Table of Contents

Please find attached the table of contents for UA magazine 23.

Editorial

Olufunke Cofie, René van Veenhuizen, Verele de Vreede and Stan Maessen

In: Urban Agriculture Magazine no 23, April 2010, pp. 3-7

Urban agriculture is a response to the increase in demand for food and the market proximity in cities. This way of producing food is highly dependent
on available space, nutrients and water. While access to space and water largely depends on local conditions, farmers commonly use different organic
and inorganic nutrient sources.

Closing the Rural-Urban Food and Nutrient Loops in West Africa: a reality check

Pay Drechsel, Olufunke Cofie and George Danso

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 8-10

Rapid urbanisation in developing countries intensifies the challenges of making sufficient food available for the increasing urban population, and managing the related waste flow. Unlike in rural communities, there is usually little or no return of food biomass and related nutrients into the food production process. Most waste ends up on landfills or pollutes the urban environment. This is transforming cities into vast nutrient sinks,while the rural production areas are becoming increasingly nutrient deficient (Drechsel and Kunze, 2001).

Analysing the Nexus of Sanitation and Agriculture at Municipal Scale

Pay Drechsel and Marco Erni

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 11-12

To better understand the linkage between sanitation and agriculture at municipal scale, a study was carried out that addressed the following research questions:
- How does a larger investment in flush toilets affect water quality and urban farmers?
- How much of the nutrient demand of urban farmers could be covered through waste composting?

Closing the Phosphorus Loop in Hanoi, Vietnam

Agnès Montangero

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 13-14

In Hanoi, Vietnam, water bodies are polluted by high levels of nutrients, which are discharged in wastewater. At the same time, farmers in and around the city use artificial fertilisers. A nutrient accounting tool indicates where to set priorities to enhance nutrient recovery, and in this way reduce water pollution and the mining of limited phosphorus
reserves. The analysis in this article focuses on phosphorus.

Assessing Patterns of Nitrogen Management in Periurban Agriculture of Hanoi, Vietnam

Dionys Forster, Harald Menzi, Roland Schertenleib and Bernd Lennartz

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 15-16

To identify the potential for organic waste reuse for agricultural production in and around a city, in socalled “spatially explicit scenarios of re-use”, it is necessary to analyse existing patterns of nutrient management. These management patterns are mainly influenced by the type of crops cultivated, the distance between the field and the farmer’s homestead and the perceived soil fertility.

Nutrient Cycles in Three African Cities

Diana Lee-Smith, Nancy Karanja, Mary Njenga, Thomas Dongmo and Gordon Prain

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 17-19

When Urban Harvest began its sub-Saharan programme in 2002, scientists in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) knew that crop-livestock interactions intensify with human population densities.
However, little was known about the nature of these interactions at the higher densities in and around cities, such as Nairobi where the population density was on average almost ten times higher than in the rural areas at that time.

Decentralised Composting of Market Waste and Use in Conakry, Guinea

Roland Linzner

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 20-21

It is estimated that two out of three people will live in urban centres in West Africa within the next 20 years. According to UNOWA (2007) more than ninety per cent of the urban population lives under substandard conditions. An important issue is the management of urban solid organic waste. Currently, these wastes contribute to urban pollution, while large amounts of nutrients are lost.

The Productive Garden: An experience in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Bruno Martins Dala Paula, Ivana Cristina Lovo, José Divino Lopes Filho

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 22-24

As part of the RUAF’s Cities Farming for the Future programme (1), a project called the Jardim Produtivo (Productive Garden) was initiated to transform a vacant plot(2) of 3,500 m2 into a multifunctional urban space.

Improving Food Security through Environmental Management in Ibadan

Bolanle Wahab, M.K.C. Sridhar and A.A. Ayorinde

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 25-26

Solid waste disposal is a nagging problem faced by various communities in Ibadan in southwest Nigeria and other state capitals. Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, is the most densely populated city in the state with over three million inhabitants. It is said that in Ibadan every street is a market. Many backyards are used for growing local vegetables and medicinal herbs.

Municipal Solid Waste Management as an Incentive for City Farming in Pune, India

Sohal Behmanesh

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 27-28

The disposal of waste presents an increasing challenge to the administrative bodies of megacities. The Municipal Corporation of the Indian city Pune has introduced source separation systems and onsite organic waste composting. The citizens concerned are looking for practical ways to treat their organic wastes and they have found city farming to be a viable solution.

Commercial Substrates for Urban Agriculture in Bogotá

Blanca Arce and Andrés Peña

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 29-30

There is a need for low-cost, locally produced substrates for urban agricultural production in Bogotá, Colombia. The Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (CORPOICA) coordinates participatory research on substrate mixtures using a wide variety of low-cost organic materials.

Using Participatory Urban Design to "Close the Nutrient Loop" in the Philippines

Jeannette M.E. Tramhel

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 30-31

A shift towards resilient cities will require more than rethinking the built form; it will require the redesign of systems to facilitate more sustainable urban living practices. “Closing the nutrient loop” is an important principle in sustainable urban design, but challenging to implement. Engaging the community in the design of such systems is therefore critical to their successful implementation.

The Role of Urban Agriculture in Waste Management in Mexico City

H. Losada, J. Rivera, J. Vieyra and J. Cortés

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 40-41

Agriculture in what is now Mexico City can be traced back to the great city of Tenochtitlán, one of the most important urban centres in Mesoamerica (Palerm, 1990). New forms of agriculture have recently emerged in and around Mexico City, which, like those in prehispanic times, can be categorised as urban ecosystems because the majority of the inputs are obtained from the bioregion.

Energy Balance in a Suburban Chinampa Agroecosystem in Mexico City

Ramón Soriano-Robles, Ladislao Arias and Leidy Rivera

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, p. 42

The Chinampa agroecosystem is a very diverse suburban production system (Jiménez et al., 1990, Losada et al. 1998) in Mexico City. Soriano (1999) described the whole Chinampa system as composed of five interlinked subsystems (Chinampa plots, dairy cattle units, backyard production, home gardens and greenhouses). A summary on an evaluation of energy flows and energetic efficiency of the Chinampa system is presented here.

Food Security and Productive Sanitation: Practical guideline on the use of urine in crop production

Anna Richert, Robert Gensch, Håkan Jönsson, Linus Dagerskog, Thor-Axel Stenström and Moussa Bonzi

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 43-44

The upcoming publication titled Practical guideline on the use of urine in crop production gives practical guidance on the use of urine in crop production as a vital component of sustainable crop production and sanitation systems. It also includes guidance on how to initiate activities that will facilitate the introduction of new fertilisers to the
agricultural community.

The Emerging Market of Treated Human Excreta in Ouagadougou

Linus Dagerskog, Chiaca Coulibaly and Ida Ouandaogo

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 45-48

Since March 2009, there has been a “human fertiliser” market in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Human urine and dried faeces are collected and taken to eco-stations, where they are sold to farmers after adequate storage. In this way they increase sanitation coverage, create jobs in the private sector and provide urban farmers with complete and efficient indigenous fertilisers.

Introducing Urine as an Alternative Fertiliser Source: Case studies from Nigeria and Ghana

Olufunke Cofie, Adeoluwa Olugbenga and Philip Amoah

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 49-50

If human urine is properly collected and used for agriculture, it contributes to improved environmental sanitation in cities and reduces the costs of crop production. The innovation lies in the integration of agriculture, environment and sanitation sectors.

Books

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 51-52

Weblinks

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, p. 53

Events

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, pp. 54-55

Colofon

In: UA Magazine no 23 - Urban nutrient management, p. 56

Complete issue