Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
The cultivation of food crops within the overall boundaries of towns and cities is not new, but has been forgotten or ignored in the last 20 years, while urbanisation has, it is thought, absorbed a disproportionate share of national resources. Can, however, an alternative form of urban development, less greedy of financial and natural assets, capable of satisfying the basic needs of the population and of reducing the vulnerability of the poorest, be envisaged, and is the food and energy system an appropriate starting point?1 The first stage in studying any neglected area is to review existing evidence and policy, in order to reveal gaps and suggest avenues for future enquiry, policy formulation, and experiment.2 In this article, the evidence presented will be from Zambia, and it will be the task of further research to assess the relevance of these findings to other towns and cities in the region.
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Page 495 note 2 It is not anticipated that the cultivation of crops for export or industrial processing will be appropriate within towns and cities, although these may be a feature in peri-urban areas. Livestock raised in urban areas are not considered here.
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Page 499 note 1 Yeung, Yue-man, ‘Urban Agriculture: three cities in Asia’, in UNUWorkin Progress (Tokyo), 10, 1, 1986, documents attempts being made to increase the urban production of food in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, where land for allotment gardens has been provided: in Lae, this is accompanied by programmes to create compost from local solid waste for use in agriculture, technical assistance being provided by horticultural and agro-forestry staff to combat soil erosion; and in Manila, in addition to permanent areas for cultivation, landowners are required to make temporarily vacant land available.Google Scholar
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Page 502 note 3 The legislative basis for maize slashing dates from 1944. A survey of I, 603 maize plants in a number of locations in and around Lusaka was carried out by a community health specialist and the government entomologist during the 1978 rainy season and found no mosquito larvae in any of the plants. The researchers concluded that ‘There seems to be no reason associated with malaria control that the practice of slashing maize should be continued’; Watts, Theresa and Bransby-Williams, W. R., ‘Do Mosquitoes Breed in Maize Plants Axils?’, in Medical Journal of Zambia (Lusaka), 12, 4, 1978, pp. 101–2.Google Scholar
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Page 505 note 2 Ledogar and Lungu, op. cit.; Schlyter and Schlyter, op. cit. p. 106; and Sanyal, op. cit. p. 82.
Page 505 note 3 Ann Schlyter, 1981, op. cit.
Page 506 note 1 Sanyal, op. cit. p. 94
Page 506 note 2 Bowa et al. op. cit.
Page 506 note 3 Schlyter and Schyter, op. cit. p. 106; and Ann Schlyter, 1981, op. cit. p. 39.
Page 507 note 1 Ann Schlyter, 1981, op. cit. p. 39.
Page 507 note 2 Jaeger, Dirk and Huckaby, J. D., ‘The Garden of Lusaka: urban agriculture’, in Williams, G. J. (ed.), Lusaka and its Environs (Lusaka, 1986), Zambia Geographical Association, Handbook Series No. 9, pp. 267–77.Google Scholar
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Page 509 note 1 Sanyal, op. cit. p. 53.
Page 509 note 2 Ibid.
Page 509 note 3 Bowa et al. op. cit. p. 5.
Page 510 note 1 Chauncey, loc. cit.; and Muntemba, M. S., ‘Women and Agricultural Change in the Railway Region of Zambia: dispossession and counterstrategies, 1930–1970’, in Bay (ed.), op. cit. pp. 83–103.Google Scholar
Page 510 note 2 Sanyal, op. cit.; see also Bowa et al. op. cit. on Kalingalinga.
Page 510 note 3 Ledogar and Lungu, op. cit.
Page 511 note 1 Jaeger and Huckaby, loc. cit.
Page 512 note 1 Van den Berg, op. cit. p. 112.
Page 512 note 2 Jaeger and Huckaby, loc. cit.
Page 512 note 3 Bowa et al. op. cit.
Page 512 note 4 Ibid. and Sanyal, op. cit.
Page 513 note 1 Sanyal, op. cit. p. 76.
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