Extension Domains among Urban Farmers in Atteridgeville (Pretoria, South Africa)

The article identifies and defines three extension domains among urban farmers in the informal settlements of Atteridgeville. These consist of home gardeners, community-project gardeners, and users of open urban spaces. The extension domains are defined in terms of type of space used for farming, choice of crops and related production practices, access to resources, and the socio-economic characteristics and important agricultural needs of farmers. This information was obtained by means of a survey (n=120) involving face-to-face interviews and a structured interview schedule. The survey was complemented by semi-structured interviews and observations of agricultural activities. The paper concludes by calling for closer involvement of government and public extension in urban agriculture in the study area, because urban farming mainly benefits the poor. Specific constraints, which extension services may help to address, are identified for each of the three extension domains. Introduction The United Nations Development Programme (1996) defined urban agriculture as an industry that produces, processes and markets food and fuel, largely in response to daily demand of consumers within a town, city or metropolis, on land and water dispersed throughout the urban and peri-urban area, applying intensive production methods using and reusing natural resources and urban wastes to yield a diversity of crops and livestock. During the 1980s, the importance of urban agriculture accelerated dramatically throughout the world (United Nation Development Programme, 1996). Apparently, this was in response to declining purchasing power and increasing levels of poverty among urban populations (Chaipa & King, 1998). In South Africa, the importance of urban agriculture has also been on the rise. It has developed into one of the ways in which urban dwellers supplement their low incomes (May and Rogerson, 1995 and Rogerson, 1998). Research on urban farming in South Africa showed the majority of urban gardeners to be female (Meadows, 2000; Martin, Oudwater and Meadows, 2000). Generally, they engaged in agriculture to save on household food expenditure, and to generate income through sales of surplus produce. Many South African NGOs and welfare organisations have recognised the importance of small-scale urban agriculture in terms of food security and social function. They promote gardening activities through extension, training and occasional supply of seeds and fertilizers. Town planners and policy makers in South Africa tend to view urban agriculture as a way of prompting economic development. As a result, they favour highly organised intensive production systems (Martin, Oudwater and Meadows, 2000). According to Meadows (2000), this narrow view of urban agriculture may explain the general absence of governmental support to urban farming in South Africa. In order to provide an efficient and effective support service to a particular group of farmers, their needs, problems, and circumstances must be known and understood (Bembridge, 1991). This knowledge and understanding may be used to identify and define one or more extension domains among the group of farmers being considered. Extension domains are homogenous groups of farmers, who share the same problems, and