ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an exploratory analysis of how sack potato production can increase food security for women living in urban areas. Urban agriculture in Zimbabwe started in the early 1950s as a survival strategy for poor African households under colonial rule (Mbida 1995). It has grown over the years and now an estimated ten percent of land in Harare is used for urban agriculture (Brazier 2012). Sack potato production provides another dimension to the increased importance of urban agriculture especially after the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe. Chiweshe, Chakona, and Helliker (2015) argue that women form the bulk of the agricultural workforce and are thus responsible for producing the bulk of the food in Zimbabwe. This exploratory study sought to provide an in-depth analysis into the emergence of sack potato farming as an alternative empowerment platform for urban women in Zimbabwe. It used qualitative methodologies and secondary literature to understand how sack potato farming has transformed the socio-economic livelihoods of the marginalized groups. The method started in Israel and the United States as a way of maximizing yields on limited spaces of land. In Zimbabwe, the method rose to prominence in 2013 and has since received a positive response amongst the marginalized groups such as women. This chapter shows that urban farming in the form of sack potato production can play an important part of food and income provision in urban households. It highlights how sack potato production has emerged as a way of promoting micro-economic enterprises among urban women.
