This article considers the extent to which farming activities undertaken by low-income dwellers in Nairobi, Kenya, play a role in the food security and nutritional status of the households... Show moreThis article considers the extent to which farming activities undertaken by low-income dwellers in Nairobi, Kenya, play a role in the food security and nutritional status of the households involved. It compares three low-income groups - two in Korogocho, viz. those who practise urban agriculture and those who do not, and one in the Kitui-Kanuku-Kinyago area, viz. households involved in the Undugu Society Urban Agriculture Project (USUAP). The questionnaire results indicate that those who farmed produced mainly for home consumption. The major problem urban farmers faced was theft. The food situation of the USUAP farming group was generally better than that of the two Korogocho groups. In all three groups, purchased food formed by far the most important food source. On average, all three groups had inadequate energy intake. However, the energy and protein intakes in the USUAP group were higher than in the other two groups. The USUAP group purchased more food, a fact related to their higher level of welfare as a result of benefits derived from income-generating activities and a shelter improvement project that came along with the urban agriculture project. Measures of nutritional health for young children showed a similar pattern in favour of the farming groups, albeit to a lesser extent. The long-term beneficial effect on nutritional status, however, was negligible. Show less
Text in Italian. English sum.: This study examines a number of cases in which the people of Ziguinchor, in the Casamance region of Senegal, have been in dispute with the public authorities over... Show moreText in Italian. English sum.: This study examines a number of cases in which the people of Ziguinchor, in the Casamance region of Senegal, have been in dispute with the public authorities over the question of access to land in urban areas. These conflicts, however, should not obscure the fact that the citizens of Ziguinchor and the representatives of the Senegalese State generally manage to reach a consensus on questions of urban land use. The study identifies the reasons why the citizens of Ziguinchor, in spite of the various problems which they have with the authorities, ultimately accept State policies and regulations. Legal analysis is supplemented with social and economic data from Soucoupapaye, a periurban neighbourhood in Ziguinchor, in order to demonstrate that the effective application of State land law in an urban community is subject to political and socioeconomic constraints. Show less
The National Land Act of 1964, designed to unify legislation concerning land, formally abolished the various local systems of land law in Senegal. The implementation of the various urban land... Show moreThe National Land Act of 1964, designed to unify legislation concerning land, formally abolished the various local systems of land law in Senegal. The implementation of the various urban land regulations and the efforts to restructure and regulate the spontaneous settlements which were started in Ziguinchor, the capital of the Casamance, in the 1970s resulted in a great number of urban land conflicts. This paper reviews Senegalese law relating to urban land. It explores the handling by the formal judicial and administrative institutions of urban land disputes and the conceptions and attitudes of the urbanites involved in these conflicts. The deliberate and systematic ignoring in the new national land law of the actual urban situation (more or less characterized by the persistence of - accommodated - traditional customs and values) seems to have contributed to the problems in the implementation of formal land law in Ziguinchor. The basic material for this paper has been drawn from court records and the minutes of special administrative arbitration commissions for review of land disputes. A main problem appears to be that land disputes submitted to court are handled by the criminal judge, although the 'defendants' do not feel in the least criminal. Besides, the material shows a difference between the general and formalistic decisions of the judge, and the more concrete solutions of the arbitration commissions that were set up to process the great number of urban land disputes. Show less
La majorité de la population de Ziguinchor (Sénégal) appartient au groupe diola. Ce sont des 'autochtones' vis-à-vis des gens du nord, en particulier des Wolof, dont la présence paraît liée à l... Show moreLa majorité de la population de Ziguinchor (Sénégal) appartient au groupe diola. Ce sont des 'autochtones' vis-à-vis des gens du nord, en particulier des Wolof, dont la présence paraît liée à l'action de l'État sénégalais et de son administration territoriale. Les pratiques locales sont ainsi dominées par une opposition entre des représentations foncières quasi villageoises des premiers occupants et les conceptions bureaucratiques mises en ouvre par les fonctionnaires de l'État. Cette opposition crée des situations originales qu'analyse l'auteur allant de l'harmonie apparente à la confrontation directe. En conclusion, l'auteur interprète ces formes syncrétiques dominées par le discours juridique de l'État, son efficacité politique et la prégnance de la puissance publique. Show less
