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Urban farmers coping strategies in the wake of urbanization and changing market in Tamale, Northern Ghana

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Title Urban farmers coping strategies in the wake of urbanization and changing market in Tamale, Northern Ghana
 
Creator Nchanji, Eileen Bogweh
Nchanji Yvonne Kiki
 
Subject urban agriculture
food systems
urbanization
markets
agricultura urbana
sistemas alimentarios
urbanización
 
Description Vegetable cultivation is a survival strategy for the urban population, especially with the increasing population, urbanization, and high unemployment rate. For decades, men have practiced vegetable cultivation in Tamale's metropolitan city, with women being involved at the last node of the value chain – marketing. Women are known as market queens, and culturally, sell foodstuff in the market, unlike men who can’t do the same. These market queens buy vegetables from farm gates and sell them at wholesale prices to other market women who retail them in the market. An ethnographic study was carried out to understand how farmers carry out their farming activities and marketing in the face of changing market trends and urbanization and how urbanization and markets shape and regulate farmers’ agricultural practices with implications for urban agricultural policy and town planning. Results show that urbanization has influenced urban and peri-urban land prices resulting in the leasing of prime agricultural lands by chiefs for industrial and residential purposes. As such, farmers cope by negotiating farmland with government and private institutions, with more success. Farmers also practice mixed cropping to buffer climatic shocks and address market gluts to meet household needs and income. Even though urbanization poses a risk for farmers, it also creates spaces where farmers’ practices are reshaped as they network with agro-dealers, buyers, and researchers in their everyday activities, contributing to urban gardening policies and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11
 
Date 2022-10
2023-01-04T10:04:23Z
2023-01-04T10:04:23Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Nchanji, E.B.; Nchanji, Y.K. (2022) Urban farmers coping strategies in the wake of urbanization and changing market in Tamale, Northern Ghana. Land Use Policy 121: 106312 ISSN: 0264-8377
0264-8377
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126537
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106312
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyrighted; all rights reserved
Open Access
 
Format application/pdf
 
Publisher Elsevier BV
 
Source Land Use Policy