Report structure
1.1 Project partners and objectives
The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) represented by the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) financed the research programme UFISAMO – Urban Agriculture for Food Security and Income Generation in South Africa and Mozambique with the aim of providing relevant information for action in urban agriculture that will improve food and nutrition security and income options in Southern Africa (see Chapter 1.3.1).
The research project ran from March 2016 until February 2019 (with a partial extension until Sep- tember 2019) and was implemented by a partner consortium comprised of universities, research institutes, a state agency and NGOs from Germany, Mozambique and South Africa: Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Centre for Rural Development; Freie Universität Berlin, FAO Reference Centre for Veterinary Public Health, De- partment of Veterinary Medicine, University Eduardo Mondlane, Faculty of Arts and Social Sci-
2 "AGRICULTURE (a term which encompasses FARMING) is the process of producing food, feed, fiber, fuel, and
other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals." (https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/ Agri- culture [1]) Urban agriculture is a term describing this activity when it takes place in urban or peri-urban spaces (see Chapter 2.1 and definition by Mougeot, Chapter 1.2). It includes most commonly small-scale vegetable production and small-scale livestock rearing.
The term “urban agriculture” is used throughout this report, in accordance with local vocabulary and the terminol- ogy used in the scientific debate. The UFISAMO project worked on plant (vegetable) and animal (broiler) produc- tion.
3 Farmers are the main actors in agriculture. There can be large-scale land owners, or subsistence farmers on com-
mon pool lands. In this report, we use the term “farmer” to describe small-scale producers who are partly or fully integrated in the market economy, i.e. they produce (partly) for commercialisation.
ences; University of the Western Cape, Institute for Social Development; University of the West- ern Cape, Department of Geography, Environmental Studies & Tourism; Frankenförder For- schungsgesellschaft (Luckenwalde/Berlin); SETSAN – Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition and the NGO ABIODES (Association for sustainable development) in Maputo and the NGO Abalimi Bezekhaya in Cape Town.
The UFISAMO project sees three major outcomes (see Figure 1 below) to enhance research on food and nutrition security in segments of the disfavoured urban population and improve income generation by optimising the production, processing and marketing of agricultural and livestock products4. The research project follows a multi-level approach. Consequently, the results target
different users ranging from individual urban farmers and extension services to ministries, munic- ipalities and universities.
Figure 1: UFISAMO outcomes and impact
Source: UFISAMO
To achieve these outcomes the UFISAMO project was divided into four work packages as pre- sented in Figure 2 below. Each work package (WP) considers a multi-sectorial and multi- dimensional approach. Work packages 1 to 4 gather baseline data, conduct in-depths data collec- tion, analyse data, present, discuss and consolidate findings, formulate good practices and strat- egies for dissemination and make recommendations to optimise the issues at hand. The recom- mendations feed into policy briefs, manuals and share back dialogues which ensures that the research results of all four work packages reach the individual target groups at farm, extension, academic and policy level.
4 German and Mozambican researchers formulated the outcomes, expected results and impact of the research
during a two-week workshop in Maputo in October 2016. In the course of the workshop, the researchers worked on their individual research concepts and integrated them into one overarching concept. The South African partners and other consortium members involved agreed on the ‘logical framework’ for the research at the annual meeting in Maputo in November 2016. The framework leans on the project proposal developed at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin but was elaborated and adapted in line with input from the project partners. The result was shared with the
Figure 2: Overview of UFISAMO work packages
Source: UFISAMO
The objectives of the individual work packages are as follows:
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WP1: To study food habits, consumer behaviour and to analyse UA value chains in the vulnerable urban areas of Maputo and townships of Cape Town. Based on the results, value- adding options following improvement and diversification of the UA system are explored;▪
WP2: To investigate the opportunities and challenges of horticultural and livestockproduction, processing and marketing in Maputo and Cape Town;
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WP3: To extend the current agricultural research and education network of the partner universities and to include the topic of urban agriculture into their curricula;▪
WP4: Producers, merchants, consumers, policy-makers, scientists and practitioners are well aware of the significance of UA and good practices. The stakeholders are familiar with the various information systems and dissemination channels, and dispose of training material and curricula to promote UA.Each work package drew up research questions and/or hypotheses to guide their approach and presented them for discussion in a two-week workshop in Maputo at the onset of the project in 2016. A key hypothesis was: the specific environment created by the urban context makes urban agriculture essentially different from other forms of agriculture (see Annex 2 and Annex 3 for detailed research questions and hypotheses and assumptions).