| Urban Agriculture is an important feature in several sub-Saharan African countries. Most urban farmers are from a rural background which prompts them to choose urban farming over other informal sector activities.;Many Ghanaians move to urban Ghana in search of employment in the formal sector. However, as explained by the labour-surplus theory, many urban residents are not able to acquire employment in the formal sector. Thus, those who are not able to acquire salaried income are compelled to seek income from the informal sector. One of the informal sector activities that attracts many of the formally unemployed is urban agriculture. Apart from the fact that many urban residents are formally unemployed and consequently seek income from the informal sector, many formally employed urban residents do not earn enough to sustain themselves and their families. This is explained by the dependency theory of the Third World. Those who do not earn enough, thus the underpaid, are compelled to seek extra income from the informal sector.;That many urban residents choose urban agriculture instead of other informal sector activities or in addition to other informal activities is explained by the cultural lag theory. They have a rural background, they have previous knowledge, thus skill, in farming.;There are two main types of urban agriculture: enclosed farming and open-space farming. On the one hand, enclosed cultivators are mainly middle/upper class who cultivate for home consumption. On the other hand, open-space cultivators are lower class who cultivate for sale. While most of the open-space cultivators in Accra are from the northern part of Ghana where infrastructural development lags behind, most enclosed cultivators are from the more developed south.;Since most open-space cultivators are poor, they depend on their social network members for an efficient practice of urban agriculture. For example, many of them acquire farmland through the assistance of network members. In addition, they borrow capital from network members to buy agricultural inputs.;Urban agriculture is a permanent feature. At the moment, the emphasis is on open-space farming. In the near future, emphasis will be on enclosed farming. Both open-space farming and enclosed farming are small-scale. However, in the distant future, the emphasis will be on commercialized or large-scale farming. |
