Urban
Agriculture Survey 1999
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Summary of Main Results
Introduction
Among the urban population of Jordan, there is a
growing tendency to engage in small-scale (less than 1 dunum) household
gardening to produce vegetables and fruits or to raise domesticated animals
(sheep, goats, and poultry). The products are either consumed within the
household (and relatives/ neighbors) or sold to the market for supplementary
income. The practice is needed in poorer districts of the urban center and/
or among refugees living in refugee camps. This practice of urban agriculture
(UA) has the potential to provide much needed additional food or income to
families with little investment. In other words, UA may provide or enhance
much needed food security to urban households. Quite often the products of UA
improve the nutritional intake of children in the households. In short, this
practice has the potential to contribute significantly to the food security
of urban families at low cost, particularly in the context of water-scarce in
Jordan. It is apparent that the practice of UA growing rapidly in Jordan.
However, since UA is not covered by the national agricultural surveys, there
is no reliable data on its magnitude either in terms of its contribution to
the total economy or to the individual households. This lack of reliable data
is also hindering the development of appropriate policies to further promote
and strengthen urban agriculture in Jordan.
Urban agriculture, according to UNDP* (1996), is an industry that produces, processes and markets foods and
fuel largely in response to the daily demand of consumers within a town, city
or metropolis. It uses land and water dispersed throughout urban and
peri-urban areas, applying intensive production methods, using and reusing
natural resources and urban wastes, to yield a diversity of crops and livestock.
Needless to say, reliable information on this increasingly important sector
is of critical significance to further the cause of improving food security
and strengthen the national economy.
The
overall purpose is to facilitate appropriate policy development in support of
urban agriculture at the local (city) and national levels. In the context of
Jordan, as in many other developing countries, the major constraints facing
urban agriculture are policies and regulations pertaining to such issues as
the size of land, the kind and number of livestock, use or re-use of water,
credit, storage and marketing of products. The study, therefore, critically
assesses current municipal and city policy and regulations pertaining to
urban agriculture and suggests changes.
Small
area and low productivity of UA house gardens often lead to neglect of
related statistics which are not considered within the agricultural sector,
but are regarded as secondary activities within the household sector. In view
of the growing interest in house gardens, the total production of these
gardens can not be ignored. For many households, these small parcels of land
provide additional income and/ or supplement their food resource.
Nevertheless, urban agriculture seldom receives much formal attention. City
by-laws on land use often discriminate against urban farmers. Lack of credit
and access to the market often pose severe problems for the practitioners of
UA. Since women tend to provide much of the labor for, and distribution of,
such products, UA has an important gender dimension. Unfortunately, the
gender implications of urban agriculture also largely remained unexplored.
This study, in the context of Jordan and much of the Arab world, would be a
pioneering one in these respects. Moreover, these small plots of land use
considerable amount of water, fertilizers, and other natural resources. The
benefits of such resource use in terms of output should be seriously
analyzed, particularly in a country like Jordan where water and other natural
resources are scarce. The products of urban agriculture are not only consumed
within the household, but are also often marketed for profit. With increasing
number of households being involved in UA, the total production of this
sector is substantial and can no longer be ignored. In spite of its
increasing contribution to the national economy, the UA sector has so far
remained outside routine agricultural surveys. This study, therefore, would
be very valuable in understanding the contribution of urban agriculture to
the national economy and in completing the total picture of the national
accounts.
Urban agriculture uses
fertilizers, pesticides, wastewater and often-composted solid waste. These
uses may have serious health implications. Are UA farmers aware of the health
risks of their practice? Do they use precautions against such health risks?
If so, what precautions do they use? These vital questions also remained
unanswered. Through interviews and focus group discussions, the study would
attempt to explore these issues so as to promote greater understanding about
health risks associated with various resource use practices of urban
agriculture.
3.1
Objectives
The overall goal of the project is to critically
assess the nature, extent and the socio-economic value of urban agriculture
in Jordan with a view to inform and shape public policy. Specific objectives
of the project include:
To critically analyze
current municipal and national policies and regulations pertaining to Urban
Agriculture, identify their strengths and weaknesses and suggest changes.
To determine thesize of
Urban Agriculture in terms of the total land area covered and the number of
households involved.
To analyze the
socio-economic characteristics of the households practicing Urban Agriculture
and of those providing the major labor input (primarily housewives).
To determine the type of
input used and the output produced from these small-scale operations and the
end-use of the products (household consumption, market sale, etc.).
To critically analyze the
problems (environmental, financial, regulatory and/or administrative) faced
by urban farmers.
To examine environmental
and health issues pertaining to urban agriculture.
.
Dunum =
1000 Sq. M.
Without
Land: There is no land specifically earmarked for cultivation in these
households.Consequently, urban agriculture cultivation is practiced in
rooftops or in pots. Involvement in livestock raising is also included in
this category.
Housing
Unit Categories:
Category "A":
Where minimum front setback must be 5 m long, side setbacks 5 m and rear
setback 7m. Maximum licensed area of
Category "B":
Where minimum front setback must be 4 m long, side setbacks 4 m and rear
setback 6 m. Maximum licensed area of
Category "C":
Where minimum front setback must be 4 m long, side setbacks 3 m and rear
setback 4m. Maximum licensed area of the housing unit is
48% out of the total land area, which should not be less than (500) squire
meters. This category is classified as number three.
Category "D":
Where minimum front setback must be 3 m long, side setbacks 2.5 m and rear
setback 2.5 m. Maximum licensed area of the housing unit is
52% out of the total land area, which should not be less than (300) squire
meters. This category is classified as number four.
Dar: A conventional(or traditional) building
of one room or more. Dar may be surrounded by a fence and could be of two
floors served by uncovered stairs.
Stratum 1
represents the people whose income is low,
Stratum 2 represents the people of low to medium
income,
Stratum 3 represents the people with high to
medium income,
Stratum 4 represents high income,
Stratum 5 represents residents of Wadi Al Sier,
Stratum 6 represents
people residing in Amman suburbs.
5.1 Preparatory Stage
This
survey
is the first one of its kind implemented in Jordan. A combination of
quantitative and qualitative methods has been used. The major component of the
study is based on the questionnaire survey technique. The questionnaire, once
designed, was thoroughly reviewed and revised by a group of specialists. The
questionnaire was also pre-tested in the field before its finalization and
execution.
5.1.1
Sample Design
With a view to achieve the objectives
effectively, the following sampling design was used:
The
population of the city of Amman was divided into six strata. 1- 4 strata were
divided on the basis of the socio - economic characteristics of the
households, as follows.
Stratum
No.
1
Low income
2
Low- medium
3
High - medium
4
High
The fifth stratum is composed
of the town of Wadi Al Seir and the sixth stratum is an Amman suburb. From
each stratum, number of clusters were drawn by probability proportional to
size, the allocation of clusters between strata is done by proportional
allocation method, the number of clusters drawn from each stratum was as
follows:
In order to provide a
well-defined framework for households having gardens to be used during the
second stage of the sample, the initial survey has been implemented during
the period from March to April 1998. This survey covered 120 clusters (each
cluster contains about 100 households). 13,000 households were covered in the
initial survey.In the second stage, a complete enumeration was carried out
for all gardens with a cultivated area of 20 square meters and above in
addition to all gardens with livestock. The gardens with
cultivated area of less than 20 square meters comprised about 25% of the
sample.
5.1.2.
Survey Coverage
The survey was designed to cover gardens in the
Greater Capital Amman, which includes Amman, Wadi Seir and Amman suburbs.
The residential districts
of Amman (and the peri-urban areas) were divided into six strata,
representing different socio-economic groups. A basic survey was carried out
to identify the number of households (out of this sample) practicing urban
agriculture and the broad categories of activities being pursued.
For this
purpose, all urban agriculture activities were grouped under three broad
categories:
Agricultural crops (vegetables or other
crops).
Raising of
animals (goat, sheep, poultry).
Flowers.
5.2 The Main
Documents of the Survey
5.2.1
First Round Questionnaire
(Annex 1)
It contains the main items as follows:
Identification data of the
housing unit and building.
The socio-economic
characteristics of the individuals in these households.
The plant and animal
contents of the garden.
The service and resource
inputs used in the first period (1/11/1997-31/3/1998).
The plant and livestock
production of the garden in the same period.
The methods of looking
after the garden.
Some practices in the gardens
and the main problems and difficulties faced by the people who practice Urban
Agriculture.
5.2.2
Second Round
Questionnaire (Annex 1)
It contains mainly:
New additions on the
gardens during the period (1/4/1998-31/8/1998)
The resource and service
inputs during the same period.
The plant and livestock
production.
5.2.3
Third Round Questionnaire
(Annex 1):
It contains the following items:
Any change on plants and
livestock during the period (1/9/1998-30/10/1998).
The resource and service inputs
during the same period.
The plant and livestock
production and food processing inside the housing unit
Some practices in the
garden
In-doorenvironment of the
households practicing Urban Agriculture
Health risks and issues
pertaining to practices ofUrban Agriculture
The main problems and the
suggested solutions by the people who practice Urban
5.2.4
Instruction Manuals and
Edit Rules
The instruction manual
contained detailed explanation of all questions, concepts and definitions included
in the questionnaire. It included the role and responsibilities of the survey
staff (supervisors, controllers, and interviewers) and detailed explanation
offield and office checking rules.
5.2.5
General and Specific
Coding Booklet
A specialized coding
booklet was prepared for assisting the data entry operations.
6.1
Field Workers Selection and Training
Female agronomy field
workers executed the survey. They received theoretical and practical
training. At the end of the training, they were given a written examination
to determine if the questionnaire instructions and concepts have been fully
comprehended.
6.2
Organization of the Field
Work
The trained
interviewers executed the fieldwork under the supervision of a field officer
with extensive field experience. The interviewers were divided into three
teams; each team consisted of three interviewers, one supervisor and an
editor.
6.3
Execution of the Field
Work
The
questionnaire was pre-tested on randomly selected 60 households from the six
strata in Amman. Following appropriate revision, trained field workers
administrated the questionnaire among the 1,800 selected households. The
survey data were collected through personal interviews in three rounds; the
first round was at the beginning of spring 1998, second round was at the end
of summer 1998, and third round was at the beginning of winter 1999.
6.4
Field Editing
A preliminary check of the
questionnaires was made in the field.
7.1
Office Processing
7.1.1
Editing
All completed
questionnaires were given to the office editors who performed technical and formal
editing according to the editing instructions and rules. Any questionnaire
with doubtful data was returned to the interviewer to be re-checked and
corrected.
7.1.2
Coding
After editing the
questionnaires, the data were coded according to the coding rules and guides.
7.2
Electronic Processing
7.2.1
Data Entry and Edit
Programs
The data entry and edit
programs were prepared in coordination with a programmer from the Computer
Directorate.
7.2.2
Data Entry
After the questionnaires
were completely checked and coded, data were entered into the computer.
7.2.3
Data Cleaning
After the completion of
electronic data entry and editing, errors were detected and corrected.
7.2.4 Data
Tabulation
After obtaining error-free
data, the final results were electronically tabulated using previously
prepared programs for this purpose. Raising factors were used for the sample
data to extract the final results at Amman Capital City level.The results
were re-tabulated on WinWord Microsoft to valid publishing format.
Housing unit Characteristics and Land Distribution
Total number of households
practicing urban agriculture is 50,097.
Total cultivated area in the housing units
is 6,483,952.7 Sq. M. The main crop types and area cultivated are as follow:
Crop
Type**
Area
(Sq. M)
Field
crop***
85856.0
Vegetables
175235.0
Fruit
Trees
3208291.6
Aromatic
and Medical plants
142563.2
Trellis
and Climbers
777705.8
About
50 % of the households reported consumption within the household as the main
use of UA products, while for about 40% of the households UA is a means to enhance
the beauty of the house.
Livestock
ivestock
Type
Number
at the End of the Period Sheep 1572
1031 Goats
5955
3665 Chicken
30893
24257 Pigeons
24019
23377
Looking After the Garden
The number of males who look after the gardens is
36, 821 orabout 50 % of the total households.
The number of females looking after the gardens is
35,060or48.8 % of the total labor force.
A total of 7,787 households or about 16 % of the
total householdshired outside individuals or agencies to look after their
gardens.
For 63% of the households “personal experience” is
the only source of information regarding urban agriculture.
Percentage of the households with personal source
of finance is above 90 %, the majority of remaining percent of households
doesn't spend money on gardens.
Inputs and Outputs
The total market value of intermediate commodities
is approximately JD 2,845,794.
The total market value of plant production is
approximately JD 1,927,137. The total market value of animal production is
approximately JD 671,308.
About 65 % of households use
the surplus food products as animal feed.
About 22 % of households
use leftover food and surplus byproducts for the preparation of
organic fertilizers.
Percentage of housing units served by public
sewerage network is 78.6 % and percentage of
housing units served by cesspool is 21.4 %
Percentage of households
using pesticides is 65.7 %
28.5% of households prefer
using natural alternatives of pesticides.
A majority of households
(67.1%) disposed their garbage through the public garbage
collection system, while
the rest (29.1%) disposed their garbage in public containers.
About 18 % of households
would prefer an improved garbage disposal system, while about 20 %
of households would like
to have a better water purification system. On the other hand, about
11% of households would
like to see a reduction in exhaust gas from vehicles.
About 63 % of households are suffering from Pests
and plants diseases.
About 38 % of households complained of high water
price.
About 30 % of households are suffering from
scarcity of water. *Further details of the results analysis will be included
in the Analytical Report ** Annex 3 *** Field crops: wheat, maize, seeds of sunflower |