Justification and Background

Agriculture is the mainstay of many rural economies, ensuring food security, employment, livelihoods, export earnings and economic development. Integrated strategies that address the multiple factors that hamper its development, including insufficient infrastructure, skills, innovation, food processing and marketing, access to land, good working conditions, and that strengthen the voice of agricultural workers and employers, can help lift the majority of the world’s poor out of poverty.

The agricultural sector in Ethiopia provides employment to 85% of the population (of which women constitute 49.5% according to the 2007 census data), contributes 44% to the country’s GDP and 85% of the country’s export earnings. The country’s aspiration for achieving overall economic growth largely depends on the performance of the agriculture sector.

Agriculture in Ethiopia has experienced steady growth since 2004. Though the overall trend is encouraging, both in terms of overall agricultural production and productivity, the sector suffer from major structural problems. Despite an average investment close to 13% of the total expenditure, Ethiopian agriculture remains low input, low-value and subsistence oriented, and is vulnerable to frequent climatic shocks.

Agriculture in the country practiced both in rural and urban areas of the country. Urban food security depends primarily on rural agricultural production. Nevertheless due to the low productivity of the rural agriculture and less effective market chain, the rural agriculture unable to meet the growing food demand. Therefore, one way of addressing such food insecurity is through increasing urban and peri-urban food production which may serves the household as supplementary income. According to Mougeot (2000), urban agriculture is the growing of plants and the raising of animals for food and other uses within cities and peri-urban areas. Such urban and peri-urban agriculture have the advantage of market proximity and freshness (Urban Harvest, 2005). Engagement in urban agriculture also provides direct employment for the farming households and hired labourers (Foeken et al 2004).

It is estimated that about 800 million people worldwide engage in urban agriculture (UNHabitat, 2001). It is thought that globally, urban agriculture produces 15% of all food consumed in urban areas, and that this figure is likely to double within the next twenty years. Increases in urban agriculture have also been recorded in African cities such as Bissau (Guinea Bissau), Dakar (Senegal), Kumasi (Ghana), Lome (Togo), Nairobi (Kenya and Dar-es-Salamm (Tanzania) (FAO, 2004). Thus urban agriculture is, in most cases, a response by the urban poor to inadequate, unreliable and irregular access to food and to lack of purchasing power.

However, despite its significant market and non-market benefits, urban agriculture is marginalized in urban planning because it was considered to be inconsistent with the idea of a modern city (Henn & John, 2002). The sector has never received the support it deserves (Azeb, 2006). This means, urban agriculture has been overlooked for a long period of time by urban planners, policy makers as well as decision makers although, these days, there are new beginnings to give more attention to develop the sector. The majority of urban farmers practice urban agriculture to produce food for selfconsumption and to supplement their meager incomes. The low-income farmers practice urban agriculture mainly to survive and achieve a combination of nutritional and socioeconomic benefits. Most of the cultivation is informal, with little, if any support from official sources.

The study area has a lot of potential for urban agriculture. This includes vacant pockets of land; a moderate agro climate; many perennial rivers and streams that flow across the town; abundant ground water; and availability of organic waste that can be converted into compost. It is this potential that needs to be systematically harnessed to improve the livelihoods of many people who live in study areas.

When we come to Ethiopia, there is high rate of urbanization with high population growth rate. Ethiopia has a high rate of urbanization, averaging about 4.3% per annum (Ministry of Works and Urban Development, 2011). To meet such growing food demand in the urban areas, it is essential to increase agricultural production from both the rural and urban areas. The study area has also a potential for urban and rural agriculture. This includes fertile land; a moderate agro climate; many perennial rivers and streams that flow across the town; abundant ground water; and availability of organic waste that can be converted into compost. It is this potential that needs to be systematically harnessed to improve the livelihoods of many people who live in study areas. It is therefore indispensable to deal on how to boost the urban agriculture and efficiently exploit the existing potential.