Sub-Saharan Africa is the most rapidly urbanized region in the world. Especially in the urban informal areas, Food Security and Food Sovereignty is one of the main challenges for policy makers, city planners, urban farmers and... [ view full abstract ]
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most rapidly urbanized region in the world. Especially in the urban informal areas, Food Security and Food Sovereignty is one of the main challenges for policy makers, city planners, urban farmers and of course - the population itself. Urban Agriculture can contribute to Food Security and could be a solution for improving food and nutritional security as well as safe and healthy food production, especially in disadvantaged urban communities. The international research project, UFiSAMo[1] investigates possible means through which to increase the availability, consumption, and environmental perception of diverse, safe and nutritious foods through improved production (and marketing) of crops in Maputo and Cape Town.
The research contributing to this paper is focused on Food Security and Food Sovereignty for vulnerable population in Cape Town and Maputo, but raises also the question on safe and healthy food production in urban space according agroecological production principles to create edible urban landscape. How healthy is the so-called organic food already produced in Cape Town’s backyards and smallscale fields, compared to the food produced in Maputo’s small scale farms with mostly high chemical input?
Comparative observation of production methods as well as laboratory analysis show differences in food quality and show up the potentials for knowledge transfer through PGS certification on the example of Western Cape PGS movement in South Africa. The grass root movement allows producers to work on their own quality assurance standard, considering agroecological principles, and building up their production on trust, participation, and sovereignty from global and national food markets. The implementation of PGS in Western Cape region is observed, accompanied, analysed and in a next step with participatory action research methods transferred to urban space requirements – so called urbanGAP- as one main outcome of our research.
Results from the present research will show the understanding and practice of GAP in both cities – defining urbanGAP as collection of different, to urban circumstances adapted, agroecological production principles to cultivate in an organic and healthy way with the aim to support Food Security and Food Sovereignty to the producers. It is assumed, that GAPs in Cape Town is far beyond of Maputo. However, two cities – two realities. Good practices outlined in Cape Towns backyards and Maputos “organic machambas”, verified with Participatory Guarantee Systems, could be the theoretical base for more Food Sovereignty in both cities.
The implementation of urbanGAP as innovation is crucial to enhance the access of the urban disadvantaged to safe food and to enhance food and nutrition security. On this basis, the possibility to enhance agroecological cultivation methods in urban area will be shown. Due to an additional analysis on local knowledge exchange and local capacity development systems, an adapted transfer model will be developed to contribute to the adoption of innovations on organic cultivation in the city.
[1] UFiSAMo: Research project on Urban Agriculture for Food Security and income generation in Southern Africa and Mozambique. Founded by German Federal Office for Food and Nutrition.
