Farmers ’ Perspective on Sociological and Environmental Issues of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture : A Case Study from Western and Southern Regions of Sierra Leone

The paper examined and brought to the fore the typical characteristic of urban and peri-urban farmers in Freetown and Bo communities which serves as major source of supply of agricultural products into the cities’ markets. The social and environmental aspect and perception of producers involved in urban and peri-urban agriculture was examined. Descriptive statistics and pictograms were used to analyze and present the data. Results indicate that 56.34% never went to formal school and mostly dominated by women, showing that farming became the alternative means of livelihood support for those groups. Crops grown are purely influenced by market orientation—demand and cost, as is evident in Gloucester (lettuce, cabbage and spring onions). Potato leaves were commonly grown in almost all communities, reason being that it serves as common/major sauce/vegetable cooked in every household in Sierra Leone. Maize and rice were featured in Ogoo farm—government supervised land set aside purposely for growing crops to supply the city. Findings also revealed that majority of the farmers are resource poor, judging from calculation about their monthly income earning and available household assets and amenities. About 70.4% of the lands the farmers grow their crops on is leased for production. Except for Gloucester community, when costs of production will be summed, minimal benefit seem to be realized from the farming activities. Even though some of these farmers are engaged in organization, many have limited access to micro financial organization that would probably loan them money to upscale production.


Introduction
Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a common practice benefiting millions of people residing within the cities of Sierra Leone before and after independence.Intensification of urban agricultural activities emerged during the massive rural-urban migration as a result of the civil strife from 1991-2002 (Kanu et al., 2009).At the end of ten-year civil war, a significant proportion of the population who had sought refuge in urban communities decided to remain in those areas in search of jobs with the hope of improving their living conditions.This resulted in an unprecedented increase in urban populations creating high pressures on food supplies, urban facilities and services.The bulk of these refugees were rural migrants with a strong agricultural background.In the absence of regular employment, many of these migrants entered into urban and peri-urban agriculture, cultivating leafy vegetables and marketing fruits and vegetables within and near the urban centers, especially Freetown, the capital city.
Young displaced people especially women, were engaged in the production and marketing of agricultural products as their major source of livelihood.These factors contributed to a significant expansion of urban and peri-urban agriculture as an essential coping strategy for providing the vital augmentation of food stocks (Kanu et al., 2009).Since 2005, in

Sampling
Listing exercise was carried out to be able to identify the vegetable growing sites and the names of farmers were collected using a data entry form developed to form a data base of major actors.Primary data were collected from a total of 71 urban gardeners.A sample of at least 3 farmer's sites was selected from the survey areas based on the proportion of sites listed: Western Urban, Western Rural and Bo Urban.A purposive sampling was used for the selection of the study area based on the size of land area under cultivation followed by simple random sampling for the site selection (These communities are representatives of urban and peri-urban environs predominant for growing crops that are sold to the cities for consumption) and household interviews.

Data Collection
Primary data were collected from a total of 71 urban gardeners through personal interviews with the use of android devices programmed with Census and Survey Processing System (CSPro 6.3) Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) data entry application.Data collected included socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, growing space of gardeners, major crops cultivated, irrigation information, inputs (e.g.fertilizer and pesticides), their types, quantity use and sources.The survey also covers perception of crop growers on the impact of their respective growing patterns on their environment.Also the type of livestock and poultry domesticated, household agricultural assets owned and other basic household assets and amenities were captured.

Data Analysis
Data collected from the electronic data capture process was uploaded into the computer and analyzed using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS 9.4), Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Office Excel 2007.Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents were summarized by the use of frequency distribution tables and proportion/percentages.The other set of data collected were analyzed using purely descriptive statistics, bar and pie charts were also used during the analysis of other variables.

Age Distribution
The result showed that 9.86% of the respondents fall within the age bracket of 30 and below.The remaining 90.14% were from ages 31 and above, indicating that urban farming is dominated mainly by adults.Out of the 90.14%, 22.54% of these farmers were within the age bracket of 31-45, forming the more active, energetic and robust group.67.61% of the farmers interviewed were within the ages of 46-55, these are usually the matured and experienced people within the farming cycle (Table 1).

Gender and Marital Status
Majority of the respondents were female (70.42%) while the male respondent accounted for 29.58%.The data also showed that majority (56.34%) of the farmers were married, 33.8% were widow/widower and 7.08% were singles.

Educational Level
Majority of the respondents (56.34%) never went to formal school.Koranic and Junior high school accounted for 11.27% respectively.Senior high school and university pupils were not attracted to urban and peri-urban agriculture and accounted for 7.04% and 4.23% respectively.

Employment Status
Majority of the respondent were full time gardeners (97.18%) while 2.82% were engaged in urban agriculture and other non-agricultural activities (Table 1).Source: Field survey data, 2016.

Average Household Monthly Income of Urban and Peri-Urban Farmers
In terms of house hold income, farmers in the Western Urban region had higher monthly income than those from either the Western Rural and Bo.17% of the respondents in the Western Urban region had monthly income of Le. 900,000 and above while 7% and 4% were accounted for in the western rural area and Bo respectively.At lower monthly income level (Le.101,000 to Le. 300,000) the western urban also accounted for the highest number of farmers (7%) compared to Bo with 4% and (0%) for Western rural area.Similar trend was observed with monthly income of Le500,000 to Le700,000 however Bo accounted for highest number of respondent (10%) with monthly incomes between Le. 301,000 to Le. 500,000, followed by Western urban (7%) and Western rural 3%.101,000 -300,000 301,000 -500,000 501,000 -700,000 701,000 -900,000 Above 900,000

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From Figu owns a gen level of p possess a r the farmer will enable The dominant sources of household materials for cooking was charcoal (80.28%) followed by wood (19.72%).There is no evidence of the farmers using either gas (0.00%) or kerosene (0.00%)This survey is an eye opener to the way/level to which farm lands are being degenerated into deforestation that is tantamount to climate change and global warming.About 80.28% of the respondents uses pit latrine, 4.23% uses flush inside and 9.86% uses flush outside the houses.Up to 2.82 are still using bush or river beds.This situation possesses a serious threat to food safety resulting from run-off into farmland which is eventually used as a source of water for irrigating crops.Up to 56.34 per cent uses tap water, 25.35 per cent uses ordinary well and 18.31 per cent use mechanical well.Sanitation becomes a key concern here for household health and welfare (Table 6).Source: Field survey data, 2016.

Discussion
The study examines the typical characteristic of urban and peri-urban farmers in Freetown and Bo communities using descriptive statistics and pictograms.The social and environmental aspect and perception of producers involved in urban and peri-urban agriculture is also examined.Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture is a common practice benefiting millions of people residing within the cities of Sierra before and after independence.Intensification of urban agricultural activities emerged during the massive rural-urban migration as a result of the civil strife from 1991-2002 (Kanu et al., 2009).
The first one pertains to the socio-economic profile of urban gardeners in Freetown and Bo communities indicates that,majority of the respondent were full time gardeners in urban and peri-urban areas and dominated mainly by adults who are usually the matured and experienced people within the farming cycle.Majority of those were female and married.This implies that, married women were more attracted to urban and peri-urban agriculture probably due to domestic responsibilities unlike single people who may have alternative sources of income.Most of those never went to formal school.One can deduce from this result that the enterprise is serving as an alternative profession and means of livelihood for non-school goers.This is in consonance with the research findings of (Kanu et al., 2009;Winnebah et al., 2004).
Only 40% of these farmers belong to community organizations.This may imply that only few of these farmers have organized forum where they can likely discuss issues pertaining their farming activities, their welfares, challenges and ways of improving on emerging challenges.Of those who belong to community organizations, about 65% of them belong to either farmer associations, producer groups or other women's groups (Figure 3).
In terms of house hold income, farmers in the Western Urban region had higher monthly income than those from either the Western Rural and Bo.This result is an indication of the higher demand and price for vegetables produced in the western urban region (Figure 2).During the survey, it is worth noting that the farmers find it difficult to comprehensively or accurately calculate their actual earning as income within a month.Monies obtained from other family members and friends as hand-out were hardly accounted for or tracked.It can also be seen (Figure 2) that more than 28% of the growers interviewed earn over 900,000 per month (roughly US$150).
The second component which relates to gardeners growing space reveals that, urban farmers are well informed about the productive potential of lowland in terms of agro-nutrient fertility as opposed to uplands.This is also in support of government land policies.All lowlands in urban cities especially in Freetown is owned by government, therefore they are available for crop production to supply the cities.Because the lands in the urban cities are reducing drastically as a result of massive constructions of houses and other activities, many gardeners have resorted to managing the limited upland and adjacent lowlands alternatively for both rainy and dry seasons respectively.
It was evident from Table 2 that, 71.8% of the farmers have been involved in farming exercise for more than 7 years, meaning it has been a source of livelihood activities and fetching them dividend.Also, majority (95.8%) of the farmers reach their growing site on foot, probably as a result of the proximity or means of securing transport fare to reach their farms.Many (70.4%) of the farmers pay rent for lands used for cultivation of their gardens, implying that farmer are resource poor in term of acquisition of lands.Some of these lands may belong to close friends.
The other issue captured is the growing method.During the survey it was established that several crops were grown in different communities.However, for the purpose of the survey, three major crops were selected based on their ranking in percentage cultivation in the selected communities.In Freetown communities, sweet potato leaves (33%) rank highest in cultivation.In Gloucester community, lettuce (35.3%) rank highest being grown.At Ogoo Farm, maize appears to top the list (30.0%).For Bo, the second city of Sierra Leone, okra is the major focus for urban farmers (22.9%).With regards the pattern of crops cultivated by these urban farmers, they are gradually shifting away from the traditional pattern of crops being cultivated which was more consumption focus to a more economically viable level that make quick returns (Figure 4).
Another key issue highlighted in the survey is the irrigation methods practiced by farmers.Among the urban and peri-urban farmers interviewed, majority of respondent regularly carry out some form of irrigation on their crops.Those that irrigate constitute mainly of vegetable growers (Figure 5).Generally, majority (58.73%) of those respondents irrigate their crops through running water (Figure 6).
Also result shows that most (about 62%) of the urban and peri-urban farmers interviewed apply organic manure on their gardens.The most frequently used organic manures by the farmers are excreta from domestic animals, crop residues, and domestic waste (Table 3).Despite the large number respondents who apply organic manure, the quantities applied are generally low with most of them applying less than 150 kg/ha.This can be associated to the level of knowledge and awareness of farmers about the use of crop residue in cultivation.About 81.81% of the farmers apply organic manure at pre-planting and 18.18% apply during early post planting.More 90% of those interviewed claimed to be using fertilizer (Table 4).However, most of these farmers use less than 150 kg/acre by mostly broadcasting the fertilizer on their gardens about two weeks after planting.
Farmers in Freetown urban communities are highest in percentages in the use of both NPK and Urea fertilizers when compared to Bo and Freetown rural.This may be related to the easy access to agricultural information through media and input (fertilizer) availability in the market.Bo is prominent in the use of Urea and only western rural communities uses Murate of Potash.
Except for mobile phones (85.92%) and radio or cassette player (63.38%), all other household amenities which the farmers possess are in low quantities.This is so especially with farming tools.
Although 88.73% of respondents dwell in houses with corrugated iron roof and 69.01% of their houses with concrete or tiles floors, majority 80.28% of the farmers still uses charcoal as cooking materials.About 80.28% of house hold uses pit latrine, 4.23% uses inside flush (self-contain) and 9.86% uses flush outside the houses.This is showcasing the real living conditions of these urban and peri-urban farmers.

Conclusion
It can be concluded from the study that most of the farmers engaged in urban and peri-urban farming in Sierra Leone were illiterate married women between the ages of 46 to 55 years.Farmers in the western urban areas generated higher income compared to other locations.40% of the farmers belonged to organisations and utilised government land for cultivation of crops for which rent is paid.However most of the farmers had used their own land or family land.The preference of crops grown was determined by the prevailing market opportunities.The source of water was mainly running water.Most of the farmers combined the use of organic and inorganic fertilizer.The dominant organic manure used was crop residue which NPK and urea was the most common inorganic fertilizer.Agro chemical use was common but was restricted to insecticides.
Farmers generally perceived that their activities had no negative environmental consequence and that the crops produced were safe for consumption.Most of the farmers were resource poor and had limited access to land.Most farmers did not own livestock, appropriate tools and house household assets.Despite having corrugated zinc sheets in their roof, most of houses had pit latrines which posed a threat to food safety.
As a recommendation, there should be a lot of government investment in the area of food crop production especially around the cities which is often in high demand for it.This could be done through loan to urban crop growers and subsidies on agricultural inputs.Because the farmer's uses input such as fertilizers and other agro-chemical regularly, there is need for the testing of the soils and the cultivated plants for abiotic and biotic negative externalities and there is also need for training in the use of those chemicals.Also animal dropping mixed urea have been use as manure on plants over the years.Concern should also be given to some farmer growing crops in urban compost (Kington and Kissy refuse dump site).At domestic level, policy makers are require also to come in and arrest the situation of wood and charcoal burning which rapidly reducing the forest and making the soil bared tantamount to erosion, etc.If there are laws already binding this exercise, it needs to be reinforced or robust to curtail this looming health hazards.The acquisition of land for urban farming is still very challenging and the little available is also under serious threats under rapid estate development.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Average household monthly income of urban and peri-urban framers Figure 4 Figure 7. Sour Figure 8. Fig Figure 11.Hou Figure 12.Ho order to mitigate the impending food crisis, the Ministry of Agriculture in Sierra Leone has been

Table 1 .
Socioeconomic characteristics of urban and peri-urban gardener's

Table 3 .
A

Table 4 .
A

Table 5 .
A