Effects of Urban Agriculture on poverty reduction in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

Urban Agriculture has served as a vital input in the livelihood strategies of urban households in Mombasa, Kenya. Urban dwellers rely on the market for food but with the tremendous surge in food prices beyond the reach of the majority of the population, poor urbanites have resorted to intensifying urban agriculture as a coping strategy to meet their immediate food requirements, and income generation. Data collection for this study involved structured and semi structured household questionnaires administered to urban farming households, field observations and key informant interviews. Information gathered included urban farming practices, agricultural and sale of output, food sufficiency and socio-economic characteristics, in the selected residential areas. The sample of 150 households engaged in urban agriculture was randomly selected to participate in the survey. The households sampled per residential area were as follows: Kisauni (50), Likoni (50) Changamwe (30) and Mvita (20). Urban agriculture was found to play an important role in the lives of residents currently engaging in the practice. The practice has a dual impact on poverty conditions: it provides food which would otherwise be unaffordable to many residents, and by utilizing money saved from buying food, it helps ease poverty conditions thus improving livelihoods. The study recommends that urban agriculture be integreted into urban planning.