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'Urban agriculture not banned'
The Herald
June 23, 2005

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=44616&pubdate=2005-06-23

THE Government yesterday said urban agriculture was not banned but what had been outlawed was stream bank cultivation and farming on undesignated places.

Police and council officials had on Tuesday announced that urban farming had been banned and yesterday’s announcement by Harare provincial administrator Mr Musavaya Reza was correcting the statements.

"Urban agriculture has not been banned. Government respects its contribution to the national food basket. The ban is not global. It only affects stream bank cultivation and the cultivation on undesignated areas," he said.

Many urban dwellers practice subsistence farming with most of their produce for home consumption.

Mr Reza said urban farming should only be practised in areas demarcated by council.

He said cultivation in some areas could cause environmental degradation such siltation of rivers and dams.

Harare town clerk Mr Nomutsa Chideya said urban dwellers were encouraged to practice peri-urban farming on farms designated for the practice. He said Arex officials would assist the farmers to venture into horticulture and the production of other high value crops.

He said council was reviewing the fines payable for disregarding the ban on stream bank cultivation and farming on prohibited pieces of land.

"We want the fines to be a deterrent," he said.

He said families were encouraged to grow vegetables and other small crops on their residential properties.

"Space created by the demolition of illegal buildings should be used to grow vegetables and other small crops. We want to bring back that culture of self sustenance," he said.

Police and council on Tuesday announced a global ban on urban farming with effect from the next ploughing season.

But Mr Reza clarified the situation noting that the police statement was correct in as far as it concerns the practice of stream bank cultivation and farming on prohibited areas.

A study conducted by the Municipal Development Partnership (MDP) and the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) last year established that Zimbabwean laws support urban agriculture but have been wrongly interpreted to suppress the practice.

"The research also establishes that in what is seemingly a very prohibitive environment, there are indeed many opportunities that exist in legislation for the practice of urban agriculture, contrary to popular belief that the law prohibits urban agriculture in Zimbabwe."

The research established that as a concept or practice urban agriculture is not prohibited in the legal system.

"Although there are legal provisions which may be utilised to outlaw some or all agricultural activities within any urban set up, the current laws are designed to regulate rather than prohibit."

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