Ango A. K., Abdullahi A. N. and Abubakar B. B
The study on urban agriculture was conducted in Birnin Kebbi metropolis of Kebbi State during 2009/2010 cropping season. Population size for the target study area was consisted of participating urban farmers in the metropolis. Ten districts (areas) around the city were purposively selected for the study. In each area, ten [10] respondents were randomly selected, making a total sample size of one hundred (100) respondents. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data obtained from the administered questionnaires. A finding from the research revealed that majority of the respondents cultivate food crops such as rice, maize, sorghum, millet, spinach etc., around the vacant spaces in the city and some of the respondents were found rearing animals (sheep, goats, cattle, birds etc.) in their houses. The study further indicates that majority of the respondents identified low level of capital as their major problem in urban farming. The research revealed that urban farming serves as a good source of horticultural crops and small livestock in the study area. The common problems faced by the urban farmers included lack of adequate fund, strict regulations on the land use for agricultural activities in the cities and lack of agricultural inputs. The result of the study also showed that the socio-economic status of the farmers is significantly related with the participation in urban farming, family size (χ 2=8.762, p<0.05); level of education (χ 2=10.089, p<0.05). It’s recommended that financial institutions, government and non-governmental organizations should provide urban farmers with facilities such as loans, inputs, extension services, and removal of strict regulations on the use of land for agricultural activities by the government.
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