دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی نقش باغچه های پشت خانه در دو منظره شهری در آفریقای غربی - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is a well-researched landscape component, but there is a need to extend the quantitative database on West Africa as well as to explain how UPA contributes to food systems differently across locations. We therefore performed a quantitative survey of Tamale, Ghana, and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, using a spatially randomised sampling frame to identify farms in peri-urban villages, open-space farming zones and isolated spaces. This was complemented with focus group discussion data. After preliminary analysis, further interviews were performed to explain trends observed. Rainy season production dominated in both cities. In Ouagadougou, commercial production was concentrated in open-space farming sites, whereas in Tamale it was more dispersed, with isolated space farms playing an unexpectedly important market role. This was attributed to Tamale's recent rapid expansion, combined with more relaxed planning implementation and a permissive legislative context. In both cities, leafy vegetables were important commercial crops. Irrigation and soil fertility management were areas where resource use efficiency could be improved. Untreated well water was a major irrigation source in Ouagadougou, as was potable water in Tamale, raising queries over sustainability. Inorganic fertiliser use was more common in Tamale than Ouagadougou, and the opposite was the case for compost and manure, ascribed to the existence of manure markets in Ouagadougou. Urban agriculture's contribution to urban food systems is thus shaped by its historical and geographical context. Attention to planning trajectories, irrigation and soil fertility management issues could help it contribute further.

4. Conclusions

This paper started by asking questions about the roles of different types of farm in the study cities and their contribution to urban food systems. Results confirm that there are important differences between various types of urban and peri-urban farm across urban landscapes. Peri-urban villages around both study cities largely retained traditional practices, cultivating subsistence crops in rainy season. Commercialisation in urban sites was concentrated in open-space farms, especially in Ouagadougou. Dry season production especially was geared towards commercially viable crops in these zones. In Tamale, in contrast, isolated farms had an unexpectedly important commercial side. The significance of these results emerges when they are considered in geographical context. Urban history, by influencing urban form, shapes the relative importance of various types of agriculture across landscapes. This influences the role of farming in urban livelihoods in a given city. Isolated backyard farms in Tamale attract sales as the crops are visible to perambulating marketers and consumers. Thus, a Ghanaian farmer’s ability to purchase fencing materials to encircle an undeveloped area between houses lets them contribute not only to subsistence but also to commercial food production, in a fashion impossible in Ouagadougou. The existence of such spaces is partly a characteristic of a certain stage of urban development, alongside a particular planning and tenure context. The farmer’s confidence to undertake this endeavour stems from the legislative situation. Such isolated space farming therefore substitutes for food expenditures as well as generating income in that particular landscape. Our detailed quantitative data facilitated these observations, extending the existing literature mostly dealing with East Africa.