Urban Agriculture and Nutrition. Empirical Evidence from a

Sample of Developing Countries

Alberto Zezza and Luca Tasciotti

Food and Agriculture Organization

24/09/2009

What is urban agriculture?

Urban agriculture is the production of agriculture commodities, both plant and

animal, in urban areas.

Questions about urban agriculture

• Why is it important?

• Who consumes the output?

• Who is engaged in it?

• Where is it practiced?

• Is there is a relationship between urban agriculture and nutrition?

Satisfying the food needs of urban populations

Source: UN, Urbanization prospects.

By 2015, 53 cities in the world are expected to have a population of 5 million

or more. To feed a city of this size, 6 000 tonnes of food must be imported every day.

Why is urban agriculture important?

• There is a relationship between urban agriculture and nutrition.

• Direct access to cheaper/more diverse food if markets are inefficient.

• Source of additional income.

Who are the urban farmers?Percentage of urban households engaged in urban agriculture

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Ghana1998

Madagasc

ar 1998

Mala

wi 20 04

Nigeria

2004

Banglade sh 2

000In

donesia 2

000Nepal 1

996Pakis ta

n 20 01

Vietn

am 1

998Ecuador 1

995G

uatem

ala 2

000

Nicaragua 2

0 01Panam

a 2003

Albania

2005

Bulgaria

2001

Notes: different bars corresponds to different expenditure quintiles

Types of land used for urban

agriculture• Backyards.

• Community gardens.

• Unused public and private spaces.

• Roadsides.

• Streamsides and floodplains.

• Wetlands.

• Underdeveloped steep slopes.

Examples of land used for urban

agriculture

Examples of land used for urban

agriculture

Examples of land used for urban

agriculture

Examples of land used for urban

agriculture

Existing literature on urban

agriculture

• The amount of quantitative work on urban agriculture is limited.

• Studies based on survey data exist for several large cities, but most of the data is still qualitative.

Countries analyzed

Countries in the dataset

Madagascar

Malawi

IndonesiaNigeria

Ghana

Albania

Bulgaria

Pakistan

Nepal

Bangladesh

Vietnam

Ecuador

Panama

Nicaragua

Guatemala

Urban agriculture and nutrition

We build two measures of dietary diversity:

1) Food group index (from 1 to 13).

2) Food count index (how many types of foods are consumed by each household).

Urban agriculture and nutrition0

10

20

30

40

7 8 9 10 11 12logpcexp

hhs engaged in agriculture quadratric fit for ag. hhs

hhs not engaged in agriculture quadratic fit for non ag. hhs

Albania

Relationship between the food count index and the log of per capita expenditure

Urban agriculture and nutrition0

20

40

60

80

100

11 12 13 14 15 16logpcexp

hhs engaged in agriculture quadratic fit for ag. hhs

hhs not engaged in agriculture quadratic fit for non ag. hhs

Madagascar

Relationship between the food count index and the log of per capita expenditure

Urban agriculture and nutrition

• Statistical models

* 1. food group index (1st model);

2. food count index (2nd model).

εααα

ααααα

ααα

++++

++++++

+++=

dummyalgeographicsharelabourfemaleeducation

educationageheadageheadsizehouseholdlandown

percapitaeagriculturpmeasurediversitydietary

___2^

2^___

exp)log(_*__

1098

76543

210

Urban agriculture and nutrition

• The results of the regressions show that people involved in urban agriculture have

greater dietary diversity (in 12 out of

15 countries)

• Urban agriculture increases the number

of food consumed in each household,

specifically by 6% in Guatemala, by 11% in Panama and by 36% in Albania.

Urban agriculture and calories consumption

• 3rd model

εααα

αααα

αααα

++++

+++++

+++=

dummyalgeographicsharelabourfemaleeducation

educationageheadageheadsizehousehold

landownpercapitaeagriculturpcaloriesdailycapitaper

___2^

2^___

exp)log(____

1098

7654

3210

Urban agriculture and calories consumption

• Households involved in urban agriculture consume more calories.

• This increased consumption of

calories is associated with a higher

consumption of fruits, vegetables, dairy products and the local staple food.

Conclusions

Urban agriculture:

• involves between about 10% to 70% of urban

households;

• is an activity in which the poor are

disproportionately represented;

• is not a primary source of income, although...;

• increases the dietary diversity;

• increases the number of per capita daily calories.

Percentage of total household income

coming from urban agriculture

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Gha

na19

98

Mad

agasc

ar 1

998

Mal

awi 2

004N

iger

ia 2

004

Bangl

adesh

200

0In

dones

ia 2

000

Nep

al 1

996

Pakis

tan

2001

Vietn

am 1

998

Alban

ia 2

005

Bulga

ria 2

001

Ecuad

or 1

995

Gua

tem

ala

2000

Nic

arag

ua 2

001Pan

ama

2003

Notes: different bars corresponds to different expenditure quintiles

Percentage of urban agricultural

production sold

0

20

40

60

80

Ghana 1998Madagasca

r 1993

Ma law i 2004

N igeria 2004

Bangladesh 2000

Nepa l 1996

V ietnam 1998

Alban ia 2005

Bu lga ria 2001

Ecuador 1

995Guatemala 200

0N ica ra

gua 2001Pana

ma 2003

Notes: different bars corresponds to different expenditure quintiles

Food groups division

MiscellaneousFood group 13

EggsFood group 12

BeveragesFood group 11

Oil and fatsFood group 10

Milk and milk productsFood group 9

Fish and shellfishFood group 8

Meat and PoultryFood group 7

Sugar, syrup and sweetsFood group 6

FruitsFood group 5

VegetablesFood group 4

Nuts, seeds and legumes Food group 3

Starchy, roots, tubers and legumesFood group 2

Cereals and grain productsFood group 1

Food itemsFood groups

47 (82)10.8Panama 2003

27 (61)9.4Nicaragua 2001

51 (88)10.4Guatemala 2000

40 (80)9.8Ecuador 1995

Latin America

27 (56)10Bulgaria 2001

11 (74)10.7Albania 2005

Eastern Europe

11 (20)11.1Vietnam 1998

42 (83)10.4Pakistan 2001

32 (54)10.1Nepal 1996

17 (37)10.2Indonesia 2000

27 (63)10.5Bangladesh 2000

Asia

21(122)8.9Nigeria 2004

19 (53)9.9Malawi 2004

40 (116)11Madagascar 1998

26 (79)10.5Ghana 1998

Africa

Food count index (max)Food group indexCountry and year

Urban agriculture and dietary diversity

5.43***0.59***Panama 2003

1.21***0.11**Nicaragua 2000

2.98***0.18***Guatemala 2000

2.30***0.37***Ecuador 1995

0.85**0.29***Bulgaria 2001

4.05***-0.05Albania 2001

0.70***0.04Vietnam 1998

0.37*0.03Pakistan 2001

1.82***0.20**Nepal 2000

0.58**0.16*Indonesia 2000

1.64***0.42***Bangladesh 2000

-2.39***0.24***Nigeria 2004

0.33-0.1Malawi 2004

12.01***-0.08Madagascar 1993

-0.350.23***Ghana 1998

Coefficient of p_onfarm(2nd model)

Coefficient of p_onfarm

(1st model)

Country & year

Urban agriculture and calories consumption

Dairy & eggs

Fruits & veg.

Meat

Staple

Cereals

Calories

Variable

1024***024

-16*18***7***123***

-9*9***2**-66**

40129***-37***712***

-72***-22-9***-122

-137*212***89***28

Nicaragua 2000Guatemala 2000Bangladesh 2000Malawi 2004

Notes: effects of urban agriculture on calories consumption and on the consumption

of food aggregates