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Kwaku Obosu-Mensah - Food Production in Urban Areas: A Study of Urban Agriculture in Accra, Ghana

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Book:
Food Production in Urban Areas: A Study of Urban Agriculture in Accra, Ghana
Author:
Kwaku ObosuMensah
Publisher:
Routledge
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Books / Politics
Year:
1999
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FOOD PRODUCTION IN URBAN AREAS

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my late father Daniel Obosu-Mensah (Teacher Mensah of Oyoko, Koforidita) and to my son Kona du and his sisters Nana Adwoa, Natalie and Maria Adowaa

First published 1999 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 99072607

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-31443-6 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-31444-3 (pbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-429-45697-8 (ebk)

This book started as my Ph.D. thesis at the University of Toronto. Therefore, my sincerest thanks go to my supervisor Professor Bill Michelson and the other members of my thesis committee, namely Professors Michal Bodemann and Richard Stren, who all were very helpful in the successful completion of the thesis. I also thank Professor P.W.K. Yankson of the University of Ghana, Legon, for his invaluable suggestions while in the field. In addition, I sincerely thank my field assistants in the persons of Miss Alberta Indome (Legon), Mr. Danso (Legon), Miss Monica Azinab (IPS), and Obarimaba Akuoko-Marfo of Christ Apostolic Church, Ashiaman. Furthermore, I acknowledge the help of Angela of Ashiaman who assisted me with the data entries. My nephew Stephen Ako-Adjei and niece Nana Asor should also be commended for staying with me in Accra and providing me with assistance of all forms during my field work.

Mention should also be made of the ever helpful Professor Charles Jones, and Jeannette Wright of the Sociology Department of the University of Toronto. Furthermore, this acknowledgement would be meaningless if I did not extend my appreciation to Professor Nancy Howell, who was always helpful to me during my years in Toronto. Thanks very much, Prof. Howell.

I also thank Miss Martina Rowley for proofreading the manuscript, and both Dr. Emmanuel Koku and Dr. Robert Inkoom for typesetting and other types of help that freed some time for me to concentrate on the book. Thanks be to my good friend Dr. Rima Wilkes for her friendship and moral support.

Many people were helpful to me during my era as a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto in Canada. Those who helped me as friend, and consequently as a source of inspiration in one way or another, know who they are. Since they are too many for me to attempt to list, I only have to say thank you to all those unnamed individuals.

Last but not least, I take this opportunity to thank my main sponsor, the Rockefeller Foundation of the U.S.A., for funding my fieldwork in Ghana. In the sponsorship realm, I should also thank the Centre for International Studies of the University of Toronto for awarding me the Sir Val Duncan Travel Award in 1994, and the School of Graduate Studies also of the University of Toronto for awarding me the Muriel D. Bisell Fund in 1994.

To conclude, I have to state categorically that the usual disclaimer applies to any errors in this book. None of the people mentioned above is liable whatsoever for any statement herein made.

Kwaku Obosu-Mensah

Toronto, Canada

June, 1999

This study deals with an important informal sector activity. Urban agriculture is important, especially since many urban residents in developing countries rely on town/city agriculture in one way or another. One of the most important needs of urban people in developing countries is food. In recent past, food for urban residents came from rural areas, however, due to various reasons the food supply from rural areas is inadequate for many towns/cities in the developing world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 1981, the World Bank observed that,

... for most African countries, and for a majority of the African population, the record is grim, and it is no exaggeration to talk of crisis. Slow overall economic growth, sluggish agricultural performance coupled with rapid rates of population increase, and balance-of-payments and fiscal crisesthese are dramatic indicators of economic trouble (World Bank, 1981:2).

Writing on the economic and food crises on the continent, Hansen (1989) confirmed the position of the World Bank by noting that it is now easily conceded even by the most optimistic observer that Africa is in the midst of a severe [food] crisis (Hansen, 1989:184).

More than a decade later, in 1998/1999, one could still make such an observation about stagnant, if not decreasing, economic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. As noted elsewhere, in present-day sub-Saharan Africa, rural areas do not produce enough food to feed both rural and urban people and importation is constrained by lack of sufficient foreign exchange (Sawio, 1994:25). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes after praising a few African countries for improving their economic conditions that in a number of other [sub-Saharan African] countries... economic conditions remain difficult (IMF, 1996:11).

The seriousness of the poor economic conditions reported for sub-Saharan Africa is compounded by the trend of population growth in that area. Over the years there has been a high population growth coupled with decreased productivity. This trend implies the dire need for programmes to improve upon food production on the continent because it is in the field of agriculture that the crisis manifests itself in its most virulent form (Hansen, 1989:186). It is an uncontroversial fact that in sub-Saharan Africa food sufficiency ratios have dropped since the 1960s. According to an observer, by 1980 food self-sufficiency ratios had dropped from 98 per cent in the 1960s to around 86 per cent, which means that each African has on average 12 per cent less grown food in 1980 than 20 years ago (Hansen, 1989:186).

The situation is not better in the 1990s. According to Svedberg (1991), the per capita availability of food has declined over the 1970s and 1980s and is now below 80 per cent of FAO/WHO recommended per capita intake. In 1994 Pinstrup-Andersen observed that many Africans are worse off today than they were a decade ago (Pinstrup-Andersen, 1994:6). While food sufficiency ratios have dropped, the demand for food has gone up as a result of population growth, especially in urban areas. Food insufficiency in urban sub-Saharan Africa is mostly caused by a combination of factors including, as already noted, inadequate food production in rural areas, faulty government policies, poor distribution and storage facilities, farmer alienation due to the use of crude implements, and a concentration on export or cash-crop production to the detriment of food-crop production.

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