Which way for UPA in Africa?

Abstract

This paper reviews a synthesis, made in late 2010, which identified the major issues arising from the East and Central African data as: the relationship of UPA to food security and poverty; whether it recycles waste effectively; and what was happening in terms of policy response. The paper updates the analysis and examines it in relation to issues raised by data from Southern Africa. The capacity of UPA to recycle nutrients, especially on the highly efficient crop–livestock backyard farms, signifies its potential role in making cities sustainable. Investigating the reasons for positive policy environments in some places, or the vested interests that mitigate against support for urban farming—especially by the poor—in other places, suggests that emerging farmers' networks or institutions that support them need to engage with larger political processes in order to take advantage of a potentially productive economic sector.