Livestock Production
Submitted by Guest on Wed, 06/01/2005 - 12:42
Andrea GaynorIn: UA Magazine 3 - Health aspects of urban agriculture
The safety of food produced in urban agriculture depends on a number of factors, including the history of persistent toxic chemicals applied to an area. Using the application of organochlorine pesticides in Perth, Western Australia as a case study, this article examines the problems that can arise when urban agriculture is scattered throughout a metropolitan area, and carried out by people who often have little detailed knowledge of how land in the area has historically been treated, and therefore what kinds of soil contamination might be present. The article concludes with recommendations for health and local government workers, which could help to ensure that households are aware of the potential health risks associated with food production in urban areas, and are able to act to minimise those risks.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:59
Emil AriasIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
A model for integrated higher education for training veterinary medical-animal husbandry students is discussed. In this model, students analyse local seasonal foodstuffs and immunisation and parasitism, while learning about marginal livestock producer needs. Both the University and the livestock producing families benefit. The former because it uses local resources, and the latter because they increase their knowledge, and use of foodstuffs, and reduce parasitism and, presumably, public health problems too.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:56
Dai Peters, Nguyen Thi Tinh, Tran Than ThuyIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
Pig-raising in urban areas has become important in meeting the growing pork demand. The main constraints to using sweet potato vines as pig feed are labour and storage. Regardless of how they are fed to the animals, the vines must first be chopped into small pieces, a daunting and time-consuming task, mainly undertaken by women. If the vines are fed fresh, the women must allocate time each day for this task, even during the busy field season. Silage offers a potential alternative and overcomes both main constraints.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:53
Spiaggi, E.P., Biasatti, N.R., Marc, L.B.In: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
Rosario City in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina is an urban centre of more than 1,200,000 inhabitants. Over 20% of the population live in conditions of extreme poverty. Unemployment and marginality leads them to live in the marginal areas, without adequate sanitary services and under limited social and economic conditions. There are many examples of social welfare interventions, which can help to alleviate these conditions of dire poverty.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:49
Katrien van 't HooftIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
Cysticercosis is one of the most dangerous diseases caused by a parasite that passes from animals to human beings. It is most prevalent in the rural areas of developing countries, from where it can become a threat in urban areas too. Cysticercosis is closely related to economic standards, culture and aspects of hygiene. Latin America, non-Islamic parts of Africa and South East Asia and especially India face major problems with this disease. In this article the author describes cysticercosis that originates from pigs (Cysticercosis cellulosae) in Bolivia, South America.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:46
Adriano MantovaniIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
Zoonoses have been defined by WHO (1959) as 'Those disease and infections (the agents of) which are naturally transmitted between (other) vertebrate animals and man'. Recently the concept has been enlarged with the following proposal: 'Any detriment to the health and/or quality of human life deriving from relationships with (other) vertebrate or edible or toxic invertebrate animals', Mantovani 2000).
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:42
Alain Santandreu, Gustavo Castro & Fernando RoncaIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
At the end of the 19th century, Sansón Carrasco (nom de plume of Daniel Muñoz, 1849-1930), reported on pigs being bred with household wastes. His chronicles are still valid today. For instance, in his article "Trash" (1883), he writes:
"...and in the depressions, and on the beach, pigs and more pigs, and always pigs everywhere you look, some of them feeding, some stretched out without a care in the world, others grunting as they get a glimpse of me, as if upset by my intrusion in their domain..."
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:38
Geoffrey Poynter and Denis FieldingIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
Kumasi is Ghana's second largest city after Accra and is the capital of the Ashanti Region. Kumasi is located in the south-central part of the country 100 miles inland from the coast and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) is responsible for a population of some 700,000 to 1 million people. The survey reported here was undertaken as an MSc project by the senior author, in 1999 with the aim of characterising urban livestock keeping in Kumasi and identifying the problems encountered by livestock keepers.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:34
Pay Drechsel, Robert C. Abaidoo, Philip Amoah and Olufunke O. CofieIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
Livestock production is a vital part of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Kumasi, where many crop farmers benefit from cheap poultry manure available in large quantities. However, with increasing competition for this resource, the manure is seldom stored long enough to prevent the contamination of food and water with pathogens. While the actual incidence of disease related to this contamination has not yet been assessed, interventions to prevent the spread of infection should focus first of all on the consumer household. Farmers' access to clean irrigation water is another important step but only makes sense if farmers' own practices do not contribute to water pollution.
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/26/2005 - 09:28
Azage Tegegne, Million Tadesse, Yoseph Mekasha and Alemu YamiIn: UA Magazine 2 - Livestock in and around cities
In this article a systems approach is used to describe urban and peri-urban dairy production systems in Addis Ababa. These urban and peri-urban dairy production systems evolved to satisfy the increasing demand for milk in urban centres as a consequence of increasing urbanisation, rising per capita income and increasing cost of imported milk and milk products. They contribute to overall development through income and employment generation, food security, asset accumulation, poverty alleviation and improving human nutrition and health.
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