Institutional and legal aspects of urban agriculture in French speaking West Africa: from marginalization to legitimization.” Environment and Urbanization 17(2

Urban agriculture which has, for a long time, been marginalised and even ignored on the alter of an excessive dichotomy between the city and the countryside, attracts a certain interest among public authorities, the civil society, researchers, etc. The public authorities ' interest in urban farming is inversely proportional to its effective consideration in the institutional and legal provisions of most West African countries. Moreover, the process of competence transfer to local governments afoot in the West African zone was not translated by the city councils ' commitment to cope with the hypothetical future of urban agriculture, particularly because of the prominence of urbanistic concerns. The legal status of urban agriculture contrasts with the multiplicity of actors who intervene directly or indirectly in the promotion and development of urban farming. However, despite the problems of coordination and functional complementarity, the multiplicity and diversity of actors are the expression of a recognition of the added value, at the social and economic levels, of farming activities in urban areas