ABSTRACT
Urban food production or urban agriculture (UA), a major contributor to sustainable towns and cities, has existed for as long as urban settlement itself, but its forms have varied over time and across the world. Compounding this vagueness, it should be noted that local forms of UA are diverse and vary in accordance with the ecosystem as well as the different livelihoods and resource situations encountered. Irrigated open space production is usually market-oriented, all-year-round cultivation of vegetables using rivers, wastewater, or runoff water in both urban and peri-urban settings. Urban food production sites in Africa interface with all other African farming systems. Maintaining a few fruit trees within a home garden is another age-old practice that is responding to urban populations’ growing demand for fruit and ornamental tree species. Opposition to urban food production sites is generally about food safety, especially the use of irrigation water polluted with pathogens and chemicals.
