Why a dedicated urban agriculture policy is necessary for nutrition security

Shreya Raman and Gitonga Njeru

 

 Mumbai and Nairobi: 33-year-old Phylis Wanjiru is longing to be a mom however each of her pregnancies until date haven’t been profitable. Her first one ended inside 3 months with a miscarriage and whereas her second being pregnant reached full-term, the infant was nonetheless born.

Nearly 500 kilometres away from Phylis’ home in Nairobi, 38-year-old Edna Murelo from Mombasa has additionally been dealing with comparable points. Murelo, who was pregnant 5 years in the past, gave start however her little one didn’t dwell longer than 72 hours. Pregnancy problems led to the infant creating perinatal asphyxia, a respiration drawback related to extended labour.

While the instances are usually not linked, medical doctors stated that the meals that they eat could be a purpose for the failing pregnancies. Wanjiru, like 1000’s of different ladies within the metropolis, cultivates kale and spinach alongside the heavily polluted Nairobi river and recurrently consumes them. Murelo too recurrently buys leafy greens which might be irrigated with sewage water close to her house.

“Many ladies are experiencing totally different sorts of reproductive well being problems, together with miscarriages, nonetheless births and neonatal asphyxia, due to the contaminants within the water,” stated Prof James Machoki M’imunya, a board member of Kenyatta National Hospital and Principal of the University of Nairobi Health Sciences, “We have needed to administer authorized abortions throughout being pregnant to save lots of the lives of some ladies.” M’imunya is at present conducting a research taking a look at these hyperlinks which he says will probably be revealed within the British Medical Journal inside a number of months.

Across Kenya and within the Indian metropolis of Mumbai, city agricultural practices use contaminated soil and sewage water. But folks proceed to eat these greens as they price half that of these offered in markets. While these techniques create a substantial well being danger, a well-regulated city agriculture system may considerably help make them safer and contribute to meals and diet safety in city areas.

As of 2018, greater than half—55%—of the world’s inhabitants lives in cities and that is anticipated to go as much as 68% by 2050. The ensuing spike in demand for meals may fuel meals insecurity, malnutrition and weight problems, which is able to disproportionately impact low-income households with restricted buying energy.

Need for an city agriculture coverage 

Every night, highway quantity 14 of Mumbai’s Baiganwadi slums converts right into a vegetable and fruit market however a lot of the produce being offered listed here are rotten or almost there. To perceive why that is so, it is very important perceive how Mumbai will get its vegatables and fruits. Nearly all fruit and vegetable distributors within the metropolis purchase the produce from the Agricultural Produce & Livestock Market Committee in Vashi, roughly 70 kilometres from the town centre. And these produce travel far to succeed in the market, with some travelling so far as 1,700 kilometres from the state of Punjab. All this travelling provides to the fee.

In Baiganwadi, the place the typical month-to-month family earnings is $178 (Rs 13,55), this elevated price limits entry. “For many households it’s a query of would they have the ability to purchase sufficient greens and fruits for your entire household or ought to they simply purchase a vada pav or chowmein that will care for their starvation for the day,” stated Poornima Nair, well being and incapacity director at Apnalaya, an NGO.

A key final result of the affordability disaster is that distributors within the space typically purchase produce that’s being discarded on the Vashi market. “Their waste turns into our meals,” stated Tasleem Sayyed, Apnalaya’s subject officer, “Many instances, the meals that goes unsold in supermarkets additionally finds its approach right here. They are nonetheless in these packages.”

Buying these cheaper produce nonetheless doesn’t make them reasonably priced for many individuals. Everyday after the night namaaz, Samina Khatoon is compelled to scale back the worth, “Many days I’ve to promote on the value of shopping for and even at a loss to keep away from vital losses,” she stated.

Urban agriculture can contribute in fixing the affordability drawback by slicing down on transport prices. In Mumbai and Nairobi, greens grown on city farms had been significantly cheaper and therefore extra accessible.

Existing insurance policies and the drawbacks

On a Monday morning, Radheshyam Chauhan harvested 40 bundles of spinach from a slim patch of land close to Mira Road station on Mumbai’s suburban railway line. He walked to the market close to the station and offered the spinach to Vikram Prasad at the price of Rs 3 per bundle–half of what Prasad paid (Rs 7, together with transport prices) on the Vashi market within the morning.

Prasad is certainly one of Chauhan’s common clients and whereas the produce from the railway farms isn’t sufficient to run his enterprise, the low price helps in cushioning his losses. The farm that Chauhan works on is on land owned by the Indian Railways and is leased to sure railway staff below the Grow More Food scheme. The staff then lease the land to outsiders who rent labourers to domesticate the land and promote the produce.

Chauhan, who’s certainly one of these labourers and had migrated from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh says farming right here is harder than in his village. “This land has no life,” he stated, “We have so as to add numerous fertilisers and pesticides for the land to have any yield.” In addition to this, accessing clear water is a significant problem. All these farms are positioned on slim patches of land between the railway tracks and partitions constructed by the railways. Chauhan, who lives in a shanty close to the farm, says they’re compelled to make use of sewage water. “We don’t have water to drink, how will we get water for the crops,” he added.

A 2013 study of 8 railway farms highlighted this intensive use of fertilisers and pesticides and using sewage water. The research additionally discovered that the soil and the produce from these farms have excessive ranges of heavy steel contamination, which may trigger doable well being considerations. In 2019, primarily based on a public curiosity litigation, the Bombay High Court directed Indian Railways to make sure that sewage water isn’t utilized in these farms however this apply nonetheless continues.

Unlike India, in Kenya there isn’t a policy-level acknowledgement of the well being dangers of consuming these greens, however the impacts are visibly there. At the Kenyatta National Hospital, at the least two instances associated to well being problems from consuming greens irrigated with water from Nairobi river are reported each week, says M’imunya, including that this could possibly be an underestimation.

Many ladies who’re dealing with these sorts of problems in Kenya are in search of justice within the nation’s civil courts. Judy Thongori, a household lawyer and ladies’s rights activist is representing many of those ladies who’re in search of compensation from the Kenyan authorities and from the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), a authorities company over negligence. “I get new instances of ladies experiencing totally different sorts of reproductive well being points nearly on a month-to-month foundation,” Thongori stated with out giving the precise figures.

Possible options

The main drawback with the Grow More Food scheme in Mumbai is that the scheme isn’t about meals. The primary goal of the scheme is to guard priceless land property of Railway from encroachments, Indian Railways stated in response to a Right to Information request. Neither the agriculture ministry nor the well being ministry is concerned within the implementation of the scheme.

Moreover, the licensees are responsible for arranging water provide and no coaching is supplied to them concerning the crops that may be cultivated. Making these modifications would make this sort of farming significantly safer, Prem Jose Vazhacharickal, the first writer of the 2013 research on railway farms stated.

“If higher irrigation amenities are supplied, a lot of the issues will probably be solved,” stated Vazhacharickal, “Otherwise they could possibly be supplied with low cost filtration techniques that may barely course of the heavy metals within the wastewater to match agricultural requirements.” The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2012, had released a coaching handbook on how wastewater can be utilized safely for city and peri-urban agriculture.

As for the contamination within the soil, Vazhacharickal says a doable resolution is to scientifically select the crop. “All vegetation have totally different heavy steel imbibing capability. Some vegetation accumulate within the root, some within the leaves and a few within the stem,” stated Vazhacharickal, “So, in case you are rising leafy greens, it’s undoubtedly an issue. But I discovered {that a} plant like girl finger accumulates these metals within the leaves and the basis, which aren’t consumed. So it’s a comparatively safer plant.”

Addressing the well being considerations emanating from unsafe practices, the Kenyan authorities is planning to draft a regulation to control and promote city agriculture. “We are partnering with the Ministry of Agriculture to introduce a brand new regulation earlier than August,” Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe stated, “There have been many well being implications and the brand new regulation will save many from hurt.”

(Reporting for this story was supported by the International Center for Journalists below the Global Nutrition and Food Security Reporting Fellowship)