Agricultural development towards food, nutrition and livelihood security is high on the political agenda in Sri Lanka. A number of national programmes (e.g. Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu 2007-2010 and Divi Neguma) have focussed on achieving greater self-sufficiency at household level in order to reach a higher GDP in the agricultural sector with higher economic returns. Recently, national priorities have included the development of food-secure resilient cities, and in this regard, the Western Province has been a forerunner, having commenced its urban agriculture campaign already in 2000.

The Yorkshire village of Todmorden has taken local food to heart – and to the street. The planting of food crops at forty public locations throughout the village offer locals, and visitors, the chance to pick their own fresh fruit and vegetables, and it’s all free. From the local police station to the cemetery, from the health centre to the elderly care home (with raised garden beds at wheelchair height), in tubs on the street and in plots dug by the canal, Todmorden is embracing “local edible” with a passion.

Urban farming has for years served as a vital input in the livelihood strategies of urban households in Zimbabwe.

For several decades, a diverse literature has claimed that urban agriculture has the potential for hunger and poverty alleviation. This article reviews empirical data from equatorial Africa that touch on this assertion, updating the work on the subject published in the mid-1990s. Research, largely from East Africa but also including Cameroon in West Central Africa, appearing in several recent and currently emerging publications is assessed and compared. The article

Both national and international policy responses to the rapid food price increases in 2007 and the first half of 2008 did little to address the very serious impacts on low-income urban dwellers.

Although quite a number of experiences with community supported agriculture (CSA) and box schemes in Europe and the United States have been documented, there are not so many examples from the South. Abalimi/Harvest of Hope is a special case even in the South, as it is a social enterprise that works with poor people in urban areas who are the producers of the vegetables.

Many poor urban households are active in local production of food and related activities (e.g. food processing and street vending of food, compost making, supply of animal feed).

This paper summarises work attempting to answer two apparently simple questions: Can urban agriculture reduce urban poverty? And, if it can, in what ways can poverty be reduced? It also explores the role of value chain analysis in understanding better the role of urban agriculture.