The organization of urban agriculture: Farmer associations and urbanization in Tanzania

This paper argues that the degree to which urban farming associations organize is related to the rate of urbanization, specifically demographic changes, the institutional landscape in which they operate, the environmental context, as well as underlying economic structure or local economic base. These structural conditions in turn impact the characteristics of urban agricultural associations; specifically their membership, how they relate to other institutions, the issues they face, and the economic and social roles they play. We utilize semi-structured interviews of farmer associations and interviews with government officials in Moshi and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, two cities that differ in terms of their urbanization patterns and economic, environmental and institutional context, to better understand the nature of the relationship between urban agricultural organizations and the context in which they operate. We find that the manner in which groups organize, the economic role they play, the issues they are concerned with, and the degree to which they collaborate are quite variable. These differences are exacerbated by urbanization patterns that impact the role and functioning of urban agricultural organizations by placing pressure on resources such as available land and water and increasing demand for the products of urban farmers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.