Gender and Coping Strategies for Access to Land for Urban Agriculture in Kampala City, Uganda

This case study reflects on the importance of urban agriculture in Kampala City,
which area policy makers and authorities have neglected yet it has a direct
bearing on the economy. Urban agriculture ensures food security to city
dwellers. It is also a thriving livelihood which empowers both women and men,
especially those in poor households. Many retrenched or retired civil servants
and other unemployed persons as a result of structural adjustment programme
impact in the 1980s perceive it as a form of social security and pension. Also,
conventional science based research and extension services focussing on modern
agriculture target only the rural households, leaving out the city. Still, sociomanagement
of land is ignored, although it affects agricultural productivity. The
case study looks at land which is a vital resource to practising agricultural
activities. It spell outs the patriarchal tenure relations which affect women, who
are the majority of urban farmers and make them lack access to land and
ownership rights. Ultimately, people lack productive and household assets,
which leads to urban poverty. So urban poverty is indicated as an urgent issue
to be addressed and realised as many policies and development work focus on
the rural areas yet rural - urban migration influx is high and continues to perplex
modernisation in the city.