Urban Agriculture and Dietary Diversity: Empirical Evidence from Tanzania

The recent increases in food prices have been dramatic. In Tanzania, average prices for key food items climbed at least 50 per cent between 2007 and 2009; rising prices had a significant effect on Tanzania’s growing group of urban poor as their food budget share amounts to 67 per cent. This article studies the effects of practicing agriculture in urban Tanzania on indicators of dietary diversity, quantifying the share of urban dwellers engaged in urban agriculture and assessing the importance of urban agriculture in ensuring food diversity. Results suggest that households engaged in urban agriculture have a more diversified diet: they increase the variety of (i) meat, fish and eggs by 10 per cent, (ii) dairy products by at least 16 per cent and (iii) fruits and vegetables by up to 9 per cent. The urban poor is the group that profits most from the dietary diversification relative to richer households.