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This paper looks at the residents of Ngoingwa Estate on their attitudes towards sustainable urban agriculture land use practice within their urban set up. The pursuit of food security, alternative food systems, employment, fresh food, the unpredictable food prices, enhanced communal ties among others are the basic benefits of urban agriculture. A mixed method (purposive and non-probability) approach was adopted and both qualitative and quantitative data was collected from primary and secondary data sources by the use of questionnaires, photography, and sketches. A total of 196 questionnaires were administered analyzed by the use of SPSS and Microsoft Excel programs. The results are presented in percentages and deductions done against them. It was found out that 60% of the residents are willing, and 39.3% are actually practicing some forms of urban agriculture. It was found out that the current urban development plan for Thika and the Kiambu County Spatial Plan have not handled matters of urban agriculture, there have not been change of users to agriculture (2016-2017), land subdivision continue to eat into into former agricultural parcels, there was no data on sustainable urban agriculture land use practices within Ngoingwa, Thika Water and Sewerage Company prohibits residents from utilizing their water mains for agricultural purposes as well as the county/neighbourhood regulations and policies that prohibit urban agriculture. The study recommends that an integrated land use framework that involves building designs, appropriate building materials, exploration of vertical and rooftop farms, revision of existing plans to include urban agriculture and hiring of extension officers to guide farmers on urban agriculture. |
