The aim of the study was to find out whether or not engagement in urban agriculture for individuals and households is a response to a lack of formal wage employment in the post-apartheid period. This period is characterised by changes in the economy of South Africa which led to an observed increase in poverty and unemployment and an increase in informal employment. The study utilised both quantitative and qualitative methods to look at urban farming issues in KwaZulu-Natal. The quantitative data came from the KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Surveys (KIDS), which carried out surveys in three waves spanning the period of democratic transition over a 10-year period in 1993, 1998 and 2004. This data was analysed using the statistical package STATA and employed regression modelling techniques to investigate the odds of engagement in urban agriculture, given certain individual and household characteristics, which is a particular nuance for this study. Because of its potential in food production and income generation, a smaller-scale qualitative farmer survey was undertaken in two different communities, comparing three different categories of home gardening, community gardening and market gardening in KwaZulu-Natal, using a semi-structured questionnaire. This component sought to document, in farmers’ own words, their experiences and practice of farming in an urban environment and gave in-depth insights about the motivation of the people involved, the types of food crops grown, and so on. Key informant interviews were conducted with a community of professionals for illuminating their perspectives on the practice of urban agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal. The key findings of the study are that urban agriculture is an activity that is undertaken by people seeking a survival strategy when their preferred activity (such as formal employment) is not available and it can be an activity undertaken by entrepreneurs for income generation. According to their main activity status, the types of people that engage in urban agriculture include those in wage employment and the unemployed, as well as the non-economically active. The contribution of agricultural income to total household income represents miniscule amounts, at an average of less than one percent. Regression modelling results, combining person level and household level variables, predicted more likely odds of farming for women, by a factor of 1.67. Increase in the number of years of education decreased the odds by 0.90 times. If a person lost employment, this increased their odds of engaging in urban agriculture by 1.23 times. People in the age group 36-46 years predicted the highest likelihood for participation in urban agriculture, by a factor of 2.54. Larger household size predicted odds more likely to engage while poor households also predicted odds more likely to engage, by a factor of 2.07 times. Urban agriculture is vastly heterogeneous and is undertaken by all income groups. It is a result of both push and pull factors. People engage in it neither as a survival strategy nor an entrepreneurial strategy only. It is, however, an activity in which the poor are disproportionately represented. The potential of urban agriculture to generate employment is linked to the nature of support received from government and non-governmental organisations. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Cities, particularly in developing countries, are faced .with the challenge of population increase aggravated by rural to urban migration. This has increased the level of unemployment since job creation does not keep up with the rate at which population influx to cities occurs. This leads to poverty that undermines the economy of the city. Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to improve livelihoods of the urban poor people through contributing to food security and generating income. However, UA has generally not been practised successfully and in a sustainable manner, owing to the lack of resources (land and finance), farming skills, and inadequate support services from organizations. This study presupposes that the inadequacy of resources in support of UA strongly reflects the level of co-operation and co-ordination among those who are, or could support UA. It will also reflect the levels of commitment of a shared vision. It thus sets out to explore the prospects of organizational collaboration to support UAand uses the Greater Pietermaritzburg Area (PMB) as a focus for the study. The local organizations in PMB were found to have frameworks through which they supported UA and other development projects. They were however found not to have any strategic plan, clear definition of organizations' roles, no common understanding of UA, nor a shared mission or vision of UA. As a result there was poor coordination and commitment to collaboration. It appears that a successful collaboration requires most importantly, an acknowledgement of the complexity of collaboration and a clear understanding of its purpose among the collaborating partners. Also required is accepting the need for leadership, integration of ideas when planning and implementing, clarification of roles and accountability. To appreciate this, organizational and individual empowerment is needed. Empowerment could take three forms: objective (knowledge of collaborations' aim, objectives, and procedures), subjective (assertiveness to undertake work involved), and competency (acquisition of skills to enhance ability to perform). The study believes these .factors could help improve the performance of organizational frameworks in developing UA to a point that its full potential is realized. The findings emphasized the value of adopting a systems approach in organizing delivery of services in support of UA. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

Migration from rural to urban areas has characterized the South African population in the last quarter of the 20th century. More recently, internal urban growth itself has contributed to the rapid growth of cities. This rapid population increase in towns and cities has resulted in a range of social and environmental problems. Food insecurity is one such problem, it is contended, that could be addressed by the more wide spread development of urban agriculture (UA). The literature review helped the researcher to understand the problems and potential of UA. For the purposes of this study , UA is defined as the growing of plants , tree crops and raising of livestock within and at peri-urban areas. It focuses specifically on the 'community' type ventures rather than that associated with individual households. UA is an effective and efficient way of converting urban waste land and underutilized resources into food products , generate income and create jobs . The literature review and the case studies underlined the importance of UA to supplement household income and address issue of food security. However, the activity has been largely overlooked by local government, policy makers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It was also realized that UA is not a widespread or common practice in the cities of South Africa although the majority of the urban populations are poor due to past apartheid policy, rapid urbanization and the relatively slow growth of the economy as a whole. Against the above background, this study focused on socio-economic analysis of vegetable production in the study area by identifying and examining the role played and potential socio-economic and environmental importance of UA in the Greater Edendale Area (GEA). The study was conducted in the GEA particularly in three vegetable gardens, namely, the African Tree Centre (ATC), the Edendale Lay Ecumenical Centre (ELEC) and the Willow Fountain Centre (WFC). Primary data were collected through using structured interviews, key informant interviews , personal observation and through a literature review and the consultation of documents and records from the organizations surveyed. Agricultural activities in general and UA in particular in the study area were limited. Production at present is also low. However, the production of vegetables and fruits and the raising of poultry do relatively well when compared to other UA activities. Very few people in the study area were practising UA because of the lack of suitable land set aside for the purpose, lack of equipment and lack of financial and technical support. The initial cost of starting community based UA was found to be high. This situation has limited the number of urban farmers. If people are able to meet the start up costs, they can provide the urban poor with fresh and affordable produce. ln addition, the lack of information and awareness, in relation to the actual and potential benefit of UA, has limited its spread in the study area. It is also possible to optimize the capacity of UA with limited inputs. High production per hectare is possible and is well suited to low-income families and it allows women, who constitute the majority of urban farmers, to participate. The young, the old and the unemployed are other potential beneficiaries. However, lack of recognition, and cultural biases (i.e, many urban managers and policy makers think that allowing UA in cities 'ruralises' them of its activities hinder the realization of the potential role of UA. Therefore, integration of UAin the plans, policies and activities of stakeholders, particularly urban planners, city administrations, NGOs, local universities, extension and credit organizations, and community based organizations (CBOs) should be a priority issue. Strategies to ensure a higher priority for UA need to be carefully articulated. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

Urban agriculture is gaining more attention because of the current global trends such as urbanization and global economic and food crisis. The numbers of people who practice urban agriculture are estimated to 800 million. Based on this scale and other claims made about urban agriculture, it is argued that urban agriculture must be integrated to urban policy and planning. The premise of this dissertation was to understand motivations and determinants of urban agriculture, and how these can inform policy. The intention of the dissertation was to understand which urban residents in KwaMsane Township of uMkhanyakude district at KwaZulu-Natal province cultivated gardens and why. This was critical considering that generally urban areas are better than rural areas in terms of employment opportunities, infrastructure, and provision of basic services. In pursuit of this objective, the dissertation assessed KwaMsane Township households cultivating gardens in terms of assets, resources, and livelihood strategies with an aim of identifying motivations and determinant factors. The central idea of the dissertation from the onset was to validate the claim that since there is diversity in terms of household composition among those cultivating gardens there are different reasons for engaging with the activity. Using qualitative with borrowed participatory action tools, and quantitative (STATA 11) methods guided by the sustainable livelihood approach, the findings showed that only 9.7% of KwaMsane Township residents cultivated gardens. Of the households 92% were cultivating gardens and consuming their produce because of food demand due to large household size and children, their awareness about nutritional content of fresh vegetables from the soil, their agricultural background of cultivating gardens for subsistence purposes, high food prices from the market, and their lack of necessary skills to create and sell in the local market. The binary logistic regression showed that the determinants for households to cultivate gardens at KwaMsane Township were the presence of children, agricultural assets, governmental grants, and pensioners in a household. The two common factors between the above mentioned determinants were income and time availability which incentivized the practice. The dissertation also showed that the majority of gardeners from KwaMsane Township were in their productive ages (in this case between 29 and 61 years of age), females were more predominant in the activity with few males, and most of the gardeners were educated, and employed. However, gender, education, and employment had little relationship with cultivation of gardens. On average gardeners were older than non-gardeners. It was also shown that gardeners consisted of different income groups but mostly middle income group. The dissertation indicated that the use of urban agriculture by KwaMsane Township gardeners was informed by their motivations which contributed to food security, food sovereignty, and poverty alleviation. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Urban agriculture in South Africa has been historically labelled as an illegal activity. This has been compounded by the traditional planning system in South Africa that did not recognise urban agriculture as part of the land use in the urban landscape. However despite its illegality, current evidence shows that it is commonly practised by many poor households in developing countries. There is growing evidence that most countries are gradually seeing the value of urban agriculture among poor households and to this end, they are beginning to realise the importance of incorporating it in their urban policy packages. Despite this recognition and acceptance of urban agriculture as a livelihood and food security strategy among the urban poor, little attention is paid to it. This research examines urban agriculture from a purely spatial planning perspective by way of elaborating on the spatial allocation of land for urban agriculture. The focus of the research is on identifying the factors that explain the unresponsiveness of the town planning system and challenges that confront urban farmers with the intention to suggest alternatives. At the core of the town planning system, are legislations and policies. Despite these irresponsive legislations such as NEMA and Health Act which hinder the practice of urban agriculture along sensitive areas such as river banks and road reserves urban agriculture continues to flourish. Regardless of minimal support from local authority the research findings show that the practise of agriculture is a common phenomenon among urban poor. The onus is therefore on the local authorities to promote it by putting in place mechanisms that should promote its growth and integrate it into mainstream development plans. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.