How can urban agriculture in Cape Town still become sustainable in the future food system?

Policy Recommendations and Results of the UFISAMO project. Food and nutrition security is an important issue for the city of Cape Town. Access to healthy food widely varies between the white priviledged and the black and coloured population. While previous research shows that urban agriculture‘s contribution towards food security is negligible and might not be profitable for 90% of farmers, it does bring many benefits to the city. It contributes to promoting diet diversity, makes healthy food accessible (since normally unaffordable vegetables complement staple foods) and promotes community building, for example through sharing seeds and crops.

This research investigates how to support small-scale urban agriculture to promote food security and how to rethink political support strategies for urban farmers so that they can profitably serve food-insecure neighbourhoods. It states that the success of urban agriculture is dependent on the empowerment of producers.