Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
entitlements framework puts the economic ability of individuals or families to
deal with their own problems at the centre of the food security debate (Fraser
et al, 2006).
The entitlement approach is useful for policy makers as it does not pre-
suppose how people should be living, or the types of food they should be
eating. Instead, it attempts to provide a framework that measures how much
freedom an individual or a family has. Sen (2000) indicates that this freedom
involves both the processes that allow freedom of actions and decisions, and
the actual opportunities that people have, given their personal and social
circumstances. Seen in this light, Sen's entitlement framework can help
explore the complexity of UA. Food grown in the city can be a source of a
range of different entitlements. It may provide a direct entitlement for those
urban farmers who consume the food they produce. It can also provide two
different types of indirect entitlement: first by providing marketable produce
that a poor family could sell; and second by providing a source of paid
employment for workers on larger-scale urban farms. Finally, if UA is used by
charities, community- and faith-based organizations (CBOs and FBOs),
it
could also be used as the basis for transfer entitlements.
R
ESEARCH
M
ETHODOLOGY
Study location
Research was carried out on urban farms within the cities of Blantyre and
Lilongwe in Malawi. They were useful for the purposes of this research
because they are considerably different in terms of economic and demographic
structure. Blantyre had a population of 711,233 in 2005, being the largest
commercial and industrial centre in the country (Figure 5.1). It covers 228 km
2
of hilly ground, with a reasonably temperate climate, where 71 per cent of the
city's residents live in unplanned settlements characterized by poor living
conditions (Government of Malawi, 1998b).
Lilongwe lies on the Lilongwe-Kasungu Plain in the central fertile region
of the country at an altitude of 1100m above sea level. The capital of Malawi
since 1975, Lilongwe is an administrative and commercial centre. Vast
amounts of arable land and a low population density have resulted in an
active UA and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) sector. According to the
Government of Malawi (2005), Lilongwe has a population of 669,114
residents, where 40 per cent live below the poverty line. Within these two
cities there is a range of low-, medium- and high-income neighbourhoods
whose details are given in Table 5.1.
Data collection
Primary data was collected based on sustainable livelihood analysis through a
structured questionnaire (Scoones, 1998; Ellis, 2000; Solesbury, 2003) that was
administered to 330 heads of households who had access to agricultural land
