Understanding Nairobi’s urban agriculture sector helps to enhance equality and climate resilience

Food makes up almost half of trading in the vibrant informal sector of Kenya’s capital city. Every day, farmers, processors and traders sell goods that are either locally generated or brought in from up-country. An estimated 250,000 households generate food within the city boundary. Together, these play a critical role in supplying healthy fresh fruit, vegetables and milk to Nairobi’s four and a half million people. However, as with many major cities, climate change threatens to disrupt urban food supplies. Ensuring the system is resilient to climate shocks is therefore a priority.

Nairobi passed a law supporting urban agriculture in 2015, and signed up to the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) a year later. This committed Nairobi City County (NCC) to developing inclusive and resilient sustainable food systems that provide healthy and affordable food to all, in ways that conserve biodiversity, minimise waste and mitigate the impacts of climate change. However, the city lacked the means to monitor progress towards achieving this.

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