Urban Agriculture and Nutrition. Empirical Evidence from a Sample of Developing Countries

Transcription

1 Urban Agriculture and Nutrition. Empirical Evidence from a Sample of Developing Countries Alberto Zezza and Luca Tasciotti Food and Agriculture Organization 24/09/2009

2 What is urban agriculture? Urban agriculture is the production of agriculture commodities, both plant and animal, in urban areas.

3 Questions about urban agriculture Why is it important? Who consumes the output? Who is engaged in it? Where is it practiced? Is there is a relationship between urban agriculture and nutrition?

4 Satisfying the food needs of urban populations By 2015, 53 cities in the world are expected to have a population of 5 million or more. To feed a city of this size, tonnes of food must be imported every day. Source: UN, Urbanization prospects.

5 Why is urban agriculture important? There is a relationship between urban agriculture and nutrition. Direct access to cheaper/more diverse food if markets are inefficient. Source of additional income.

6 Who are the urban farmers? Percentage of urban households engaged in urban agriculture Ghana1998 Mada gascar 1998 Malawi Nig eria 2004 Ban glade sh Indon esia 2000 Nepal 1996 Pakistan Vietnam Ecuador 1995 G uatemala 2000 Nicaragua Pan ama 2003 Albania 2005 Bulgaria Notes: different bars corresponds to different expenditure quintiles

7 Types of land used for urban agriculture Backyards. Community gardens. Unused public and private spaces. Roadsides. Streamsides and floodplains. Wetlands. Underdeveloped steep slopes.

8 Examples of land used for urban agriculture

9 Examples of land used for urban agriculture

10 Examples of land used for urban agriculture

11 Examples of land used for urban agriculture

12 Existing literature on urban agriculture The amount of quantitative work on urban agriculture is limited. Studies based on survey data exist for several large cities, but most of the data is still qualitative.

13 Countries analyzed Bulgaria Albania Pakistan Bangladesh Guatemala Panama Nicaragua Ghana Nigeria Nepal Vietnam Indonesia Ecuador Malawi Madagascar Countries in the dataset

14 Urban agriculture and nutrition We build two measures of dietary diversity: 1) Food group index (from 1 to 13). 2) Food count index (how many types of foods are consumed by each household).

15 Urban agriculture and nutrition Albania logpcexp hhs engaged in agriculture hhs not engaged in agriculture quadratric fit for ag. hhs quadratic fit for non ag. hhs Relationship between the food count index and the log of per capita expenditure

16 Urban agriculture and nutrition Madagascar logpcexp hhs engaged in agriculture hhs not engaged in agriculture quadratic fit for ag. hhs quadratic fit for non ag. hhs Relationship between the food count index and the log of per capita expenditure

17 Urban agriculture and nutrition Statistical models dietary _ diversity + α landown 3 + α household + α education ^2 + α female 8 4 _ measure* = α + α p _ agricultur e + α log( percapita 9 0 _ size + α head _ labour 5 1 _ age + α head exp) + _ age^2 + α education _ share + α geographic al _ dummy + ε * 1. food group index (1 st model); 2. food count index (2 nd model).

18 Urban agriculture and nutrition The results of the regressions show that people involved in urban agriculture have greater dietary diversity (in 12 out of 15 countries) Urban agriculture increases the number of food consumed in each household, specifically by 6% in Guatemala, by 11% in Panama and by 36% in Albania.

19 Urban agriculture and calories consumption 3 rd model ε α α α α α α α α α α α = dummy geographical share labour female education education age head age head size household landown percapita agriculture p calories daily capita per _ ^2 ^2 _ exp) log(

20 Urban agriculture and calories consumption Households involved in urban agriculture consume more calories. This increased consumption of calories is associated with a higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, dairy products and the local staple food.

21 Conclusions Urban agriculture: involves between about 10% to 70% of urban households; is an activity in which the poor are disproportionately represented; is not a primary source of income, although...; increases the dietary diversity; increases the number of per capita daily calories.

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23 Percentage of total household income coming from urban agriculture Ghana1998 Madagascar 1998 Malawi 2004 Nigeria 2004 Bangladesh 2000 Indonesia 2000 Nepal 1996 Pakistan 2001 Vietnam 1998 Albania 2005 Bulgaria 2001 Ecuador 1995 Guatemala 2000 Nicaragua 2001 Panama 2003 Notes: different bars corresponds to different expenditure quintiles

24 Percentage of urban agricultural production sold Ghana 1998 Madagascar 1993 M alaw i 2004 N igeria 2004 Bangladesh 2000 N epal 1996 Vietnam 1998 Albania 2005 Bulgaria 2001 Ecuador 1995 Guatemala 2000 N icaragua 2001 Panam a 2003 Notes: different bars corresponds to different expenditure quintiles

25 Food groups Food group 1 Food group 2 Food group 3 Food group 4 Food group 5 Food group 6 Food group 7 Food group 8 Food group 9 Food group 10 Food group 11 Food group 12 Food group 13 Food groups division Food items Cereals and grain products Starchy, roots, tubers and legumes Nuts, seeds and legumes Vegetables Fruits Sugar, syrup and sweets Meat and Poultry Fish and shellfish Milk and milk products Oil and fats Beverages Eggs Miscellaneous

26 Country and year Ghana 1998 Madagascar 1998 Malawi 2004 Nigeria 2004 Bangladesh 2000 Indonesia 2000 Nepal 1996 Pakistan 2001 Vietnam 1998 Albania 2005 Bulgaria 2001 Ecuador 1995 Guatemala 2000 Nicaragua 2001 Panama 2003 Food group index Africa Asia Eastern Europe Latin America Food count index (max) 26 (79) 40 (116) 19 (53) 21(122) 27 (63) 17 (37) 32 (54) 42 (83) 11 (20) 11 (74) 27 (56) 40 (80) 51 (88) 27 (61) 47 (82)

27 Urban agriculture and dietary diversity Country & year Coefficient of p_onfarm (1 st model) Coefficient of p_onfarm (2 nd model) Ghana 1998 Madagascar 1993 Malawi 2004 Nigeria 2004 Bangladesh 2000 Indonesia 2000 Nepal 2000 Pakistan 2001 Vietnam 1998 Albania 2001 Bulgaria 2001 Ecuador 1995 Guatemala 2000 Nicaragua 2000 Panama *** *** 0.42*** 0.16* 0.20** *** 0.37*** 0.18*** 0.11** 0.59*** *** *** 1.64*** 0.58** 1.82*** 0.37* 0.70*** 4.05*** 0.85** 2.30*** 2.98*** 1.21*** 5.43***

28 Urban agriculture and calories consumption Variable Malawi 2004 Bangladesh 2000 Guatemala 2000 Nicaragua 2000 Calories 28 89*** 212*** -137* Cereals *** *** Staple 712*** -37*** 129*** 40 Meat -66** 2** 9*** -9* Fruits & veg. 123*** 7*** 18*** -16* Dairy & eggs *** 10 Notes: effects of urban agriculture on calories consumption and on the consumption of food aggregates