Market Brief: Green technologies for urban food production

This market brief, prepared by GreenCape for the City of Cape Town, evaluates green technologies and practices to sustainably intensify urban and peri-urban food production. It classifies interventions into three levels based on a modified Gliessman framework: increasing efficiency of current practices, substituting alternative practices, and re-establishing production through novel growing systems. The document provides financial viability assessments for hydroponics, aquaponics, and complete Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems, while also identifying specific investment opportunities for different farm scales in Cape Town.

• Green technologies for urban food production are classified into three levels: Level 1 focuses on increasing the efficiency of current practices (e.g., sensor technology, drip irrigation), Level 2 involves substituting alternative practices and inputs (e.g., cover crops, organic compost), and Level 3 focuses on re-establishing and rebuilding agricultural production through novel growing systems (e.g., hydroponics, aquaponics, and complete CEA systems).
• Among Level 1 technologies, drones can provide an 85% reduction in planting costs and a ~5% increase in yields, while remote sensing devices like soil moisture sensors can achieve 72% water savings over a 3-year period with a payback period of 2 to 5 years.
• Hydroponic systems for lettuce production show varying financial viability; Deep Water Culture (DWC) systems are more viable with a payback period of 1.36 years compared to Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) systems, which have a payback period of 2.66 years. DWC is more viable due to lower setup costs and lower energy requirements as it does not need a water pump.

APA

Shai, T., Maseko, S., & Basson, L. (2021). Market Brief: Green technologies for urban food production. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Urban-Food-Production-Industry-Brief-19-July-2021-v4.pdf

Chicago

Shai, Tokelo, Sibusisiwe Maseko, and Lauren Basson. Market Brief: Green technologies for urban food production. GreenCape, 2021. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Urban-Food-Production-Industry-Brief-19-July-2021-v4.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shai |first1=Tokelo |last2=Maseko |first2=Sibusisiwe |last3=Basson |first3=Lauren |title=Market Brief: Green technologies for urban food production |publisher=GreenCape |date=June 2021 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/Urban-Food-Production-Industry-Brief-19-July-2021-v4.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shai2021market, author = {Shai, Tokelo and Maseko, Sibusisiwe and Basson, Lauren}, title = {{Market Brief: Green technologies for urban food production}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/Urban-Food-Production-Industry-Brief-19-July-2021-v4.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }