CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background Of The Study

According to the national geographic society, agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising livestock. It includes the preparation of plants and animal products for people to use and their distribution to markets. To begin, urban agriculture also known as urban farming or urban gardening is the process of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas.

Here an urban area refers to the region surrounding a city, most inhabitants of the urban areas have non-agricultural jobs, they are very developed meaning there is a density of human structures such as houses, commercial buildings etc. urban areas can also be referred to as towns, cities and suburbs. Urban agriculture is also a term used animal husbandry, aquaculture and horticulture.

The food and agricultural sector forms the backbone of most African economies offering a livelihood for a large proportion of Africa’s population. However, the sector has been in decline in many countries since 1960 and African cities are now suffering from food insecurity.

Urban areas have been particularly hit by declining economies and structural adjustment policies introduced during the 1980 and 1990s, the cost of which were disproportionately felt by the urban poor. Life in urban areas has become more expensive while employment in the formal sector has decreased (Tacoli 2002. Bah et al 2003).

More recently, the prices of food and other basic commodities have been increasing due to the global economic crisis. A wide range of activities in the formal sector is being undertaken (Hanseer and Vaa 2004) and among these, urban agriculture is an important one. Although urban agriculture is often seen as a survival strategy of the urban, it is practised by urban residents in all categories. There are even towns where the poor are underrepresented among urban farmers (Foeken and owuor 2008), but for poor and rich urban farmers are alike, urban farming is a way to subsidise income.

Not surprising, therefore, urban agriculture is usually looked out from the perspective of the urban livelihoods approach, in this case, urban farming aimed at preserving a certain livelihood level. Besides the livelihood perspective, one can look at urban agriculture as a way of poverty elevation. Buea is growing rapidly which is being fueled by the annual immigration of some 7000 persons to the country’s only English language university (Folifac et al., 2009).

The population of the town is about 57000 but the agglomeration pushes the figure up to about 25000 inhabitants. The rapid rate of urbanisation has made that there is a huge demand for food which has pushed up the prices of foodstuffs.

Buea virtually has no secondary economic activity that could offer jobs to the unemployed and even the few who are fortunate enough to have employees such as hairdressers, teachers, police officers, business persons complain about the difficulties they face in feeding their household. Many people have thus resorted to urban farming to complement the family’s food supply and improve their household income.

Moreover, urban agriculture is growing in popularity and becoming an integral component of the push to improve food quantity and quality in neighbourhoods where healthy food is scarce or not readily available (Asongwe et al., 2014). This trend coupled with rapid urbanisation, calls for actions to develop sustainable urban agriculture production systems in Cameroon given the key role it is called to play for food security and as livelihood strategy and its potential impact on the environment.

In Africa, urban agriculture traditionally constitutes a risk-sharing strategy for households (Parrot et al., 2009a, 2009b; De bon et al., 2010), but is also part of African culture and urban agriculture tradition (Page, 2002). Also being close to local markets, urban agriculture is expected to become increasingly important for food supply and nutrition in developing countries cities, particularly for perishable products.

Food security as one of the critical issues resulting from rapid urban urbanisation (De bon et al.,2010), most of urban poor spend at least between 60 and 80% of their income just to feed themselves (Orisini et al.,2013; Magnusson et al., 2014): but their food consumption remains insufficient in quality and quantity (FAQ, 2001).

Urban agriculture is one mechanism that plays an important role in enhancing access to and distribution of food in urban areas and thus filling the hunger gap (Lee Smith, 2010). Besides food provision, urban agriculture constitutes one of the urban dwellers livelihoods strategies and provides them with a series of socioeconomic benefits (FAO and World Bank, 2008).

Furthermore, urban agriculture does not only favour urban farmers but also traders, input sellers and other service providers involved in agricultural value chains (Lagerkvist,2014). The conceptualisation of food security goals by Koc et al (1999) however goes beyond the adequacy of food quantity and quality and extends to the four A’s (Availability, accessibility, acceptability and adequacy).

Availability connotes the physical presence (supply) of food in large amounts, accessibility addresses the demand for the food and suggest sufficient purchasing power or ability to acquire quality food at all time. Hence food should be accessible to all equally. Acceptability addresses food cultural traditions.

Adequacy is usually defined in terms of the long term sustainability of food systems (FAO, 2008). Each of the key aspects of food security can be analysed in the context of the urban environment as the population grows due to different factors of urban migration.

The most visible effect of urban expansion in Buea is discernible in Molyko in areas like Tarred and untarred malingo, Dirty south, mayor street, Ndongo which have witnessed rapid population growth. Xuemei (2012) who has explored the crucial linkages between urbanisation and food security, argues that urbanisation leads to land use conservation from agricultural land to urban use, such as infrastructures industrial, residential or commercial use. Such land-use conservation often reduces the most fertile lands, and therefore the impact on agricultural production and food security is often larger than the absolute amount of land involved.

At a time of economic crisis and sharply rising food prices, urban farming is increasingly helping to sustain households. The food and agricultural sector forms the backbone of most African economies, offering livelihood for a large proportion of Africa’s population.

Without income access to food in the urban area is problematic as most of the foodstuffs have to be purchased, hence the need for urban agriculture. Access to food in urban areas is dependent on cash exchange, with few expectations, where urban food production contributes directly to the household intake. Dependence on purchased food is a leading factor in household food insecurity of poor urban populations who lack a fixed income.

The southwest region of Cameroon is one out of the ten regions of the Country which provides most of the agricultural products such as tomatoes, maize, vegetables due to its favourable climatic condition and soils. This study is based on the Buea urban area precisely in the Molyko neighbourhood where this activity is being practised.

1.1 Problem Statement

The expansion of urban agglomerations in Molyko Buea brings about challenges for assuring household food security among urban dwellers. The challenges are;

Limited space. The increase in population in the Molyko neighbourhood has led to the high demand for land for infrastructural commercial and residential development and thus turns up limit the land for agricultural purposes, which has been a problem to household income and livelihood in Molyko.

The lack of experience skilled labour and management. The urban agriculture practises in Molyko are mostly unskilled labour. This is because the farmers practise the primitive system and lack knowledge of skilled labour like the use of irrigational farming, mechanised farming, just to name a few and this turns to affects urban agriculture.

The loss and damage of crops from pests, birds and rodents. The urban agriculture in the Molyko area is highly affected by birds and pests which turn to reduce the farm outputs hence affecting household income and livelihood.

The application of chemical fertilizers to the soil affects the soil since some micro-organisms are been lost and also causes pollution since during rainfall, runoff carries the chemicals in the soils to nearby streams and causes water pollution.

The poor farming techniques such as slash and burns has led to soil degradation there by destroying the soil nutrients which in turn leads to low crop yields and affects household income and livelihood.

1.2 Research Question

1.2.1    Main Research Question

What are the effects of urban agriculture on household income and livelihood in the Molyko neighbourhood?

1.2.2 Specific Research Question

1. What are the different types of urban agriculture in Molyko?
2. How can urban agriculture be carried out sustainably?
3. What are the measures put in place to limit the effects of urban agriculture on household income and livelihood in the Molyko neighbourhood?

1.3 Research Objectives

1.3.1 Main Research Objectives.

To analyse the effects of urban agriculture on household income and livelihood in Molyko Buea.

1.3.2 Specific Research Objectives

1. To investigate the different types of crops cultivated in Molyko Buea.
2. To assess how urban agriculture is been carried out in Molyko.
3. Evaluating the measures put in place to limit the effects of urban agriculture on household income and livelihood in Molyko and the way forward.