Urban agriculture, cooperative organization and the position of the urban poor in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

The purpose of this research is to investigate and understand the character and role of urban agriculture in Addis Ababa, in particular, where urban agriculture is the sole means of survival. The major objectives of the research are: - to focus attention on a relatively neglected, but potentially significant area of concern for urban development planning and management; - to present evidence on patterns of migration and on the role of urban agriculture in the survival process of migrant households; -to analyse the production and management organisation of urban agriculture cooperatives and their implications for the understanding of urban agriculture as an activity and a distinctive process of household survival; - to examine the income, employment and consumption effects of cooperative and individual household urban agriculture; - to analyse the structure and division of labour within low-income urban farmer households; and - to examine the impact of urban agriculture on urban poverty in general. The investigation is based on a detailed survey of a representative sample of one of the vegetable producers' cooperatives in Addis Ababa and an in-depth study of a selected representative sample of 30 households (members of the same cooperative). The study identifies a distinctive pattern of decisions in the historical process of evolving household survival strategies among low-income urban farmers. Urban agriculture has been undertaken by these households as a final stage in their sequence of survival strategies, responding to the threat of extreme poverty and food insecurity due to shortage of income and unemployment. The study demonstrates that low-income households' decision to cultivate was led by the need to feed their families and the expectation of improved returns in the absence of better paying jobs, i.e. as a matter of survival. The determination, the ability and the willingness to work on urban land (or to cultivate), that is the motivation and application of the household and its members, have to be viewed as equally significant to the availability of land and water resources in relation to overall production capacity. This appears in contrast to treating only provision of land and water resources as causal factors, as presented in most of the literature reviewed. In this regard the study has further revealed the particular nature of cooperative forms of urban agriculture, their significant contribution to the unity and solidarity of their members as well as their role in improving production and providing food supplies for the urban poor. Combining the cooperative and household systems of organisation, urban agriculture has provided food for consumption and production for sale. It has improved nutritional levels, income and employment opportunities, and the standard of living of the producers, and has also contributed a significant proportion of the supply of vegetables to the city. The thesis concludes that urban agriculture should be encouraged, strengthened and given its rightful place, not merely tolerated. On this basis it also points to issues for future research.