FAO launches urban agriculture campaign

The Food and Agricultural Organization is launching a programme to promote urban farming across the developing world. Projections show that the number of city dwellers in those countries will continue to surge. In sub-Saharan Africa, slum residents account for as much as three-quarters of the entire population of some cities. Globally, for the first time in history the
world's urban population exceeds the number living in rural areas.

Nine African countries are participating in FAO's "Food for the Cities" programme, where thousands of hectares of urban land are being transformed into allotment gardens to grow fresh vegetables. Although urban agriculture has been an important income and food security source for African urbanites for decades, the FAO campaign aims to introduce the extra element of ensuring that all the food is being grown according to quality agricultural practices to provide produce that is fresh, safe and healthy. The gardens, especially those in slum districts, will also serve as valuable green spaces in often congested and polluted cities.

Some of the farmers chosen to participate in the scheme have already signed contracts with local supermarkets to sell their produce or set up kiosks to market surplus products to their neighbourhoods.

The participating countries in the FAO project are the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Senegal, Gabon, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Egypt and Mali.