Urban farmers and urban agriculture in Johannesburg: Responding to the food resilience strategy

The city of Johannesburg is implementing an urban agriculture policy, as part of a “food resilience” strategy. This article draws on participatory and social science methods of research in articulating farmers’ perspectives on issues critical to this policy and to urban agriculture in the city. The fieldwork forms part of a social science and action research project, Izindaba Zokudla, that aims to build the capacity of a farmers’ organisation in Johannesburg, and to develop programmes for implementation. Farmers, through a series of facilitated participatory workshops, have developed a strategy for organisational development that identified Land and Water (soil), External Stakeholders, Training, Tools and Technology, Marketing, Organisational Development, Permaculture and Security as themes relevant for the development of the organisation and urban agriculture. The ways farmers articulate these priorities afford us a perspective on urban agricultural development in Johannesburg that is crucial for the implementation of policy. The article discusses these themes in the context of the newly formulated policy and explains their significance vis-à-vis the broader assessment of urban agriculture and smallholder agriculture in the literature. The article concludes with comprehensive recommendations for the implementation of urban agriculture programmes in Johannesburg.