Urban agriculture and access to food: fresh produce for Johannesburg’s urban poor

Abstract

The current food system is contributing to the food insecurity of the urban poor. Local food systems and other food system alternatives benefit the urban poor in all four spheres in which the corporate food regime disadvantages them: accessibility, empowerment, sustainability and health. This research maps the overlap of poverty and types of agriculture in the City of Johannesburg to locate potential for urban farms to serve and benefit the urban poor. There are many areas where potential for food system alternatives is high, especially where smaller scale farms are growing vegetables in areas where there are many and mostly poor households concentrated over space. By engaging with farmers, from study areas in the City which meet at least some of these conditions, the research not only confirms that the potential identified in these areas is being realised and exceeded but suggests that the potential has been underestimated for all of the other areas of the municipality in which urban agriculture coexists with the urban poor. The combinations and variations of food system alternatives chosen by farmers, in the foodstuffs produced, nature of production and modes and channels of distribution, are evidence of the reciprocal influence of structure and their own agency. By reframing urban agriculture to recognize the diverse opportunities for farmers to do things differently, we can see that many are choosing to do so, and are thus making sustainably produced, healthy fresh produce locally available to the urban poor in ways that are accessible and empowering.