What are the impacts of urban agriculture programs on food security in low and middle-income countries: A systematic review

Environmental Evidence

Volumn 3, Issue 1, 2014, Pages

  Korth, Marcel ^a   Stewart, Ruth ^a,b   Langer, Laurenz ^a   Madinga, Nolizwe ^a   Rebelo Da Silva, Natalie ^a   Zaranyika, Hazel ^a   Van Rooyen, Carina ^a   De Wet, Thea ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Food security; Impact; Nutrition; Systematic review; Urban agriculture; Urbanisation

Indexed keywords

EID: 84950241527     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20472382     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1186/2047-2382-3-21     Document Type: Review

References (45)

1. UN-Habitat: The Locus of Poverty is Shifting to the Cities. 2006. Available from: (Accessed: 14-05-2012) http://mirror.unhabitat.org/documents/media-centre/APMC/THE%20BAD%20NEWS.pdf
2. Barker N, Dubbeling S, Guendel U, Koschella S, De Zeeuw H: Growing Cities, Growing Food. Urban Agriculture on the Policy Agenda: A Reader on Urban Agriculture. Feldafing, Germany: German Foundation for International Development (DSE); 2001.
3. Cofie OO, Van Veenhuizen R, Drechsel P: Contribution of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture to Food Security in Sub Saharan Africa. Kyoto: RUAF paper presented at the 3rd WWF; 2003.
4. FAO: Urban Agriculture: An Oxymoron? The State of Urban Agriculture. Rome: FAO; 1996.
5. Maxwell DG: Does urban agriculture help prevent malnutrition? Evidence from Kampala. Food Policy 1998,23(5):411-424. 10.1016/S0306-9192(98)00047-5
6. Mougeot LJA: Agropolis. The Social, Political and Environmental Dimensions of Urban Agriculture. London: IDRC; 2005.
7. UNDP (United Nations Development Programme): Urban Agriculture: Food, Jobs and Sustainable Cities. New York: UNDP; 1996.
8. Crush J, Hovorka A, Tevera D, African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) Urban Food Security, Volume 4. In Urban Food Production and Household Food Security in Southern African Cities. Kingston and Cape Town: Queen's University and AFSUN; 2010.
9. Ellis F, Sumberg J: Food production, urban areas and policy responses. World Dev 1998,26(2):213-225. 10.1016/S0305-750X(97)10042-0
10. Simatele DM, Binns T: Motivation and marginalization in African urban agriculture: The case of Lusaka, Zambia. Urban Forum 2008,19(2):1-21.
11. City of Johannesburg: Growth and Development Strategy. 2011. Available from: (Accessed: 12-06-2012) http://www.joburg.org.za/gds2040/gds2040
12. UN High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis: Comprehensive Framework for Action. 2008. Available from: (Accessed: 14-06-2012) http://un-foodsecurity.org/sites/default/files/OUTLINE-Summary%20UCFA-EN.pdf
13. WB/FAO (World Bank/Food and Agriculture Organisation) WB/FAO publication. Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Poverty Alleviation and Food Security 2012. Available from: (Accessed: 14-06-13) http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/FCIT/PDF/UPA--WBpaper-Final-October-2008.pdf
14. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) FAO publication. Urban Producers Resource Book 2007. Available from: (Accessed: 17-03-14) http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a1177e/a1177e00.HTM
15. Mougeot LJA: Urban Agriculture: Definitions, Presence, Potentials and Risks. In Growing Cities, Growing Food. Urban Agriculture on the Policy Agenda: A Reader on Urban Agriculture. Edited by: Barker et al. Feldafing, Germany: German Foundation for International Development (DSE); 2001.
16. ETC: Annotated Bibliography on Urban Agriculture. Leusden, Netherlands: ETC; 2003.
17. FAO, IFAD and WFP: The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013. The Multiple Dimensions of Food Security. Rome: FAO; 2013.
18. Zezza A, Tascotti L: Urban agriculture, poverty and food security: Empirical evidence from a sample of developing countries. Food Policy 2010, 35: 265-273. 10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.04.007
19. Amar Klemesu M: Urban Agriculture and Food Security, Nutrition and Health. In Growing Cities, Growing Food. Urban Agriculture on the Policy Agenda: A Reader on Urban Agriculture. Edited by: Barker, et al. Feldafing, Germany: German Foundation for International Development (DSE); 2001.
20. Dawson PJ, Sanjuán AI: Calorie consumption and income: panel cointegration and causality. Appl Econ Lett 2011,18(15):1455-1461. 10.1080/13504851.2010.543063
21. Frayne B: Survival of the Poorest: Migration and Food Security in Namibia. In Agropolis. The Social, Political and Environmental Dimensions of Urban Agriculture. Edited by: Mougeot N. London: IDRC; 2005.
22. Bishwapriya S: Urban agriculture: Who cultivates and why? A case-study of Lusaka, Zambia. Food Nutr Bull 1985,7(3):15-24.
23. Rakodi C: Self-reliance or survival? Food production in African cities with particular reference to Zambia. Afr Urban Stud 1985, 21: 53-63.
24. Petrosino A, Boruch RF, Soydan H, Duggan L, Sanchez-Meca J: Meeting the challenges of evidence-based policy: the Campbell collaboration. Ann Am Acad Politic Soc Sci 2001,578(1):14-34. 10.1177/0002716201578001002
25. Berti PR, Krasevec J, FitzGerald S: A review of the effectiveness of agriculture interventions in improving nutrition outcomes. Public Health Nutr 2004,7(5):599-609.
26. Masset E, Haddad L, Cornelius A, Isaza-Castro J: A Systematic Review of Agricultural Interventions That aim to Improve Nutritional Status of Children. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London; 2011.
27. IOB IOB Study, No. 363. In Improving Food Security. A Systematic Review of the Impact of Interventions in Agricultural Production, Value Chains, Market Regulation, and Land Security. Netherlands: Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 2011.
28. FAO: The Rome Declaration on World Food Security. Rome: FAO; 1996. Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w3613e/w3613e00.HTM
29. FAO: The Urban Producer's Resource Book: A Practical Guide for Working with Low Income Urban and Peri-Urban Producer. Rome: FAO; 2007. Available from: (Accessed: 14-06-2012) ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1177e/a1177e.pdf
30. Stewart R, Korth M, Langer L, Rafferty S, Rebelo Da Silva N, van Rooyen C: What are the impacts of urban agriculture on food security in low and middle-income country? Environ Evid 2012,2(7):1-13.
31. Atkinson SJ: Food for the Cities: Urban Nutrition in Developing Countries, Public Health and Policy Publication No. 5. London: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; 1992.
32. Binns T, Lynch K: Feeding Africa's growing cities into the 21st century: The potential of urban agriculture. J Int Dev 1998, 10: 777-793. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1328(1998090)10:6<777::AID-JID532>3.0.CO;2-Z
33. Crush J, Hovorka A, Tevera D: Food security in Southern African cities: The place of urban agriculture. Progress Dev Stud 2011,11(4):285-305. 10.1177/146499341001100402
34. Drescher AW: Food for the Cities: Urban Agriculture in Developing Countries. SHS Acta Horticulturae 2004, 643. International Conference on Urban Horticulture
35. Maxwell DG: Alternative food security strategy: A household analysis of urban agriculture in Kampala. World Dev 1995, 23: 1669-1681. 10.1016/0305-750X(95)00073-L
36. Mbiaba B: Classification and description of urban agriculture in Harare. Dev South Africa 1995,12(1):75-86. 10.1080/03768359508439791
37. Rogerson CM: Feeding Africa's cities: The role and potential for urban agriculture. Afr Insight 1992,22(4):220-234.
38. Sawio C PhD Thesis. In Feeding the Urban Masses? Towards an Understanding of the Dynamics of Urban Agriculture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Worcester: Clark University; 1995.
39. Tevera D: Urban agriculture in Africa: A comparative analysis of findings from Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia. Afr Urban Quart 1999,11(2/3):181-187.
40. White H: Theory-based impact evaluation: principles and practice. J Dev Effective 2009,1(3):271-284. 10.1080/19439340903114628
41. Gallaher CM, Kerr JM, Njenga M, Karanja NK, WinklerPrins AMGA: Urban agriculture, social capital, and food security in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Agric Human Values 2013,30(1):389-404.
42. Stewart R, Erasmus Y, Zaranyika H, Rebelo Da Silva N, Korth M, Langer L, Randall N, Madinga N, de Wet T: The size and nature of the evidence-base for smallholder farming in Africa: a systematic map. J Dev Effective 2014,6(1):58-68. 10.1080/19439342.2013.877060
43. Gough D, Thomas J, Oliver S: Clarifying differences between review designs and methods. Systematic Rev 2012, 1: 28. 10.1186/2046-4053-1-28
44. Snilstveit B, Vojtkova A, Bhavsar A, Gaarder M Policy Research Working Paper, 6725. In Evidence Gap Maps - A Tool for Promoting Evidence-Informed Policy and Prioritizing Future Research. Washington, DC: World Bank; 2013. Availabe from: (Accessed: 17-03-14) http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2013/12/13/000158349-20131213135609/Rendered/PDF/WPS6725.pdf
45. Carney D (Ed): Sustainable Rural Livelihoods. What Contribution can we Make?. London: UK: Department for International Development; 1998.