1 Local Economic Development and Marketing of Urban Produced Food 1

IWMI-Ghana office State of debates If urban agriculture is attracting the growing attention of researchers, policy makers and diverse development stakeholders, it is mostly because it provides some answers to the unique social, economic and environmental challenges posed by fast urban growth. The dramatic speed of urban growth in developing countries has not been paralleled with the development of enterprises and infrastructure needed to absorb the new employment needs, by contrast to the developed countries where urban development has been much slower (Henderson, 2002). Finally, the context of fast liberalisation and restrictions in the public sector has reduced the possibilities of employment in public administration, traditionally a major provider of employment in cities. Yet, peri-urban agriculture is still a subject of debate as regards its viability and the necessity for it to receive political support. In a challenging paper, Ellis and Sumberg (1998) provide a number of reasons why scarce public resources should not target urban agriculture. The report stresses that in the light of high land costs in urban areas and the fact that there is still not enoug