permaculture

["Robert Waldrop" <rmwj@soonernet.com>]

This article discusses how the urban populations of Harare in Zimbabwe
are turning to urban agriculture in reaction to the ongoing economic
collapse of their country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200211040448.html  .  The article
specifically mentions a permaculture institute,  Fambidzanayi
Permaculture Centre in Dzivaresekwa and the Musikavanhu Project in
Budiriro, as being very involved with encouraging urban agriculture.
The main crop talked about is maize.

Robert Waldrop, http://www.oklahomafood.org

Urban Agriculture Thriving
The Herald (Harare)
November 2, 2002
Posted to the web November 4, 2002
By Ruth Butaumocho, Harare, Zimbabwe

Ndabeni Moyo who stays in Mufakose says he cannot wait for the rainy
season to begin so that he can start planting maize on his small piece
of land along High Glen Road in Harare.

Although he did not harvest much last year owing to poor rains, he is
optimistic that this year, the gods will smile on him and he will
harvest enough to keep his family going for months.

He admits that it has been a hard year, not only for himself, for his
neighbours as well who not so long ago had to go for days without a
decent meal.

As the new farmer waits in anticipation for the beginning of the rainy
season, urban dwellers are also busy making preparations on their
small patches of land, which have significantly contributed to the
upkeep of many families.

Families who had no patches of land before have invaded areas like
community football pitches, dump sites and any unused piece of land.

Ndabeni is one of the many urban people who now rely on urban farming
to supplement their meagre incomes as economic hardships dig deeper.

Thousands of retrenched workers living in the cities are now looking
to farming as a viable option of sustaining their families.

Although a few years ago, urban agriculture was mainly carried out by
women and children, the current economic hardships has seen more men
becoming actively involved to supplement the family income.

"I started going with my family to the fields two years ago after
realising that on their own they could not cope. Many of our
neighbours have since followed suit," said Ndabeni.

In a good year, Ndabeni and his family harvest about 20 bags of maize,
and this has saved the family from buying food especially maize, over
the years.

In Harare, more than 20 000 urban farmers managed to harvest some
maize to feed their families last year, although the yields could have
been better if the country had received good rains.

Urban farming is now being seen as a solution to ending food shortages
and poverty that has gripped many families in urban the areas.

For years, farming has not been regarded as an urban land-use and
local authorities have been quick to destroy crops grown by residents
on open spaces.

But poverty and unemployment has exacerbated the demand for land in
urban areas, with some residents cultivating on prohibited places.
Although local authorities have not changed their by-laws on urban
farming, most of them are now helping with the allocation of land to
those intending to grow  crops.

Last year, the Government allocated 60 000 hectares of land for urban
agriculture in Harare in a bid to eradicate poverty in urban areas.
This was after Government realised that many families in the urban
areas were actually surviving on the maize planted on the small
patches of land.

Giving the land, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and
National Housing, Cde Ignatius Chombo, said the Government had set
aside land for urban farming because it had the potential of
eradicating poverty in cities.

In the past, only people in high-density areas were actively involved
in urban cultivation but the situation has since changed with green
belts being seen in all suburbs including the most affluent areas.

Delegates to the recently held Urban Councils Association of
Zimbabwe's 61st Annual Conference, attended by Cde Chombo, executive
mayors, town clerks, council committees and other representatives,
underlined that intra-urban and peri-urban agriculture contributes to
urban food security, poverty reduction, local economic development and
sustainable development.

After deliberations on urban agriculture and other issues concerning
local authorities, delegates made a declaration to promote and
acknowledge urban agriculture.

The declaration known as the "Nyanga Declaration on Urban and
Peri-urban Agriculture, Zimbabwe" re-affirms Government's local
authority and non-governmental organisation's commitment to the
improvement of urban management through promotion of urban agriculture
in cities so as to enhance urban food security and address urban
poverty among other issues.

The senior programme officer of Municipal Development Partnership, Mr
Shingirayi Mushamba, said urban agriculture has become a successful
enterprise over the years and is set to expand further, to become one
of the fastest growing industries.

The Municipal Development Partnership is an active hands-on
capacity-building facility that was established in 1991 with the World
Bank as the executive agency, and with the support of bilateral and
multilateral donors, to promote decentralisation and to foster
capacity-building of African local governments.

He said the role of urban agriculture in alleviating poverty and food
supply in cities as a complement to rural agriculture was becoming an
important issue in the Sadc region's economy.

"There is evidence that urban agriculture is increasing in many urban
areas.

"Local authorities and the public in general should broaden their
understanding of urban agriculture, which does not only entail growing
maize but also includes rearing of animals and processing of food,
among other activities," he said.

Mr Mushambi urged local authorities to plan and promote urban
agriculture saying ignoring it would result in haphazard and
indiscriminate farming throughout which, in the end, would create
problems for local authorities.

At the moment, two notable groups namely Fambidzanayi Permaculture
Centre in Dzivaresekwa and Musikavanhu Project in Budiriro have been
successfully involved in urban agriculture and have plans to expand
the projects.

Most urban farming projects that have been implemented over the years
have been successful mainly because urban areas have a greater
potential for agriculture to prosper owing to the existence of the
huge markets and reduced transport costs to the markets.

The availability of general knowledge and expertise about farming, as
most experts in agriculture undesirably so, live in urban areas, make
it easy for an urban farmer to acquire knowledge as and when he needs
it.

Agricultural experts also noted that urban agriculture and peri-urban
agriculture is one of the several tools for making productive use of
urban open spaces, treating and recovering urban waste and managing
freshwater resources more effectively.

Food growing sites in urban areas can be repositories of much
re-usable household waste. Organic waste, which generally accounts for
20 percent of household waste, can be used as manure when composted.

Mr Mushambi noted that corporate organisations in the production of
farming inputs have realised the significance of urban agriculture,
hence the innovation of packaging seeds and fertilisers in smaller
packets.

"At the moment, quite a number of non-governmental organisations even
local companies are pouring substantial amounts of money into pilot
projects on urban agriculture being implemented in a number of towns
because they have realised the potential of this industry to ensure
food security."

Local authorities should support high value intensive urban
agriculture projects that have greater potential to create employment
and wealth.

Once successfully implemented, urban agriculture has the potential of
creating thousands of jobs.