The challenge posed by urban dietary norms to the practice of urban agroecology

ABSTRACT

In the global south, urban agriculture (UA) contributes to food security, incomes, and environmental benefits. Agroecology can enhance the impact of UA by reducing input costs and increasing yields. Yet discussions of agroecology rarely consider the challenge posed by contemporary urban diets. Drawing on research from two urban gardens in Johannesburg, South Africa, this paper argues that the dietary norms and practices of Johannesburg residents are poorly aligned to the production requirements and outputs of urban agroecology. Lessons from other countries suggest that the benefits of agroecology can be enhanced by targeting changes in food preparation and consumption practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban agriculture
• agroecology
• dietary diversity
• food consumption
• food practices

Acknowledgments

The financial assistance of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research are hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to UKZN or the NRF.

Notes

1. The official unemployment rate in the city is over 26% (Statistics South Africa 2015).

2. These interviews also included questions related to dietary diversity, lightly adapted from the standard questions from the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) questionnaire (Swindale and Bilinsky 2006).

3. This article uses pseudonyms for the gardens.

4. Malasol is an organophosphate pesticide that is listed as harmful by ingestion, inhalation and contact. It is also listed as dangerous for the environment (Efekto 2014). In South Africa, it is classified as a level 3 hazard (out of 5). The active ingredient in Doom Blue Death is deltamethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide also classed as a level 3 hazard.

5. Those who said they did not eat healthy diets explained that they could not afford to eat a more nutritious diet, with one of them indicating that fish would be good to eat but was unaffordable.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Inyuvesi Yakwazulu-Natali [Department of Development Studies]; National Research Foundation [PhD fellowship].