Climate change continues to have adverse impacts on communities, and intensified heatwaves, floods, droughts, and disruptions to food supply chains continue to affect cities.  Cities must rethink how they can protect their residents through urban agriculture, cultivation of crops and other food production within and around cities.  This can provide a practical opportunity for under utilized opportunity to enhance climate resilience for urban dwellers.

According to the AGRA Africa agriculture report, roughly 65% of Africa’s productive land is degraded, and desertification threatens 45% of the total area. This is combined with the limited irrigation systems that leave most farming communities vulnerable to rain-fed droughts and floods.

While talking about these challenges, it is reported that the urban population will continue growing amid the increasing threats of climate change impacts.  For instance, OECD reports that Africa’s urban population is expected to double from roughly 700 million to 1.4 billion people by 2050.

 This growth will definitely need solutions for food supply while also maintaining urban infrastructure to be resilient to climate shocks.

FAO estimates that urban farming supplies approximately 10% of the world’s vegetables, legumes and tubers. Looking at these figures, it’s worth believing that food production in and around the cities is more than a peripheral activity. It can contribute meaningfully to urban food systems.

While many countries are facing unprecedented changes in climate, the urban  agriculture can support food security  in this era of changing climate.  This may help, as rural areas are facing extreme weather events affecting agriculture and reducing agricultural production, disrupting access to markets, and ultimately increasing food prices in cities.

Urban farming should go hand in hand  with innovative ideas in urban planning, where climate  and agricultural resilience  should  be embedded into planning.

Cities governing councils should start thinking  about innovative ideas such as rooftop farming to fill the gap in food supply without compromising  housing and residence in cities.

Examples of JFF Rooftop Farm (Jozi Food Farmer) in South Africa and the success in Kenya’s Kawangware, where Ms Hane Changawa transformed her rooftop of approximately  40 Square meters into a vegetable garden growing a variety of vegetables such as spinach, kale, among many others, would inspire urban planners to innovatively enhance urban farming.

Urban agriculture would not be a seed also as a survival mechanism but as a solution that can help urban dwellers cope with climate change. It is also very important for planners to start thinking about how urban planning would integrate urban agriculture into future planning reviews so that cities are not hubs of commercial business but hotspots of food production, safe settlements, and resilient places for future generations.

About the author of the opinion:

Fidele NIYIGABA,

Communications and  community development expert