ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general idea, from the literature, of the type of people more likely to be involved in urban agriculture. The tenets of the labour-surplus model and the dependency model are not contradictory but they are rather a supplementary contribution to explaining why some urban residents farm and others do not farm in urban areas. Educational standards in the rural areas of sub-Saharan African countries are very low compared to those in urban areas. It is specifically noted that urban agriculture ‘will grow even larger with projected population growth’. Workers’ low salaries compel them to supplement their income through urban agriculture and other informal sector activities. The increasing entry of highly educated and skilled personnel into urban agriculture has brought about an important and interesting development. The labour-surplus model, the dependency model, and the cultural lag model are complementary in explaining why some urban residents get involved in agriculture.
