Losing the Plot: The Impact of Urban Agriculture on Household Food Expenditure and Dietary Diversity in Sub-Saharan African Countries

Navjot Sangwan and Luca Tasciotti ()
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Navjot Sangwan: School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS, UK
Luca Tasciotti: School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS, UK

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-20

Abstract: Urban agriculture (UA) is proposed as a solution to the social and economic challenges presented by cities by providing urban households with food and income using environmentally friendly food production techniques. To date, most analysis of UA has been based on single-city studies. This paper aims to contribute to the literature by using a cross-country approach and by analysing household level data from nine sub-Saharan countries—Burkina Faso (2014), Ethiopia (2013), Ghana (2009), Malawi (2013), Niger 2014, Nigeria (2012), Tanzania (2010) and Uganda (2013). This paper sets out to answer three questions; the first investigates which are the main characteristics of households engaged in urban agriculture; the second looks at the role played by UA in diversifying household diets and reducing household food expenditure; the third examines the heterogeneity in the impact of UA across the food expenditure distribution. Using an inverse-probability weighted regression adjustment method, the results show that households engaged in agriculture reduced expenditure on food and modified their food expenditure profile by spending more on protein rich food -nuts, legumes, fruits, dairy products, meat and poultry. The study also finds substantial variation on the impact of UA across the food expenditure distribution.

Keywords: urban agriculture; household level data; sub-Saharan countries; food expenditure; dietary diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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