An Assessment of the Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land Use in Juba City, Central Equatoria State, Republic of South Sudan

John Leju Celestino Ladu^1, , Andrew L. Athiba¹ and Emmanuel C. Ondogo¹

¹College of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Juba, P.O Box 82, Juba, Republic of South Sudan

Cite this paper:
John Leju Celestino Ladu, Andrew L. Athiba and Emmanuel C. Ondogo. An Assessment of the Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land Use in Juba City, Central Equatoria State, Republic of South Sudan. Journal of Applied Agricultural Economics and Policy Analysis. 2019; 2(1):22-30. doi: 10.12691/jaaepa-2-1-4

Abstract

Urbanization is an expected tendency in the development of human and it has been recognized as one of the crucial element of advancement achieved in science and technology. Juba city like others has experienced a rapid urbanization after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 and is responsible for increased demand for land. Consequently, the limited available land in Juba city is associated with loss of arable land, degradation of ecosystems, as well as social changes in the urban populations. Urbanization can significantly change land use types and their associated ecosystem services. In the South Sudanese perspective, and due to the political situation, urban development is taking over agricultural lands, which is the main source for food production and the second backbone of the South Sudanese economy after crude oil. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of urbanization on agricultural land use in Juba city and to investigate factors that lead to this change. The specific objectives of this research study is to identify and highlight the major factors driving urbanization and the loss of agricultural land use in Juba city and to describe the spatial impacts of urbanization on agriculture by conducting qualitative interviews with the stakeholders in the city. The results revealed that Juba city had increased significantly along with an increase in urban population, a decrease in rural population, and an expansion of the overall urban area as well as loss of agricultural land use immediately after the signing of the CPA. The results agreed with the findings from the qualitative interviews, which supports that the economic situation, demographic factors, politics, planning and policies are the major factors that contribute to the urbanization and the loss of agricultural land use in Juba City.

Keywords:
urbanization agricultural land use CPA stakeholders demographic factors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Martine, G.; Marshall, A. State of world population 2007: Unleashing the potential of urban growth. InStateof World Population: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth; UNFPA: New York, NY, USA, 200.
[2]	David Satterthwaite, Gordon McGranahan and Cecilia Tacoli. 2010. Urbanization and its implications for food and farming. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B(2010)365, 2809-2820
[3]	Zhao, J.; Liu, H.; Dong, R. Sustainable urban development: Policy framework for sustainable consumptionand production.Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol. 2008, 15, 318-325.
[4]	Adamec, R.E. The interaction of hunger and preying in the domestic cat (felis catus): An adaptive hierarchy? Behav. Biol. 1976, 18, 263-272.
[5]	Ghani, S.E.; Kanbur, R.Urbanization and (in) Formalization; World Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 2013.8.
[6]	Hugo, G.New Forms of Urbanization: Beyond the Urban-Rural Dichotomy; Routledge: Abingdon-on-Thames, UK, 2017.9.
[7]	Hammond, A.L. World Resources: 1992-93; A Guide to the Global Environment; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 1992. 10.
[8]	Sklyarova, E.K. Comparative aspects of scientific research of the urbanization problem. НаучныйальманахстранПричерноморья. 2016, 1, 17-21.
[9]	Jin, D.; Gu, S.; Shen, L. Analysis on urbanization dynamics: On factors and strategic choices of urbanizationin China.China Popul. Resour. Environ. 2004, 14, 59-64.
[10]	Faulkner, S. Urbanization impacts on the structure and function of forested wetlands. Urban Ecosyst. 2004, 7, 89-106.
[11]	McDonald, R.I. Global urbanization: Can ecologists identify a sustainable way forward? Front. Ecol. Environ. 2008, 6, 99-104.
[12]	Grimm, N.B.; Foster, D.; Groffman, P.; Grove, J.M.; Hopkinson, C.S.; Nadel hoffer, K.J.; Pataki, D.E.; Peters, D.P. The changing landscape: Ecosystem responses to urbanization and pollution across climatic and societal gradients. Front. Ecol. Environ. 2008, 6, 264-272.
[13]	Deng, X.; Huang, J.; Rozelle, S.; Uchida, E. Cultivated land conversion and potential agricultural productivityin China. Land Use Policy 2006, 23, 372-384.
[14]	Gardi, C.; Panagos, P.; Van Liedekerke, M.; Bosco, C.; De Brogniez, D. Land take and food security: Assessment of land take on the agricultural production in Europe.J. Environ. Plan. Manag. 2015, 58, 898-912.
[15]	Pandey, B.; Seto, K.C. Urbanization and agricultural land loss in India: Comparing satellite estimates with census data.J. Environ. Manag. 2015, 148, 53-66.
[16]	Bao, C.; Fang, C. Water resources flows related to urbanization in China: Challenges and perspectives forwater management and urban development. Water Resour. Manag. 2012, 26, 531-552.
[17]	Hardoy, J. E., Mitlin, D. & Satterthwaite, D. 2001Environ-mental problems in an urbanizing world. London, UK:Earthscan.
[18]	Schneider, A., Friedl, M. A. & Potere, D. 2009 A new map of global urban extent from MODIS satellite data.Environ.Res. Lett.4, 044003.
[19]	Bentinck, J. 2000. Unruly urbanization on Delhi’s fringe: changing patterns of land use and livelihood. Utrecht/Groningen: The Netherlands Geographical Studies.
[20]	Henderson, V. The urbanization process and economic growth: The so-what question. J. Econ. Growth 2003, 8, 47-71.
[21]	Heilig, G.K. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section: New York, NY, USA, 2012; p. 14.