Mushroom Cultivation in Urban Kampala, Uganda

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ugandan economy. Due to the
growing population and high demand for land, urban agriculture is a
major issue. Currently, Kampala has an estimated population of over
2 million people. It is a city experiencing large migration flows in
search of employment and better living conditions. Most of the
migrants are poor young men and women searching for jobs and
services like piped water and health facilities that are lacking in rural
areas. They are landless and often their spouses and extended family
members follow them, which results in slums developing in public
resource areas, like urban wetlands. Without the security over the
land they occupy, these families tend to carry out short-term
investments like mushroom cultivation. Mushroom cultivation is a
space-confined technology and requires relatively small capital input.