Practice, Challenges, And Opportunities Of Urban Agriculture In Shenen Town, Jibat District, West Shoa Zone, Oromianational Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Understanding the role that urban agriculture plays in the livelihoods of urban farmers in particular and the urban society at large helps to realize the relevance of the sector in urban poverty alleviation and to give due attention to it during urban development policy reforms. This study was aimed to assess practices, challenges and opportunities of urban agriculture in shenen town. And the main objective of the study was to assess the practice, challenges, and opportunities of the urban agriculture in shenen town and its periphery. The study is based on primary data collected from 105 sample selected at random using questionnaire. Additional information was also obtained from focus group discussion, key informant interview and personal observation. The data has been analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS 22 version software. Qualitative data were used to substantiate the responses of questionnaire. According to the major findings of the study, the major types of urban farming practices in the study area includes; horticulture or production of fruits and vegetables, crop farming or production, livestock rearing such as beef farming, dairy farming as well as trees and grass planting. The result of the study also reveals that the major challenges of urban farming practices in the area includes; lack of access to credit, shortage of inputs, land granting system, lack of technical support from concerned bodies/less contact with agricultural sectors, lack of enough space/land shortage for cultivation, disease, problem of market are the major challenges of farming practices in the area. The survey result reveals that there are various significances of urban farming in the study area. Among these, it play a decisive role in generating household income, serve as employment opportunities, contribution to food supply, economic use of land and environmental enhancement, beatification of the town and solid waste management are the major roles of urban agriculture in the area. Finally, suggestions have been forwarded based on the findings of the study.