ABSTRACT

This study investigates the role of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on food security and resource use efficiency in Bamenda I, II and III Municipalities in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The main objective of the study is to analyze the impacts of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on resource use efficiency and food security. Specifically, the study aims at; (1) identifying the various forms of innovations in urban and peri-urban agriculture, and their applicability in Bamenda I, II and III Municipalities, (2) evaluating the contributions of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on resource use efficiency and profitability in Bamenda I, II and III Municipalities, and (3) examining the impacts of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on food security in Bamenda I, II and III Municipalities. Objective one will be analyzed using the Probit and Proportional Model , objective two will be analyzed with the Data Enveloped Analysis Measure and the Marginal cost/ Benefit Model, and objective three will be analyzed using the Multiple Correspondent Analysis. The study will consist of a sample of 400 urban farmers (market gardening, mushroom, Heliculture pisci-culture, livestock farmers etc.) selected from the study area (Bamenda I, II, III), using the cluster sampling, simple random sampling, purposive sampling, and snowball sampling techniques. Primary data will be collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire consisting of a mixture of open and close ended questions that will be administered to respondents. Secondary data will be obtained from internet sources such as; open access journals, Google scholars, online articles and books on urban and peri-urban agriculture, food security, land use and resource use efficiency. Reports of governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations on urban and peri-urban agriculture will also be another source of secondary data. The findings of this study will contribute to policy formulation and an increased recognition and understanding of the contributions of urban and peri-urban agriculture by the government of Cameroon, especially at a time when the country and Africa at large are experiencing unprecedented, rapid, and high urbanization rates which have been predicted to be on a rise.

Key Words:  Urban Agriculture, Peri-Urban Agriculture, Innovation, Food Security, and Resource Use Efficiency.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1.  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture is a phenomenon that can be observed worldwide; it is a widely practiced industry that has existed for a long time. Nugent (2000) mentioned that The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) introduced the acronym UPA (Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture), with ‘urban agriculture’ referring to agriculture that takes place within the built-up city and ‘peri-urban agriculture’ to agriculture in the areas surrounding cities (de Zeeuw et al., 2011). UPA therefore is simply the growing of crops and rearing of animals within and around cities. While featuring a range of different forms, it commonly encompasses all activities of plant cultivation and animal rearing within cities and towns and in their immediate surroundings (Orsini, 2020). UPA agriculture also includes related input provision, processing and marketing activities, and services (de Zeeuw et al., 2011). Compared to rural agriculture, UPA has some distinct features (such as the limited land access, alternative growing media, unique legal environments, or the non-production-related missions) that encourage the development of new practices such as “novelties” or “innovations” (Sanyé-Mengual et al., 2019). According to the Director of Foresight of the Veolia Institute, Nicolas Renard, “what is so striking about this agriculture is the extreme diversity of the forms it takes; it can be open air or indoor, in carefully sealed, protected and controlled environments. It can be horizontal, like the community gardens of São Paulo, or vertical like in New York. It can be at ground level or in cellars or basements. Manual, like in Addis Ababa or robotized and automated like the farming factories of Japan. It can be on standalone plots or incorporated into existing buildings. It may be designed to reduce food bills for poor families, like in Quito or, conversely, to supply premium produce sold at high prices, like in Brussels. Its objective may be leisure, education, or production. It can use simple ancestral models or the latest technologies to maximize yields and minimize inputs. Its inspiration may come from conventional agriculture, hydroponics, aeroponics, permaculture, and more” (Martin-Moreau & Ménascé, 2019).

Urban and peri-urban agriculture is experiencing an unprecedented growth throughout the world, finding applications in countries with both developing and more developed economies (Orsini, 2020); it has assumed global concern and has become a topic of scientific research in recent years. This is because the increasing growth of hunger in most parts of the world, especially in developing nations, has presented a huge challenge to governments. Thebo et al. (2014) noted that, globally 5.9% of all crop land is in urban areas (Werner et al., 2019) and UPA agriculture often substantially contributes to the food supply of urban populations. UPA in developing countries contributes to food diversity and food security of the urban population, and its importance is on a rise due to an increase in urban population (Omondi, 2017; Werner et al., 2019). Motivation for UPA is significantly high in developing nations with an increasing interest in the practice due to the prevailing relatively harsh economic conditions. In Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania’s capital, urban agriculture comprises at least 60% of the informal economic sector and is the second-largest urban employer(Ruhweza, 2020). In Kenya, statistics from the University of Nairobi indicate that about 30% of households in Nairobi benefit from urban and peri-urban agriculture, such as vertical gardens and hydroponics, which provide 60% of the leafy vegetables and 70% of milk and poultry products to consumers in Nairobi. Approximately 30% of the population in Nairobi is engaged in urban farming, and urban and peri-urban farmers control an estimated 75% of the vegetable value chain in urban Kenya(Ruhweza, 2020).

Urban and peri-urban agriculture creates several advantages for the urban area and urban dwellers. It offers substantial opportunities for environmental enhancement and protection through organic waste recycling and natural resource conservation; it is therefore an integral part of the urban ecosystem (Addo, 2010; World Bank, 2013). It also provides a substantial supply of perishable products with proximity to consumers. In addition to supplying perishable products to the urban dwellers, urban agriculture also generates formal and informal employment for food processors and distributors (Addo, 2010a). Thus, the practice has been a significant source of job creation for the urban unemployed, food security, improved livelihood, resource use efficiency, and has sustained the urban ecology. Involvement in UPA may also lead to a healthy and better nutrition and less dependence on food aid and imports especially during socio-political crises that displace many rural dwellers from the rural to the urban areas(Süß, 2018). It increases the availability of fresh, healthy, and affordable food for other urban consumers, as much of the food produced by urban farmers is sold locally. Urban and peri-urban agriculture also contributes to ensuring food availability during times of natural disasters or armed conflicts. For refugees, displaced people and recent migrants that live in camps around cities or with their relatives in slum areas; local food production on vacant land or in containers is an important survival strategy(Süß, 2018). Their involvement in productive activities may also help them to regain dignity, hope and self-respect and enhance their self-reliance, while reducing operational costs for humanitarian agencies. Through agroforestry, the planting of fruits trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowers UPA contribute to urban greening (Papito & Essougong, 2017). These trees and flowers contribute to embellishing urban landscape and the various fruits trees planted along the main streets of cities and next to houses are an important source of food, they also provide shade and contribute to creating suitable microclimate during hot seasons. In some cases, using these trees and ornamental crops, municipalities directly generate some income; for example, botanical gardens and parks in cities serve as recreational sites that provide income to various municipalities (Papito & Essougong, 2017a). Moreover, urban farming promotes innovation and contributes to the needed modernization of the whole agricultural sector, to target the global objective of a sustainable agriculture.

Urban farms, are generally managed by young entrepreneurs raised in the city, having a limited rural background, and are often highly open to technological innovations and smart agricultural techniques. This primarily enables the exploration of creativity in project design. There are, however, potential disadvantages to this increasing drive for urban and peri-urban agriculture including associated urban health risks and implications for the environment. The usage of wastewater for example, may contaminate produced food and intensive irrigation might lead to the spread of malaria and water borne diseases, as well as threatening already limited water supplies. Soil erosion and the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides might also present health risks to urban populations and damage the environment.

Many African countries are no strangers to economic crisis, civil strife and, in some cases, state failure (Papito & Essougong, 2017a). The primary driving force for continuous increase in urban and peri-urban farming in developing countries is a lethal combination of factors that includes, worsening poverty, market failures, economic recession and political upheavals that cause food crisis throughout developing countries including Cameroon (Papito & Essougong, 2017a). Cameroon is a nation that is endowed with a vast diversity of resources both human and material. However, there is still much poverty among both urban and rural dwellers in Cameroon, due to high unemployment rate and low incomes. Like elsewhere in the world, Cameroon is experiencing rapid and unplanned urbanization; the urbanization rate in Cameroon was estimated at 53.98% in 2014 with 65% of the urban population living in Slums and the number of slum dwellers increasing at an annual rate of 5.5% (UN-habitat, 2016). UPA witnessed a significant development in Cameroon during the 1980s when the economic crisis followed by structural adjustment policies slowed down rural agriculture, reduced public sector employment, and increased urban unemployment. It served as a means of survival and an additional source of income and food for the population. Today, agriculture remains an important aspect of the lifestyle of urban Cameroonians, and there are a growing number of urban and peri-urban farmers from different age groups and sectors including young graduates and civil servants. UPA provides urban Cameroonians with a wide range of products with multiple uses including plants crops (for example, vegetables, staple crops, fruits trees, ornamental trees and flowers, medicinal plants, spices etc.) and animal products. Also, manure from urban livestock is used by most of the urban and peri-urban farmers to improve the soil property of their cultivated land.

In Bamenda, urban agriculture includes a range of activities such as growing market gardening crops, staple crops, fruits, and herbs, as well as raising conventional (chickens, goats, pigs) and unconventional (rabbits, guinea pigs, bees) livestock, and fish (aquaculture), (Feldt et al., 2018), and recent innovations such as the growing of mushrooms in pots, bags, and papers, within enclosed rooms. The practice of agriculture in and around the city of Bamenda is an important aspect of the creation of a resilient and secure food system, and provides an important solution for resource use efficiency, and a complementary strategy to cope with the problems of rapid population growth and the recent socio-political crisis in the region. In fact, Bamenda is facing rapid urban growth since the 1970s but has great difficulties in coping with this rapid urbanization as it faces major challenges in creating sufficient employment opportunities for the poor and the rapidly growing population (Feldt et al., 2018). Urban agriculture reduces urban unemployment, poverty, and food insecurity in Bamenda. UPA offers an opportunity for the contribution to food security and healthy nutrition in Bamenda which is usually characterized by insufficient, unreliable, and irregular access to food, health, and income especially by the urban poor. In urban settings, lack of income translates more directly into lack of food than in a rural setting (Van vehuisen and Daso, 2007; World Bank, 2013).

1.2.  STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The population living in cities is continuously increasing worldwide; 56.2% of the global population now lives in cities. While in 1950, less than 20 percent of Africans and Asians lived in cities, that number increased to 43 percent and 51 percent, respectively in 2020 (Buchholz Katharina, 2020). More people in the world now live in urban than in rural settings, and the urbanization rate seems to be on a rise every year. In developing countries, this phenomenon is aggravated by poverty, leading to tremendous problems of employment, immigration, transportation, environment protection, and food security. Food security appears as one of the critical issues resulting from rapid urbanization; disadvantaged urban households may have to devote an extremely high proportion of their disposable income to food, between 54 percent and 76 percent in Sub-Saharan capital cities but their food consumption remains insufficient in quality and quantity (World Bank, 2013). In addition, rapidly increasing population in cities and limited cultivated areas require urban agricultural innovations and higher farming productivity without polluting soil, air, and water.

Urbanization exacerbates the conditions of poor urban dwellers, especially those with weak livelihood strategies. Most urban towns in developing countries face challenges in creating sufficient employment opportunities and to provide adequate basic services for the rapidly growing population. This leads to high unemployment (especially among the youth and disadvantaged categories of the population), increase of slums and very poor living conditions in the slum areas (de Zeeuw et al., 2011). A majority of the urban poor rely on the informal sector and unstable intermittent jobs for their survival whereas their livelihoods can be improved if the socio-economic potential and profitability of UPA is properly exploited, recognized, and promoted by government and all stakeholders.  More and more youths in Africa are studying agriculture in higher institutions, many youths graduate as agricultural technicians, engineers, and experts skilled with the ability to carry out massive innovations in both urban and rural agriculture that will free them from poverty and unemployment, contribute to food security and enable the efficient use of resources. However, many of these youths still face the challenges of poverty and unemployment because they lack adequate support to carryout agriculture in the urban space where they rather prefer to live compared to living in the rural areas which are characterized by limited basic social amenities and technological development. Unfortunately, the benefits that accrue from urban farming, such as increased availability of fresh crops, especially vegetables, and contributions to food security, employment, and sustainable livelihoods, are often underestimated and undervalued (Addo, 2010a).

UPA is often tolerated by governments, but rarely encouraged despite its vital contribution to employment and livelihoods (Martin-Moreau & Ménascé, 2019). Many governments and non-governmental organizations funded agricultural projects in Africa are usually focused on promoting smallholder agriculture and profitability in the rural areas. Usually, agricultural services are exclusively provided to rural farmers, while urban farming activities are left unattended. As a result, there is limited assistance to UPA in the provision of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, and technical advice-resources that every farmer needs but are inadequate in the UPA contexts. Remedying this situation by ensuring access to clean water, land, capacity building, and technical resources is crucial in supporting UPA (Martin-Moreau & Ménascé, 2019). Many governments do not directly perceive the benefits of urban agriculture; they consider that food can be imported and therefore there is no necessity of developing urban food systems. By adopting policies that better integrate agriculture into urban development, developing countries can reap considerable benefits, especially enhancements in social, economic, and environmental sustainability (de Bon et al., 2010). The continuing population growth of cities in developing countries will not decrease the economic and social importance of urban agriculture, if governments are made aware of its multi-functional role, and if the safety of its products and environment can be guaranteed (de Bon et al., 2010; Omondi, 2017).

Urban planners and managers focus more on providing services like housing, transport, water, and electricity, neglecting urban agriculture which is an integral component of the urban systems. There is a need for massive support of UPA, especially through funding of innovations such as greenhouses, zero acreage farming (for example vertical farming), aquaculture practiced in drums and barrels etc., which contribute to the efficient use of limited urban and peri-urban resources (such as land and water), food and nutrition security, employment, and profitability, and can also be a potential for increase in government revenue through taxes, if properly implemented in the long run. This will facilitate the regulation, monitoring, coordination of food quality control, and will also ease the implementation of further interventions designed to benefit urban farmers. UPA has the potential to play a key role in Cameroon’s agricultural sector in the future by contributing immensely to urban food security and resource use efficiency. Thus, it is necessary to start thinking on how to organize it to make it sustainable and more profitable. Providing technical, financial, and material support to UPA farmers will improve productivity and limit the negative impacts of urban agriculture on food safety and environment. For instance, by training UPA farmers, and equipping them to practice techniques such as vertical agriculture, greenhouse farming and hydroponics, urban agricultural production and productivity can be increased, which will ensure a continuous supply of food throughout the year, contribute to the fight against climate change, and to the efficient use of resources. Moreover, by bringing close together urban farmers, their activity will be easily monitored, and that will facilitate food quality control. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen urban farmers’ capacity in agricultural products post-harvest handling and processing to increase their profit margins, reduce post-harvest losses, and contribute to an improvement in their living standards.

It is true that urban agriculture alone cannot meet the food needs of a country and contribute entirely to its food security. However, its benefits and contributions especially to food security in the urban area should not be underestimated especially at a time when countries all over the world including Cameroon are facing unprecedented health crisis and political upheavals that have led to the greatest humanitarian crises the world has ever witness. These factors and many more have caused the massive migration of people from the rural areas in Cameroon to the urban areas such as Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, and Bamenda. The migration of inhabitants of the rural areas (who are predominantly smallholder farmers) from the rural areas to the urban areas including Bamenda, due to sociopolitical crisis, implies that there is a massive decrease in the population of farmers in the rural areas and there is a rising number of urban and peri-urban farmers. It is essential to accommodate internally displaced persons who are predominantly small holder farmers within the urban space through the promotion of UPA that will enable them meet up with their livelihood and food needs. UPA therefore has a huge potential to act as a “Safety net” for food supply, promote food security, an avenue for income generation, beautify the urban space, promote environmental sustainability and fight against climate. Its potential has however not been adequately exploited and maximized by government, policy makers, investors, and stakeholders in Cameroon.

1.3.  RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study aims at analyzing how innovations in urban and peri-urban agriculture contribute to food security and resource use efficiency in urban areas. It therefore intends to provide answer to the central research question “What are the impacts of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on resource use efficiency and food security in Bamenda I, II and III Municipalities, Northwest Region of Cameroon?”

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the various forms of innovations in urban and peri-urban agriculture, and the drivers of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Bamenda I, II and III Municipalities?
2. What are the contributions of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on resource use efficiency and profitability in Bamenda I, II, and III Municipalities?
3. What is the impact of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on food security in Bamenda I, II, and III Municipalities?

1.4.  RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this study is to analyze the impacts of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on resource use efficiency and food security

Specifically, the study intends to:

1) Identify the various forms of innovations in urban and peri-urban agriculture and determine the drivers of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Bamenda I, II and III municipalities

2) Evaluate the contributions of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on resource use efficiency in the Bamenda I, II and III municipalities

3) Examine the impacts of innovative urban and peri-urban agriculture on food security in the Bamenda I, II, and III municipalities.