Water and Africa 
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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Animal Farming in African Cities |
| Author: | Waters-Bayer, Ann |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Periodical: | African Urban Quarterly (ISSN 0747-6108) |
| Volume: | 11 |
| Issue: | 2-3 |
| Period: | May-August |
| Pages: | 218-228 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs., ills., maps |
| Geographic term: | Africa |
| Subjects: | urban agriculture Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Architecture and the Arts Development and Technology Agriculture, Agronomy, Forestry Animal production food security Income generation sanitation government policy |
| Abstract: | Despite government bans, livestock rearing in the urban centres of Africa is being developed by microentrepreneurs through processes of indigenous development, without external support. With rapid urbanization and deterioration of economic conditions, a growing number of urban families are raising small animals such as poultry, goats, sheep, pigs and rabbits. Some also keep a few dairy cattle. People who raise animals in urban centres can be roughly divided into 'on-plot' livestock rearers who use private residential space and 'off-plot' livestock rearers who use unoccupied private or State land. Urban livestock systems can also be classified according to the income level of the entire household. Some types of animal farming are more widely practised by the relatively rich, others by the relatively poor. Animal farming serves useful functions not only for the producers; it also offers the urban centre as a whole several opportunities to make better use of its resources, notably in the area of waste recycling. At the same time, raising animals in urban centres can also give rise to very real problems. The challenge for livestock services is to find economic ways of reducing the high rate of livestock mortality. The challenge for government services is to interact in a positive and enabling manner with the producers rather than making vain attempts at banning the animals. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. |