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From Zero-Acreage Farming to Zero Hunger in African Cities: Some Possibilities and Opportunities

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Food Security and Land Use Change under Conditions of Climatic Variability

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Synopsis

This chapter reports on efforts to explore possibilities and opportunities of adapting ZFarming as a vehicle for combating hunger, malnutrition and climate change impacts. The focus of the study is Kano city which is Nigeria’ second largest urban agglomeration. The research questions that drive this study are as follows: can ZFarming support urban resilience in rapidly urbanising countries? Which plants can households grow to eradicate hunger and malnutrition?

The work reported in this chapter employed mixed methods – Delphi technique, field observations and interviews to explore possibilities and opportunities of adapting Zero-acreage Farming (ZFarming) to support actualisation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2). The study has identified 27 different nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables that are cultivated mainly within planned parts of Kano’s urban agglomeration. Thus, the potentials of ZFarming are high in the sense that it creates opportunities for eradicating malnutrition and reducing transport and other costs associated with long distance haulage. The main recommendations of the study emphasize the need for mainstreaming ZFarming among the poor, women and in informal parts of the city.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria

    Aliyu Salisu Barau

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  1. Aliyu Salisu Barau
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Correspondence to Aliyu Salisu Barau .

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  1. Formerly University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Victor R. Squires

  2. ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

    Mahesh K. Gaur

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Barau, A.S. (2020). From Zero-Acreage Farming to Zero Hunger in African Cities: Some Possibilities and Opportunities. In: Squires, V., Gaur, M. (eds) Food Security and Land Use Change under Conditions of Climatic Variability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36762-6_11

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