Abstract:
This study was undertaken in four purposely selected sub cities of Addis Ababa for identifying
the contribution of urban agriculture in reducing poverty and unemployment. The life quality
of 397 sampled agricultural households was assessed based on eight indicators of poverty
(Food, health, Shelter, education, water, sanitation, information and monetary). The result
shows, the mean meal frequency and dietary diversity was 2.95 and 5.07 respectively. The two
groups of food that were relatively less consumed by participants of the study were fruits and
animal products. The result of health related assessment shows most of the respondents were
in better health status. With regard to housing status, the majority of households (75.5 %) had
their own shelter. 85.3% of children under participants of the study were not late for school
age and 154 (68.75%) of children aged 15-19 were found at elementary school complete and
above which imply they were at expected level of school attendance. The two most common
source of drinking water in the study area were piped in to dwelling/yard (44.58%) and Piped
in to neighbor (42.57%). With regard to access to information, there was lower access to
news paper and internet but better access to television. The mean monthly expenditure for
food a month before interview was birr 5496.54. Based on the primary data obtained from
participants of this study, urban agriculture is contributing significant role in reducing
unemployment in the study areas. However, its contribution was under estimated either due to
under counting the beneficiaries of urban agriculture or counting job created across value
chain to other sectors. Vegetable, poultry and dairy cattle production were the first three
leading sub sectors in reducing unemployment/ creating job opportunity in the study areas. I
recommend that the city administration has to create conducive environment for residents to
participate especially in urban agriculture sub sectors that relatively require less land. I also
recommend strong cooperation between stake holders to implement the existing urban
agriculture policy for successful development of the sector.
