Going with the food flow: The contribution of urban agriculture to a growing African city

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa's rapid urban growth is causing a decline in urban agricultural land, reducing access to healthy local food for citizens. This paper quantitatively and spatially describes the contribution of urban and peri-urban producers to the availability and accessibility of fresh leafy vegetables in the growing city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Based on over 700 surveys with food vendors and consumers, as well as ethnographic research with farmers, we show how a total of 70 per cent of all amaranth consumed in Dar es Salaam was found to be produced within the city. With an average distance travelled from farm to fork of 11 km, leafy vegetables have a strongly localised foodshed. The results show the ongoing significance of urban areas in meeting their own food demands, emphasising the necessity to explicitly integrate food provisioning in the planning of growing African cities.