Summary

This work sets out to assess the potential of urban and peri-urban agriculture for generating income and for improving food supply for the growing urban population in Africa. It considers both full-time small-holder farmers and part-timers, who hold land under various tenurial conditions. Since the book is a collection of papers based on field studies, it contains a wide range of approaches, methods of investigation, and scientific findings. One feature is the analysis of the peri-urban gardening zone around Jos, Nigeria. The book offers fresh perspectives on urban farming and relates the positive aspects of the trader's role to a theoretical approach. The book also promotes participatory development and analyzes a case study of short-cut technology transfer. The need for bypassing governments by working with non-governmental organizations and self-help groups is a recurrent conclusion of the book.