Research & reports

Ardjouma Dembélé, Oumarou Badini, Alessandro Abbà · InTech eBooks · Africa

A book chapter surveying the state of urban agriculture in African cities. As rural-to-urban migration increases demand for food quantity and quality, urban agriculture is described as able to contribute to livelihoods and economic growth; horticulture is called a vital economic sector, citing figures such as Côte d'Ivoire's fruit and vegetable exports to the EU exceeding 360,000 tons, Burkina Faso's 2007 green bean exports of over 925,000 tons, and Mali's tomato and okra production reaching over 17,000 tons and 8,600 tons respectively. The chapter also notes that the horticultural sector, including urban agriculture, faces pest attacks and phytosanitary problems and must comply with pesticide regulations and quality-control (traceability) standards required by export markets.

Diana Lee-Smith · Environment and Urbanization · Africa (Equatorial Africa)

This article reviews empirical data on urban agriculture in equatorial Africa, primarily East Africa and Cameroon, updating previous work. It quantifies the extent of urban agriculture, assesses its relationship to food security and poverty, and discusses its role in eco-cycles and policy-making efforts in three East African cities. The article concludes that urban agriculture is increasing, beneficial for health and poverty alleviation, but better-off households currently benefit more than poor households.

Hygin Faust Kakai, Alban Gilles Kakai, Armelle Grey Tohouegnon · VertigO · Benin (Cotonou)

This study in Benin examined urban agriculture and waste valorization in Cotonou, Abomey, and Abomey-Calavi. In Cotonou, overexploitation of sandy, organic-poor soil in market gardening led to soil impoverishment, forcing gardeners to use chemical fertilizers with negative environmental impacts. However, some market gardeners adopted compost use, transitioning to organized organic urban agriculture after a waste management project supported waste valorization. This dynamic was not observed in Abomey, where urban agriculture is practiced in family spaces and public areas, unlike Cotonou's developed sites. Abomey-Calavi, despite rapid demographic growth, was almost devoid of urban agriculture practices.

Bolanle Wahab, M. K. C. Sridhar, Aramide Ayorinde · Urban Agriculture Magazine · Nigeria (Ibadan)

The Sustainable Ibadan Project (SIP), established in 1994 by UNCHS (HABITAT), identified waste management and conversion to organic fertilizer as top priorities for Ibadan. Participants at a 1995 City Consultative Forum jointly identified aerobic composting technology using windrows as a viable method to collect and recycle waste, generate income, and use compost for urban agriculture.

P. Kirai, J. Gachugi, Anne Scheinberg · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · Kenya (Nairobi)

The 'Converting City Waste in Compost Project' aims to develop a viable system for collecting, processing, distributing, and marketing organic city waste for urban and peri-urban agriculture in East Africa, particularly Nairobi. Phase one of this project involved an inventory and analysis of organic waste sources, quantifying and characterizing non-domestic organic waste streams in Nairobi City. This study presents the findings of phase one, providing a basis for evaluating the potential to divert Nairobi's organic waste for compost and biogas production.

Andreas Buerkert, Eva Schlecht, Martina Předotová, Rodrigue V.C. Diogo, Katja Kehlenbeck, Jens Gebauer · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Sub-Saharan Africa

This study analyzed urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) systems in major Sub-Saharan African cities, measuring carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fluxes and conducting biodiversity studies. In Niamey, low-input gardens showed annual gaseous carbon emissions of 20-25 t ha-1, predominantly CO2, and high-input gardens irrigated with wastewater had annual CO2-C emissions of 27 t ha-1, with N2O as a major nitrogen loss contributor. Animal manure stored in the open was subject to large carbon and nitrogen losses, indicating environmental tradeoffs. However, UPA gardens in Niamey maintained a large variety of fruit and vegetable species, with richness increasing with garden and household size and commercialization.

Olufunke Cofie, Adeoluwa Olugbenga, Philip Amoah · Urban Agriculture Magazine · Nigeria; Ghana

This study introduces human urine as an alternative fertilizer source for urban agriculture, presenting case studies from Nigeria and Ghana. It suggests that proper collection and use of human urine can improve urban environmental sanitation and reduce crop production costs. The approach integrates agriculture, environment, and sanitation sectors.

Y. A. Iyaka, SE Kakulu · African Research Review · Nigeria

This study determined the levels of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in soil samples collected from cultivated farmlands near abandoned industrial sites in Minna and Bida, Niger State, Nigeria, using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Concentrations ranged from 12-89 mg Cu kg-1 and 2.8-41 mg Zn kg-1 for Minna, and 2.4-6.5 mg Cu kg-1 and 0.57-36 mg Zn kg-1 for Bida. Apparent accumulation of Cu was found in Minna cultivated farmlands, with a mean Cu content of 24 ± 22 ppm, which was almost five times that of the control soils. Other mean values were similar to soil background averages.

C.J. Arene, G.I.O. Mbata · Agricultural Economics (Zemědělská ekonomika) · Nigeria (Abuja)

This study analyzed the profitability of urban agriculture using metropolitan organic waste in Abuja, Nigeria. Results indicated that the enterprise is profitable, with output price being the most important determinant of maximum variable profit. The study also showed that farmers' education level, age, per capita farm income, and household size are important determinants for choosing urban agriculture for food security and environmental quality improvement.

CJ Arene, G.I.O. Mbata · Agro-Science · Nigeria (Abuja)

This study analyzed the profitability of urban agriculture using metropolitan organic waste in Abuja, Nigeria. The enterprise was found to be profitable, with output price being the most significant determinant of variable profit, while other price factors were not significant. Farmer's education level, age, per capita farm income, and household size were identified as important determinants for choosing urban agriculture and influencing willingness to pay for it.

George Danso, Pay Drechsel, Olufunke Cofie · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Sub-Saharan Africa

A book chapter (in Parrot, Njoya, Temple, Assogba-Komlan, Kahane, Ba Diao and Havard, eds., "Agriculture and urban development in Sub-Saharan Africa: environment and health issues," L'Harmattan, 2008) addresses large-scale urban waste composting for urban and peri-urban agriculture in West Africa as an integrated approach to support municipal authority decision-making. The abstract provided is only the editorial citation, with no method or findings stated.

Halidou Koanda · Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) · Sub-Saharan Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa, faecal sludge management practices are often financially unviable due to widespread lack of municipal involvement, paucity of legal provisions, and absence of stakeholder coordination. This leads to indiscriminate dumping of faecal sludge in urban areas or its untreated use in urban agriculture. These practices pose permanent and serious health risks and contaminate scarce ground and surface water. This research aims to develop an innovative strategic planning approach for sustainable urban faecal sludge management to minimize public health and environmental risks.

Carol Posthumus · SA Irrigation = SA Besproeiing · South Africa

An extracted text describing an Agricultural Research Council (ARC) project in South Africa that brings lower-cost alternative irrigation technologies, including drip irrigation, to smallholder farmers and community gardens. The project targets areas where water is scarce but irrigation access exists, aiming to establish best management and operation practices that lower costs and save water, with drip irrigation also framed as a way of ensuring food security.

O. A. Oke, C. O. Adejuyigbe, O.A. Ajede · · Nigeria

A survey of soil micro-arthropods was conducted at selected farm locations in Ogun State, Nigeria, including a university farm, a school garden, a farmland, and a rubber plantation. The study identified micro-arthropods from Class Arachnida (orders Acarina, suborders Oribatida, Actinedida, Gamasida) and Class Insecta (order Collembola). The rubber plantation had the highest population (x = 24.75), while the university farm had the least (x = 1.75, Oribatida only). Physico-chemical soil analysis indicated that soil properties and farm practices influenced micro-arthropod distribution.

Derek Eaton, Thea Hilhorst · Environment and Urbanization · Africa

A 2003 paper examined the links between urban solid waste management and peri-urban agriculture in Bamako and Ouagadougou. Farmers near both cities value urban waste as an organic matter source and are willing to pay for it, but uncertain land tenure provides little incentive for safe disposal of dangerous elements in solid waste. Current plans to eliminate this recycling practice and promote large-scale composting are noted to be too costly for farmers, creating an incentive for illicit waste acquisition.

E. Mensah, Philip Amoah, Pay Drechsel, Robert Clement Abaidoo · CABI Publishing eBooks · Sub-Saharan Africa

This work, presented as case studies from Accra and Kumasi, addresses environmental concerns of urban and peri-urban agriculture. It focuses on waste composting for urban and peri-urban agriculture, aiming to close the rural-urban nutrient cycle in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Jens Færge, Jakob Magid, F.W.T. Penning de Vries · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Sub-Saharan Africa

This 2001 entry from CGSpace references a publication titled "Waste composting for urban and peri-urban agriculture: closing the rural-urban nutrient cycle in Sub-Saharan Africa." The publication, edited by Drechsel and Kunze, focuses on waste composting to manage nutrient flows between rural and urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Waweru Mutambi, Mwangi Kariuki, Kibet Nderitu · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Kenya

This longitudinal study evaluated the effects of agroforestry practices (integrated tree-crop systems) on yield gains and farmer adoption rates in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, using surveys and soil analysis as quantitative data collection methods. Preliminary findings indicate that integrated tree-crop systems produced a statistically significant 12% increase in maize yields (95% CI: 6-18%) compared to conventional farming practices. Farmer adoption rates rose from 40% at baseline to 70% after one year of intervention.

Pay Drechsel, D. Kunze · CABI Publishing eBooks · Sub-Saharan Africa

A chapter in Drechsel and Kunze (Eds.), 'Waste Composting for Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture: Closing the Rural-Urban Nutrient Cycle in Sub-Saharan Africa' (CABI Publishing; IWMI; FAO), addressing research and development priorities. The abstract provides no further detail beyond this citation.

Lee M · PubMed · Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, urban agriculture faces significant challenges due to government disapproval of public land use for farming and difficulty in obtaining credit. A 1983 survey in Addis Ababa found that 17% of 1352 households produced their own food on less than 25 sq. meters, with 90% of non-farmers citing lack of land. Despite urban agricultural cooperatives demonstrating 70% higher member income, their lack of government legalization prevents access to loans for productivity improvement.

Pauline Raphaely · Birkhäuser Basel eBooks · South Africa

Food Gardens Unlimited is an educational project in South Africa that teaches disadvantaged urban populations to grow food in small areas using limited resources. The project provides five-day training courses, step-by-step directions, and subsidized seeds through existing institutions. It aims to deliver physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits to participants.