Abstract:
The understands the impact that urban agriculture plays in the food security contribution to the
urban dwellers helps to realize its relevance in urban poverty alleviation. Thus, the purpose of
this study was to analyze the contribution of urban agriculture and its impact of food security in
Addis Ababa city. The specific objectives of the research is to find out the socio-economic
characteristics of urban farmers, and its impact on household, level food security and income;
and to provide empirical evidences on socio-economic challenges related to the urban farming
in Ethiopian cities, taking Addis Ababa as a case study. The study was conducted in Akaki kality
and Kolfe karenio sub-cities selected woreda participant and non-participant urban agriculture
on 192 sampled households. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were
collected through household surveys using structured questionnaire and focus group discussion
and key informants’ interviews. Secondary data were collected from published and unpublished
sources to supplement the primary data. Both descriptive statistics and econometric models were
used for data analysis. The study were adopted a cross-sectional survey method that combines
both qualitative and quantitative research method and used a mix of probability and non probability sampling. In order to test the economic impact of UA on households welfare (income
and food security), the study applied probit model followed by PSM. The findings revealed that
urban farmers differ in their social backgrounds such as age, occupation, and marital status, sex
of the household head, level of education, farm size, and own housing, which might have also
implication on their Livelihood strategies. The majorities of farmers have primary education and
consider urban farming as their major occupations. Participation of the youth is relatively low in
the sector, leaving it for adults over 45 years old and women who support large families.
Participations of women and uneducated people in the sector are also widely observed.
Insufficient earnings from non-farm sector and food insecurity were major reasons for adapting
urban agriculture as survival strategy in the city, that is, to fulfill daily food and other essentials.
Many urban farmers (51%) engaged in Cow’s milk and poultry production while 24% are
involved in vegetable crop production. However, based on the finding of the study, both short
term and long term urban agriculture development intervention schemes, strategies and policy
issues have been recommended urban agricultural development in the urban areas in Ethiopia.
