Editorial: Micro-Technologies for Urban Agriculture

René van Veenhuizen

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Agriculture in the city has many faces. It is a dynamic phenomenon and comprises different farming systems, each with specific needs. This issue of the UA-Magazine features micro-technologies for urban agriculture. It presents a wide variety of techniques and discusses why and how these technologies were developed, the critical factors for their success and what policy improvements are needed for their further development.

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The 'Drum and Drip' micro-irrigation system, tested in South Africa

T. Khosa, W. Van Averbeke, R. Böhringer, J. Maswikaneng and E. Albertse

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

On-farm evaluation of a small-scale micro-irrigation system for use in home gardens revealed both its strengths and weaknesses. The technology enabled production of nearly 80 kg of fresh vegetables on an area of 36 square metres over a period of four months, but did not operate well with saline water.

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Urban Irrigation Methods and Practices in Ghana and Togo

Bernard Keraita, George Danso and Pay Drechsel

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Irrigation methods and practices in urban and periurban vegetable farming of Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, and Lome, Togo, are quite different. The situation in Lome appears technically much more advanced than in Accra, although both cities are only separated by a three-hour drive. These differences are caused by a variety of biophysical and socio-economic factors.

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Hydroponics in Latin America

César H. Marulanda Tabares

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Since the mid 80s, the UNDP -soon followed by FAO- began fostering the development and use of Household Hydroponics. This mainly urban agricultural technique is a fast and efficient alternative to address the lack of food and the lack of income of many impoverished households. In household hydroponics, the key is not to increase the yield per hectare, but to produce small amounts of food in many houses, in spaces unsuitable for conventional agriculture.

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Hydroponics Technology in Urban Lima - Peru

Jovita Abensur Ríos and Horacio Chicata Blancas

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Hydroponics is a technology characterized by the absence of soil, allowing the growing of crops of better quality in small urban spaces, requiring less time, less labour, and less inputs. In Lima, Peru, the NGO Imagen Educativa began working in 1993 to promote urban agriculture as a strategy to improve nutrition, family income and environment quality. It implies the growth of legumes, ornamental, aromatic and medicinal plants in the peripheral areas of Lima, where it is difficult to farms due to poor soil conditions and lack of water for irrigation.

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Organoponics, a Productive Option

Mario González Novo

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Productive urban techniques are valid as long as they are adequately adapted to the physical urban setting, and as long as the expected productive results are obtained. Several initiatives have developed productive solutions for places where the land is not fertile, or where space restrictions make it necessary to exploit the available resources to the maximum. One of the most innovative technical and productive solutions developed in Havana is called 'Organoponics'.

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Improving techniques for market garden production in South East Asia

Hubert de Bon

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

In order to increase the production in the hot and humid season and reduce the use of pesticides on market garden crops, three techniques have been proposed to boost the periurban market garden production in South-eastern Asia: sheltered crops, tomato grafting and the use of insect-proof nets. The rise in the yield varies from one site to another. Tomato grafting appears to be the most efficient and attractive technique in the first year of experimentation, with some positive effects observed in Vientiane. The rise in production, which requires new equipment (nylon nets and shelters with polythene film), conflicts with the farmers' concerns about the investment cost and the availability of the adequate gear on the spot.

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Basic Cultural Management Practices for Urban Vegetable Production

Yvette B. Guanzon and Robert J. Holmer

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

The importance of urban vegetable production to improve food security in cities of developing countries is recognized by an increasing number of stakeholders. However, knowledge on appropriate production technologies for urban environments is often lacking. This paper gives a comprehensive overview on basic cultural management practices for vegetable production in urban Philippines. The areas covered are: cultivars selection, methods of planting, soil, water and weed management, and pest and disease control.

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Rooftop Gardening in Senegal

Gabriel Deesohu Saydee and Sebastine Ujereh

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Rapid urbanisation in Senegal, is giving rise to rapid housing developments and diminishing land available for urban agriculture in the city. It is also creating an increasing demand for vegetables. Although land in the city is scare, many houses have flat concrete roofs, which provide space for growing vegetables. Crops can be grown throughout the year under the semi-desert climatic conditions. The Rooftop Gardening Programme of the United Methodist Church promotes rooftop vegetable production in Senegal. Women's' groups have already established rooftop gardening projects in Dakar and Thies, through which more than a 100 persons have already been trained and many more are applying for training. A box is included on experiences with Rooftop Gardening in St.Petersburg, Russia, by Martin Price

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City Farming - the Natural Alternative, Experiences in India

R.T. Doshi, with Sunil Doshi and Vandana Shah

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

After working on his farm at Kamshet, near Pune, the author discovered the immeasurable problems faced by farmers. He discovered that if farmers include the cost of their labour in the calculation of farm profit and loss, all farms would be unprofitable. This led him to think very seriously about reducing the costs of farming and labour. Dr. Doshi has experimented with a number of farming practices that enables city dwellers to grow their own food on every available square inch of urban space, including terraces and balconies. None of the innovations recommended involve high costs, nor does the farming require long hours of work. The farm can provide the family with ample nutrition from plant sources, eliminating the need to purchase one's vegetables and fruits from the market, where inflation makes a mockery of housewives' budgets.

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Mushroom Cultivation in Urban Kampala, Uganda

Juliet Kiguli

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Urban agriculture in Uganda is mainly viewed as a household survival strategy, in the context of rising poverty. Mushroom cultivation is a recent trend in Kampala, Uganda. This paper explores the rationale for growing mushrooms, focuses on gender participation, as more women are involved in mushroom cultivation than men, and the necessary conditions for success.

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Micro-technologies for Congested Urban Centers in Ethiopia

Yilma Getachew

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Indicators on increasing urbanisation and congestion in Addis Ababa include: 40% unemployment; a daily output of 2000 tons of organic waste and 100,000 tons of animal manure, daily per capita of one dollar or less, daily per capita micro nutrient food consumption of 10 grams or less and 25 m2 garden space per family. Urban agriculture can play an important role in the increasingly congested cities. This article describes the experiences of Yilma bio-consult, specializing on promotion of urban agriculture in Addis Ababa and other urban centres in Ethiopia. Yilma bio-consult, has identified 30 technologies for fertilizer production, pest and disease control and water management. They are all based on natural processes and are therefore cheap, simple and are dependant on locally available resources.

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Innovative Urban Agricultural Technologies in Botswana

A.C.Mosha

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Agriculture is Botswana's urban and periurban areas are not widespread. Some poor families have taken up farming to supplement their incomes, while a few entrepreneurs have chosen urban and periurban farming as business ventures. In the capital city, Gaborone, most commercial and subsistence farmers are situated in freehold, municipal or tribal land in north and south of the city. The farms operate as private ventures or as a project of an academic or scientific institution. Innovative agricultural technologies are being used in several urban areas in Botswana, which address the issues of poverty and food security at the grassroots level. Farmers cannot depend on conventional means of agriculture Some of the technologies adopted are described.

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Permaculture in Senegal & Mobile Kitchen Garden in Kenya

Khaly Mbengue and Abdourahmane Tamba & Okoth Samuel Ondeng

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

In June 2002 a permaculture garden, the first in Senegal, was started. The garden aims to promote permaculture to farmers as well as private and public decision makers, by demonstrating its viability and effectiveness.

In the highly populated residential areas, like in Kenya, where arable land to cultivate is too scarce to facilitate meaningful farming, vegetables can be grown in space-confined gardens, like bags.

Click here to open file

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The Abundant Harvest Garden

Tomi Jill Folk and Hank Bruce

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

The goal of "Hunger Grow Away" has been to cultivate food security "One Family at a Time." To achieve this the Abundant Harvest Garden (AHG) was developed, which is a micro-intensive food production system that can grow the produce needs for a family of four in a 1.44m2. It does this with 20% of the water a conventional garden uses. The AHG may put a family garden within reach of the poor and fresh produce can be a part of the daily diet. The AHG can be used in the most confined and difficult places, including pavement or rooftops. Hunger Grow Away is a non-profit organization that provides these gardening systems and information and assists in fund raising to purchase AHGs.

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Aqua-Terra Gardens

Frank McNeely

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Aqua-Terra Gardens is a corporation located in the heart of the United States where Frank McNeely, owner and operator, has converted an unused old graining mill near the downtown area and into to an urban agriplex. The goal was to establish a facility that would address sustainable agriculture, use renewable energy and educate the public to these concepts.

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Worms turn garbage into gold in Lismore

Lesley Trott

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Worms are the buzzword of the 21st Century and definitely in Lismore, Australia. Here, innovation in ecologically sustainable development (ESD) has resulted is the biggest 'state-of-the-art', fully automated worm farm in the world, employing 10 million worms to turn 6,000 tonnes a year of organic waste, into brown gold. Synergistic effort between the Lismore City Council Waste Minimisation Department and Tryton Waste Services has resulted in managing contamination.

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Organoponics - the Use of Human Urine in Composting

Francisco Arroyo

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Experiments and tests using fermented human urine in the production of legumes, medicinal and aromatic plants in containers, began 10 years ago in the Rural Research and Training Centre (CEDICAR) in Mexico. This cultivation system has been called "organoponics" or "urineponics". It is a cost-effective system, saving money, water, and being capable of producing quite some legumes per year per m2. It has has been culturally accepted by most of the families and institutions.

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Container Composting in Peri-Urban Kumasi, Ghana

Andrew Bradford, Duncan McGregor and David Simon

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Using compost containers allows the safe and hygienic composting of domestic organic waste to take place in urban and peri-urban backyards. In addition to producing natural fertilizer for urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), backyard composting reduces the amount of domestic organic waste destined for open refuse dumps or municipal landfill sites, thus contributing to a cleaner environment and, where waste collection services are provided, a reduction in collection and transport costs (GFA-Umwelt, 1999). Compost containers can be made from recycled materials such as tyres, blocks, bricks, wood, plastic barrels or 250litre drums; thereby making the technology accessible for low income groups. When the technology is implemented appropriately, it can not only improve environmental sanitation but also enhance local livelihoods.

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Faecal Sludge Application for Agriculture in Tamale, Ghana

Isaac Asare, Gordana Kranjac-Berisavljevic and Olufunke. Cofie

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

The use of human waste as a source of fertiliser in developing countries as a whole and particularly in Ghana, has not received much recognition (Laryea, 1998). Due to poor soil fertility, and lack of financial means to buy chemical fertiliser, farmers in the drier parts of Ghana frequently resort to the use of human waste i.e. faecal sludge (FS) for agriculture. In the nineties, Owusu-Bennoah and Visker (1994) reported that 90% of collected night soil in Tamale municipality was used as fertilizer. This paper describes the ingenuity of small-scale farmers in the use of faecal sludge for crop production in Tamale Municipality.

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Conversion of Urban Waste to Energy by Anaerobic Digestion

Dr. K. Vijayaraghavan, Prof. Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff and Prof. Mohd. Amin Mohd. Soom

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Anaerobic digestion is a natural process harnessed by humankind in order to treat waste derived form sewage sludge, industrial sludge and wastewater. The anaerobic digestion of feedstock's and organic wastes are still in the development stage and are yet to become commercially available. This article describes the types of anaerobic digesters, and how to tackle environmental degradation by the waste generated.

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Waste-Fed Fisheries in Periurban Kolkata

Madhumita Mukherjee

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

In India, night soil and wastewater reuse in agriculture is a traditional practice followed in irrigation for centuries. West Bengal is the pioneering state. The use of municipal wastewater to fertilize ponds is now perhaps the largest wastewater fed aquaculture system in the world in Kolkata, and the periurban area, especially where wastewater fish farming is practiced, supports the livelihood of a large number of people through waste recycling and natural resource use.

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Improving Agro-enterprises in Duong Lieu Commune, Vietnam

Dai Peters

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

Dong Lieu commune in Hay Tay province lies some 20km from Hanoi. The area is traditionally agricultural but has, since the late 1960's, specialized in household-level root crop - cassava and canna - processing, due to its proximity to Hanoi and access to its growing markets. Since that time this processing capacity has increased 3-10 times. Cassava and canna are different crops, in the type of roots, properties of the starch, and different profitability of the starch. As the starch processing developed, a starch-based cluster of enterprises emerged in support or in association with starch processing.

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Treatment of Organic Household Waste Used as Pig Feed in Montevideo

Daniel Rodríguez, Delvey Anchieri, Alejandra Lozano, Gustavo Castro, Edgardo Vitale and Winston Lozano

In: UA Magazine 10 - Appropriate (Micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture

The population of Uruguay is highly concentrated, with a proliferation of irregular settlements in cities. An increase in unemployment has forced many people to resort to extreme strategies for their survival and the survival of their families. Informal collection and sale of household waste is one of the more widespread, and is linked to the breeding of pigs within the household. Municipal authorities are reluctant to accept this activity because of the environmental and health risks it implies. However, in order to formulate urban agriculture policies that preserve the health of the population it is important to critically examine this phenomenon, including both its risks and benefits, trying to minimize the former and maximize the latter. Based on this reality, the Veterinary School of Montevideo (Uruguay) developed a series of experiments with the goal of assessing and commercialising technologies for the processing and collection of organic waste used to feed pigs.

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Colophon

Urban Agriculture Magazine
No. 10, August 2003
ISSN 1571-6244

The UA Magazine is published by the Resource Centre for Urban Agriculture (RUAF), a Programme co-ordinated by ETC Netherlands and financed by DGIS, the Netherlands, and IDRC, Canada. The UA Magazine is published 3 times a year, and is translated into French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic, and distributed in separate editions through regional networks.

Editorial Board

• Urban Management Programme-Latin America and the Caribbean (UMP-LAC), Quito, Ecuador; Mr Alain Santandreu; e-mail alain@pgu-ecu.org: Magazine in Spanish: www: http://www.ipes.org/aguila/
• Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine (IAGU), Dakar, Senegal, Ms Ndeye Fatou Gueye;e-mail iagurau@enda.sn : Magazine in French;
• Municipal Development Programme (MDP) - East and Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe;Mr Shingirayi Mushamba, e-mail: smushamba@mdpesa.org
• Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research (IGSNRR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bejing, China; Mr Jianming Cai, e-mail: caijm@igsnrr.ac.cn ; Magazine in Chinese;
• Centre for Environment and Development in the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), Cairo, Egypt, Mr Ismail El Bagouri; e-mail: ibagouri@cedare.org.eg Magazine in Arabic;
• IWMI-India, Hyderabad, India, Ms Stephanie Buechler, e-mail: s.buechler@cgiar.org
• The Urban Agriculture Network (TUAN), Washington, USA. Mr Jac Smit; e-mail: urbanag@compuserve.com
• ETC - Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Forestry (RUAF), Leusden, the Netherlands; Mr Henk de Zeeuw: email: ruaf@etcnl.nl
• Ms Dagmar Kunze, FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF), Ghana
• Mr Luc Mougeot, International Development Research Council (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada;
• Mr Gordon Prain, CIP- Sustainable Initiative on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (SIUPA), Peru.

Editors No. 10

This issue has been compiled by René van Veenhuizen (responsible editor), together with Ndeye Fatou D. Gueye of IAGU.

Web Editing and Books

Lucy Browne, René van Veenhuizen

Administrations

Michael Baumeister

Design and Layout

Jan Hiensch, Leusden

Language Editor

Oshani Perera

Printing

Koninklijke BDU

Subscriptions

The editor
ruaf@etcnl.nl

Address

Urban Agriculture Magazine
P.O. Box 64
3830 AB Leusden, The Netherlands
Visitors address: Kastanjelaan 5, Leusden.
Tel: +31.33.4326000
Fax: +31.33.4940791
e-mail: ruaf@etcnl.nl
website: www.ruaf.org