Financing and Investment for Urban Agriculture
Introduction
Thus, a more systematic survey and evaluation of significant and diverse modalities of finance and investment provision to urban agriculture were deemed very timely.
(more content follows the advertisement below) A D V E R T I S E M E N T
This, more so, because the growth of the UA sector at the margin of the mainstream economy could not only aggravate the environmental and public health risks posed by bad practices, but could also undermine the ability of the sector to make an even greater contribution to food security, employment and income generation as well as productive management of idle or underutilised urban resources (land, waste and water).
This chapter thus examines how different types of urban and periurban agriculture (UA) are financed drawing on the following empirical, field, and scientific sources:
1. Analysis of 13 experiences with urban and periurban agriculture in Asia, Latin America, and Europe
2. Direct exposure to a large number of local processes in Latin America and the Caribbean region from 1994-2004;
3. Research and development of UA activities in the Fortaleza metropolitan region of Brazil (1988-1997) with special attention to the economic and financial dimensions of these activities;
4. Publications by RUAF and IDRC-Cities Feeding People Program;
5. Observations following presentations on UA made at the World Urban Forum (WUF) networking seminar in Barcelona in 2004.
As a result, this paper reflects the collective work and contributions of a wide array of actors, both academics and practitioners. The central question of this chapter is "what kind of financing is best suited to each different type of UA?".
Types of Urban Agriculture
An analysis of current practices suggests that, to start with, some conceptual clarification is necessary to understand the different types of UA, in light of substantial differences
(a) between subsistence-oriented activities and market-oriented activities, and
(b) between these activities and urban agricultural activities as a source of leisure and recreation.
|