IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v8y2018i7p110-d156757.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urban Fish Farming in Jos, Nigeria: Contributions towards Employment Opportunities, Income Generation, and Poverty Alleviation for Improved Livelihoods

Author

Listed:
  • Solomon Zitta Wuyep

    (Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa)

  • Isaac Tebogo Rampedi

    (Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa)

Abstract

In most urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of better socio-economic conditions and improved livelihoods is contributing to increased unemployment levels, poverty and large scale urban deprivation. Given such poverty situations and the prevalence of people who survive on less than 2 USD per day, local populations in these areas are increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity as well as malnutrition. One way out of this poverty trap is practicing small scale agriculture both for subsistence and income-generating purposes. In this paper, the role of small scale fish farming as a livelihood strategy by urban farmers in the city of Jos has been investigated by means of a mixed-method research design. Thus, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected for analyses in order to understand the various dimensions of small scale fish farming amongst 50 respondents randomly selected in the city of Jos, Nigeria. The results have shown the spatial distribution of these farming practices, as well as the demographic attributes of these farmers. Small-scale fish farming is a viable source of food, generating local employment opportunities as well as much needed income in an environment of urban deprivation. Some of the income (above ₦20,000 or 55.56 USD) derived from this fish farming significantly alleviates poverty, as it exceeds the Nigerian national minimum wage of ₦18,000 (50.00 USD). Results also show that the lack of reliable water supplies and high production costs are some of the most constraining problems that militate against operational effectiveness and efficiency, along with poor marketing of their produce and lack of preservation facilities. The lack of access to credit facilities was also mentioned as one of the problems besetting this activity. From the perceptions of the respondents in this study, a number of negative environmental impacts associated with small scale fish farming have been highlighted. Given these results and the growth potential of this kind of farming in Jos, more integrated local development planning is recommended for addressing the infrastructural and resource needs of practicing farmers for achieving long term sustainability in small scale fish farming.

Suggested Citation

  • Solomon Zitta Wuyep & Isaac Tebogo Rampedi, 2018. "Urban Fish Farming in Jos, Nigeria: Contributions towards Employment Opportunities, Income Generation, and Poverty Alleviation for Improved Livelihoods," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-16, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:8:y:2018:i:7:p:110-:d:156757
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/7/110/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/7/110/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen & Prem Sangraula, 2007. "New Evidence on the Urbanization of Global Poverty," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 667-701, December.
    2. Zezza, Alberto & Davis, Benjamin & Azzarri, Carlo & Covarrubias, Katia & Tasciotti, Luca & Anríquez, Gustavo, 2008. "The impact of rising food prices on the poor," ESA Working Papers 289027, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    3. Sébastien Dessus & Santiago Herrera & Rafael De Hoyos, 2008. "The impact of food inflation on urban poverty and its monetary cost: some back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 417-429, November.
    4. Zezza, Alberto & Tasciotti, Luca, 2010. "Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security: Empirical evidence from a sample of developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 265-273, August.
    5. Omomoh, E. & Adeofun, C.O., 2005. "An Assessment Of Urban Agricultural Land Use Changes Using Geospatial Information System: A Case Study Of Jos-Bukuru," FAMAN Conference 2005 54393, Farm Management Association of Nigeria (FAMAN).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jatta, Sylvester, 2013. "Urban Agriculture, Price Volatility.Drought ,And Food Security In Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 46544, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Wenmei Guo & Veeshan Rayamajhee & Alok K. Bohara, 2023. "Impacts of climate change on food utilization in Nepal," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 630-659, February.
    3. Zezza, Alberto & Tasciotti, Luca, 2010. "Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security: Empirical evidence from a sample of developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 265-273, August.
    4. Dimova, Ralitza & Gbakou, Monnet, 2013. "The Global Food Crisis: Disaster, Opportunity or Non-event? Household Level Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 185-196.
    5. Kumar, Neha & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2011. "Gendered impacts of the 2007-08 food price crisis: Evidence using panel data from rural Ethiopia," IFPRI discussion papers 1093, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Anríquez, Gustavo & Daidone, Silvio & Mane, Erdgin, 2013. "Rising food prices and undernourishment: A cross-country inquiry," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 190-202.
    7. Derek Headey & Shenggen Fan, 2008. "Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food prices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 375-391, November.
    8. Derek Headey & Sangeetha Malaiyandi & Shenggen Fan, 2010. "Navigating the perfect storm: reflections on the food, energy, and financial crises," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(s1), pages 217-228, November.
    9. Estrades, Carmen & Terra, María Inés, 2012. "Commodity prices, trade, and poverty in Uruguay," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 58-66.
    10. Boysen, Ole & Matthews, Alan, 2012. "The differentiated effects of food price spikes on poverty in Uganda," 123rd Seminar, February 23-24, 2012, Dublin, Ireland 122445, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Elleby, Christian & Hansen, Henrik & Yu, Wusheng, 2015. "Domestic Price and Welfare Effects of the 2007-11 Indian Grain Export Restrictions," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205578, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Headey, Derek, 2011. "Was the global food crisis really a crisis?: Simulations versus self-reporting," IFPRI discussion papers 1087, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Ozturk, Ilhan, 2017. "The dynamic relationship between agricultural sustainability and food-energy-water poverty in a panel of selected Sub-Saharan African Countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 289-299.
    14. Jayne, T.S. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Headey, Derek D., 2014. "Land pressures, the evolution of farming systems, and development strategies in Africa: A synthesis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-17.
    15. Tibesigwa, Byela & Visser, Martine, 2016. "Assessing Gender Inequality in Food Security among Small-holder Farm Households in urban and rural South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 33-49.
    16. Omilola, Babatunde & Lambert, Melissa, 2010. "Weathering the storm," IFPRI discussion papers 965, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. José Cuesta & Suzanne Duryea & Fidel Jaramillo & Marcos Robles, 2010. "Distributive impacts of the food price crisis in the Andean region," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(7), pages 846-865.
    18. Christian Elleby, 2014. "Poverty and Price Transmission," IFRO Working Paper 2015/01, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    19. Clovis Freire & Alberto Isgut, 2011. "High Food and Oil Prices and Their Impact on the Achievement of MDG 1 in Asia and the Pacific," MPDD Working Paper Series WP/11/18, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    20. Ugo Pica-Ciamarra & Luca Tasciotti & Joachim Otte & Alberto Zezza, 2015. "Livestock in the Household Economy: Cross-Country Evidence from Microeconomic Data," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 33(1), pages 61-81, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:8:y:2018:i:7:p:110-:d:156757. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.