing secondary data as well as primary sources and conducted key informant interviews (KIIs) with purposefully selected key informants. Because this is an exploratory study, as there is no available data and a thorough study on urban agriculture, we analyze the data using descriptive statistics and present it in the form of tables and graphs.
The findings show that there are many stakeholders in urban agriculture practices in Addis Ababa and their respective roles also vary depending on their stake. Poor coordination and interaction among the stakeholders is observed. Similarly, there are different practitioners of urban agriculture in the City and they are categorized as farmers, enterprises/cooperatives, households and institutional practitioners.
Depending on the practitioners, the nature of urban agricultural activities performed varies between vegetable, dairy and poultry production. The results further indicate the role of UA in the city by highlighting its contribution to food security, employment opportunities and environmental management that includes issues such as urban greenery, contribution to urban aesthetics, and proper waster utilization.
Despite the contributions and its immense potential, urban agriculture in Addis Ababa, like most cities in developing countries, still faces many challenges including competitive demand for land, lack of water and water pollution, warehouse and limited market linkage, mismanagement of solid and liquid wastes, and poor coordination among stakeholders.
Urban agriculture is defined as the production of food within urban areas, and is increasingly recognized for its multiple social and ecological benefits by city governments around the world. It is an important green infrastructure that has been embedded into the urban and suburban fabric for many years. Integration of urban agriculture in proximity to residential locations and within built environments can provide multiple benefits.
The government of Ethiopia has also demonstrated immense interest in promoting urban agriculture, evidenced through the formation of the Farmers and Urban Agriculture Commission under the Addis Ababa City Administration and the country’s Prime Minister has also emphasized the importance of promoting urban agriculture in the contemporary context.
Urban agriculture contributes to the economy importantly to the urban food system, especially for the livelihoods of the urban poor though it faces several challenges from urban encroachment, environmental pollution and flooding, as well as with limited policy enforcement mechanisms to ensure its sustainability.
In addition, many of the farmers in and around the city depend on the use of wastewater for irrigation; this demands policies and strategies to ensure farmers apply safe production without negative externalities both for the health of consumers and the environment.
Firstly, the government introduced measures to grant easier access to land for urban farmers. The land reform of 2008 was a milestone, enabling individuals and cooperatives to lease idle state land for a period of up to 25 years. Thirdly, furthermore, the inclusion of urban agriculture as a policy priority in Country’s five-year plans.
Nairobi’s Experience in Urban Agriculture In 2015, the Nairobi City County government developed and implemented the Urban Agriculture Promotion and Regulation Act, acknowledging the potential of urban agriculture for food and nutrition security. The Act provides regulation on land and water access, food safety, environment conservation and organic waste management; and includes standards for urban agriculture.
Since urban agriculture is practiced where land is at premium, innovative approaches that could make urban agricultural practices more productive and competitive should be explored and applied. The high interest among the youth to practice urban agriculture could be vital in this regard as they have the potential to easily learn and adapt new and innovative approaches.
Stakeholder knowledge sharing and coordination platform should be established to better coordinate urban agricultural initiatives as well as avoid duplication of efforts. Strengthening urban agricultural institutions by providing continuous on the job training, approving the draft policy documents on urban agriculture, and incentivizing the experts to maintain skilled labor force, creating stable institutional structure could enhance the role and impact of urban agriculture.
BY STAFF REPORTER
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 2 JULY 2025