Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
have been presented for two groups only (low and high). Income status in
urban Malawi was based on the government definition of poverty
(Government of Malawi, 1998b).
Low- and high-income neighbourhoods were identified using consumption
and expenditure data from the 1997-1998 Malawi Integrated Household
Survey (Government of Malawi, 1998b), where a set of daily basic food and
non-food requirements of individuals were identified. Respondents were
selected using the snowball sampling method amongst low- and high-income
households. Within each neighbourhood, key informants were identified
through community workshops. Each respondent was then asked to identify
two other urban farmers. This process was continued until 165 interviews
were completed in each city.
The questionnaire used the 'five practical methods' outlined by Neefjes
(2000). This method proposes that data be collected on basic household
demographic characteristics such as marital and socio-economic status;
income and employment; food frequency, allocation and food-related coping
strategies; and urban agronomical practices. Logistic regression analysis and t-
tests for independent samples were used to determine which groups (income,
gender, education or location) benefited the most in terms of food security
from UA.
Determining urban agriculture's contribution to food security
To assess UA's contribution to direct entitlements, respondents were asked to
calculate the amount of food consumed that came from their own urban
agricultural plots. Specifically, this research analysed the amount of maize
each household produced and converted non-maize crops into 'cereal
equivalents'. For example, fresh cassava and sweet potato yields (in kilograms
per hectare) were considered to be worth 25 per cent of the equivalent fresh
weight in cereal (FAO/WFP/GoM, 2005).
Results were then compared with the Government of Malawi's
recommended annual consumption levels of 181 kg of cereal per capita.
2
Finally, to facilitate comparison with other entitlement strategies, data on
food consumption were converted into a monetary value by using the 2005
market prices for maize in May of 2005 (21 Malawian kwacha/kg).
R
ESULTS
Results of the study revealed that the majority of households in Malawi were
not dependent on UA as the main household food entitlement.
The findings from our study contrasted with other research conducted
elsewhere in Africa which suggested that urban farming was an important
source of food for urban populations (Maxwell, 1995). Our study showed that
70 per cent of all households gave formal employment as the most important
component in their livelihoods' strategies, informal employment came second,
while UA was ranked third.
