Labor, land, food and farming: A household analysis of urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda

Farming within African cities has become increasingly important in the past two decades. In Kampala, the period from 1971 until the late 1980s was characterized by institutional breakdown, rapid economic decline, and civil conflict, and led to new forms of household and individual work strategies that diversified sources of income. Urban agriculture has always been a part of Kampala's economy, but during this period, direct urban subsistence production of food increased notably, even though urban farming is technically illegal. Much of this urban farming is done by women. About half of the land in Kampala is farmed, and about one third of all households include someone engaging in urban farming.; This study examines factors that explain contemporary urban farming. Farming is largely the effort of urban women to secure a reserve source of food. Urban farming is significantly associated with better long-term food security and nutritional status of children, particularly in the lower income groups that make up some 80% of the city's population. At the level of the city as a whole, urban farming constitutes the largest single non-market source of food for the urban population.; Gaining and maintaining access to land are the biggest constraints to farming in the city. Land tenure in Kampala is a confusing array of at least four different major categories, each affording eight to ten different forms of access and occupancy. Land under virtually every combination of access and tenure is being farmed, but the majority of land being farmed has been accessed through informal means: illegal sub-division, informal purchase of use-rights, borrowing, or "squatting." Different categories of access and tenure confer different rights and obligations on users, leading to different land-use practices for farming. Institutional reforms are currently being proposed that would introduce major alterations in urban land administration and ownership, and constitute a threat to the practice of urban farming.; Urban agriculture constitutes an important strategy for urban household food security. Policy recommendations toward urban agriculture are discussed.