Growing food in the cities: Successes and new opportunities

10 April 2018. CTA Brussels Development Briefing no. 50 on “Growing food in the cities: Successes and new opportunities”. This Briefing was organised by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), in collaboration with the European Commission / DEVCO, the ACP Secretariat, and CONCORD.

Background Note and Programme
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Panel 1: Trends and opportunities in urban agricultureThis panel will gave an overview of the main trends in urban and peri-urban agriculture and the various ways of growing food in the cities across the ACP and in Europe.

• What do we know about urban agriculture? Henk de Zeeuw, Senior Adviser, RUAF Foundation, The Netherlands
• Successes of Urban agriculture in Europe Axel Timpe, COST-Action Urban Agriculture Europe
• Innovation on vertical farming technology: the case of Growing Underground Richard Ballard, Co-Founder, Growing Underground, United Kingdom

Panel 2: Successes in urban agriculture across ACP regions
This panel shared some successes from the field, which show that growing food in the cities can offer opportunities for young entrepreneurs. It focused on innovative businesses and serving urban market needs.

• Urban agriculture: business for young entrepreneurs? Angel Adelaja, CEO, Fresh Direct, Nigeria
• The experience of micro-gardening in West Africa Coumbaly Diaw, FAO subregional coordinator, Senegal
• New opportunities in hydroponics in Kenya and lessons learnt Peter Chege, CEO, Hydroponics Kenya