ABSTRACT
Bryceson (1993) provides documentary evidence from as early as 1939 of the importance of urban agriculture during the Second World War and after. However, it was only in the mid-1980s with the UN University’s Food Energy Nexus research programme that researchers became more serious about examining agricultural cultivation within city boundaries. Since then a significant literature has developed around a central debate on whether urban agriculture is a good thing. This has been summarised by Lynch (2002) and is illustrated in Table 2.4. However, one problem with this summary is the assumption that urban agriculture is a homogenous activity with universally similar impacts. A second problem with it is that it is largely viewed from the perspective of the city’s population. This means that urban agriculture is generally seen as beneficial, because it provides food and employment and can even provide environmental benefits. However, there is little consideration of the impacts on the rural-urban food supply. This led Lynch, Binns and Olofin (2001) to argue that urban agriculture should be considered as a part of the more general urban food supply system. This
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