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Agriculture and Food Security

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Third World Urban Forum (WUF3)

Urban Agriculture Notes: non-profit society

promoting urban food production andenvironmental conservation

Urban Harvest: worldwide network of 16 food andenvironmental research centres

Food for the Cities: a UN Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) site offering information andtechnical guidance on securing urban foodsupplies

Is a City Also a Garden?

Andrew Draper

From Urban Wasteland to Food and Flowers

Every day in developing countries, thousands of individuals and families migrate from the countryside to cities inpursuit of economic opportunities and a better future. But for most, urban realities are harsh: too few jobs,inadequate housing, and a daily struggle simply to survive. Many have responded by bringing rural survival skillsto the city. On rooftops and in window boxes, on roadsides, riverbanks, and vacant lots, they are growing food tofeed their families and to sell.Urban agriculture is rapidly gaining acceptance as a key means of addressing urban poverty issues.For 20 years, IDRC-spons ored researchers have beenat the forefront of a movement to encourage and expandurban agriculture (UA). Key is eliminating outdatedbylaws and restrictive regulations and helping urbanfarmers find and share growing spaces, as well ascooperate to process and market their crops. Throughmore than 90 research projects in 40 countries over thepast decade, IDRC has helped the cities of the South

develop urban agriculture policies and methods thatare increasing the food supply, raising income levels,and protecting health and at the same timeimproving management of urban waste, water, andland.A UA PioneerSenior Program Specialist Luc Mougeot, recognizedinternationally as a leading UAexpert, joined IDRC in1989 and has focused on UAsince 1992. Luc, whoholds a PhD in geography, brought to IDRC extensiveLatin American research experience in urban housing and settlement patterns, informal employment in cities,and urban uses of energy. He says, From the beginning, Ive been interested in three vectors of change inurbanization: housing, informal employment, and UA.It has been gratifying for Mougeot to help UAresearch grow from a small number of relatively isolated projects toa worldwide movement supported by a growing number of regional and international networks. Im grateful toIDRC for having taken the risk of supporting programming on a topic that was so new and unproven,and sustaining that commitment, he says. And Im grateful to my colleagues who rallied under this theme andapplied their expertise to broaden and deepen the agenda.RUAF: The Power of CooperationMougeot cites one project, the Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) Foundation, asa particularly successful example of international cooperation and synergy. Co-funded by IDRC and the DutchNGO, ETC International Group, RUAF is a global network offering resources such as a UAmagazine publishedin English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese, databases of UAcontacts and bibliographical information,workshops and electronic conferences, and a website (www.ruaf.org). RUAF has created a means for UAparticipants to communicate about their innovations and successes, Mougeot says. Its helping to rally localgovernments, professional associations, research institutes, NGOs, and agencies like the World HealthOrganization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Its helping move UAmore quickly into themainstream.

As Luc Mougeot suggests, UAis rapidly gaining acceptance as a key means of addressing urban poverty

issues. Many universities in the South now include UAin their curriculum, creating a cadre of UAprofessionals.And UAwas on the agenda of the Third World Urban Forum (WUF) in Vancouver, June 19-23, 2006.

Research that Matters

Through more than 90 research projects in 40 countries over the past decade, IDRC has helped the cities in theSouth develop urban agriculture policies and methods that are increasing the food supply, raising income levels,and protecting health and at the same time improving management of urban waste, water, and land.

Related ResultsCase Studies on Africa and the Middle East

External Review and Impact Assessment ofthe African Highlands Initiative (AHI)

Innovations can change live s in rural LatinAmerica

Mee t two rural innovators

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IDRC funds researchers in the developing world sothey can build healthier, more prosperous societies

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Feeding the Sustainable City 2006

Thanks to pioneering research initially led by IDRC, many Southern cities are now re-examining their attitudes tourban agriculture. The challenge they face is how to control agricultural activity so that it can benefit the urbanfarmers and the rest of the citys population.

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