Urban Agriculture in Nairobi, Kenya

Urban agriculture (UA) is defined as the production, processing and selling of food in and around cities. The specific type of UA that appropriates unused open spaces emerged as a growing practice in the late 1970s, linked to escalating poverty, rising food prices and shortages¹. This was concomitant with increasing population density and economic downturn in much of Africa, exacerbated by structural adjustment policies that decreased government spending and devalued currency. Attitudes towards UA have fluctuated, alongside the wider discourse of African development: as a practice associated with the poor and marginalised, it has been excluded from aims of modernity; it has been undermined as part of the ‘informal’ sector, with little potential for economic growth or independence; it has, more recently, been touted as a sustainable solution that showcases the best of ‘indigenous’ agriculture. UA is clearly an important practice in many African urban centres; it should not be ignored or romanticised, but understood in terms of its contributions and its problems. A limited range of urban agriculture’s costs and benefits will be discussed below, framed by the case study of Nairobi, Kenya and with a focus on the role of water.

Nairobi is a prime UA location for several reasons: historically, colonial ambitions of making it a ‘green city’ with ‘sanitary buffer zones’ (to keep mosquitoes from people, and Africans from Europeans) left swathes of open land¹; furthermore, Nairobi has seen huge urban population growth and an expansion of the city limits that absorbed formerly rural farming areas^{1, 3}. In the late 1980s it was estimated 20% of households in Nairobi practised urban farming; recent estimates are hard to find, but its prevalence is likely to have increased with population density and poverty¹. Farming seems to be practised everywhere possible, from roadsides to the gaps between railway tracks¹. It is disputed whether UA in Nairobi is predominantly for subsistence or cash income^{2, 4}. Subsistence agriculture is largely associated with women, and over 60% of urban farmers in Nairobi are female². While commercial agriculture is often the aim of developers, subsistence farming makes important contributions to the livelihood of the whole household, particularly in terms of nutrition and food security. While all socioeconomic groups practise UA, it is primarily the remit of poor households¹.

The role of water in UA is seldom discussed, perhaps because water and agriculture are only married in more rural images of river basins, large irrigation schemes and dams. For this kind of farming, water is decidedly a ‘production input’ rather than a natural resource². This might be because it is not often from a natural source; in Nairobi for example, water for irrigation is conveyed mainly from Nairobi River and sewers². While this is cost-effective and reduces waste, contamination is a major issue in urban irrigation and can pose serious health risks. Water from the Nairobi River has levels of faecal coliform bacteria similar to that drawn directly from the sewers; a staggering 19,000X the WHO recommended levels for irrigation water². While there is the potential for simple and low-cost sanitation treatments, these might require group cooperation unless carried out individually before use, as well as government regulation; to regularly check water quality, and ensure consumers that what they are paying for is clean and safe².

Methods of conveyance in Nairobi include open channels and motorised pumps, but water scarcity is a major barrier to irrigation, especially as soil moisture and rainfall are low². Water availability could be improved by the building of small dams in peri-urban areas (where there is more space) and rainwater harvesting in the denser parts of the city. However both of these require funding or credit, technical support and collective action. Agricultural collectives or cooperatives can have multiple benefits, but the potential for group formation might vary spatially. In peri-urban areas small plots are controlled by individual farmers or households, leading to competition for resources and trade², however intra-urban farmers tend to cultivate community land, so cooperation is necessary from the get-go.

Limited land and water availability make UA less common in the most densely populated areas of the city: informal or ‘slum’ settlements. These are also the areas that could benefit dramatically from small-scale urban farming, especially to combat malnutrition. This has lead to new innovations in UA, for example Kibera sack farming⁵. Kibera, located in Nairobi and one of Africa’s largest slums, has recently taken up a form of ‘vertical’ farming that uses sacks filled with manure, soil, and small stones than encourage drainage. From the tops and sides of the sacks, vegetables such as kale, spinach, tomatoes and onions are grown. Sack farms are cheap, and save water by retaining soil moisture. This is a great example of the government’s relatively recent engagement with UA, as it is an initiative of the National Youth Agency⁶.

I have attempted to briefly highlight some of the main issues with water use in UA, as well as its potentially extensive benefits. In my opinion, two overarching themes emerge. First: the practises of UA vary extensive within the boundaries of the city; programmes and policies should be willing to engage with this heterogeneity, tailoring interventions and support to specific areas rather than implement sack farming, or small dams, or agricultural cooperatives universally. Innovations often emerge from specific, localised problems and this should be encouraged. Second: while NGOs and donors can have an important role in funding and technical support where necessary, government promotion and regulation is essential. Urban farmers may lack incentives to care for the land they use if the government does not acknowledge them, and regulation is necessary to ensure producers and consumers are not exposed to unnecessary health risks. This appears to be improving in Nairobi with the passing of the 2014 Nairobi County Urban Agriculture Promotion and Regulation Bill, which both encourages the use of vacant land and recognises the need for legislation. Urban agriculture already supports many livelihoods, not just in Kenya, but needs to be recognised as flawed, and always considered as inextricably tied to its local context.

¹ Foeken D & Mboganie Mwangi A. 1998. Farming in the city of Nairobi. African Studies Centre Working Paper. 30: 1-37.

² Cornish GA & Lawrence P. 2001. Informal irrigation in peri-urban areas: A summary of findings and recommendations. DFID’s Water KAR Project R7132. Report OD 144. Wallingford, UK.  

³ Nairobi: Impacts of Urban Growth. UNEP. Accessed 5/11/16 from: http://www.unep.org/pdf/poster_nairobi.pdf

⁴ Memon PA & Lee-Smith D. 1993. Urban Agriculture in Kenya. Canadian Journal of African Studies. 21(1): 25-42.

⁵ Gallaher CM, Kerr JM, Njenga M, Karanja NK & WinklerPrins A. 2013. Urban agriculture, social capital, and food security in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Agriculture and Human Values. 30(3):389-404.

⁶  Mayoyo P. 2015. How to grow food in a slum: lessons from the sack farmers of Kibera. The Guardian. Accessed 1/11/16 from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/may/18/how-to-grow-food-in-a-slum-sack-farmers-kibera-urban-farming