Huge potential for safe fish and vegetable production in urban areas |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Production of safe and nutritious fish and aquatic vegetables at the peri-urban interface of growing cities: an opportunity for poverty alleviation, food supply and environmentally sustainable greener cities | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Agriculture and aquaculture in and around cities creates jobs, and can improve the environment, reduce waste and provide good cheap food. Previously, the risk of contamination from poor quality and waste water posed dangers. But safe ways of producing fish and growing water vegetables around cities are now available. Techniques for aquaculture and horticulture have been tested near Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Blantyre in Malawi, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Bangkok in Thailand, Yaoundé in Cameroon, Dhaka and Mymensingh in Bangladesh and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The potential for raising fish and growing vegetables to supply booming urban markets in developing countries is enormous and could have a major impact on improving incomes, food and nutrition. Project Ref: AFGP03:
Research Programmes: Aquaculture and Fish Genetics Research Programme Natural Resources Systems Programme Programme development funding to Papussa (EC funded INCO DEV Production in aquatic Peri-urban Systems in SE Asia (Papussa) project : International Scientific Cooperation Projects Contract number: ICA4-CT2002-10020) by DFID-AFGRP for extra project dissemination activities including Peri-urban Aquaculture Development Workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 2005, and Special Peri-urban Aquaculture Edition of Urban Agriculture Magazine. Relevant Research Projects: AFGRP - R8287, D03, D10, T07, A11, A19 and NRSP - R7872, R8365, R8090 South Africa: University of Natal (R8287, T07)
Although attention has been drawn to the potential benefits of peri-urban aquatic food production (PAFP), in developing countries the value of such systems had been largely unrecognised, with impacts of contamination, changing access and urbanisation unknown. Single disciplinary studies, though technically informative, had failed to address the interacting context determining the evolution of PAFP around rapidly growing cities, and their benefits to poorer people, through involvement in production, as intermediaries and as consumers. Major constraints to informed policy and management in rapidly increasing peri-urban zones result from the lack of information on stakeholders and the values they ascribe to aquatic production systems, and the lack of balanced multi-disciplinary assessments of public health risks, waste water treatment capacity, impacts on food availability and livelihoods. AFGRP and associated research sought to address these issues and the associated problems of access to and limited availability of technical advice. Work was carried out between 1998 and 2006. Key findings were that; · Aquatic food production in peri-urban waters is an important economic activity providing income, employment and good quality food; · It has particular connections with poorer and more vulnerable groups, whose links and benefits can be engaged; particular skills and resourcefulness can be used to support community resilience in changing conditions. · Water quality and environmental risks can be better managed, and networks of water managers and producer associations can respond flexibly to evolving demands as cities grow and service demands change. A range of outputs included international reference information on key cities with targeted copies in local languages, policy briefs and broadcasts to highlight production opportunities and inform managers, and user guides to inform producers of risks and new opportunities, in both production and markets. Novel production techniques for both plants and fish have also been trialled. The output offers an effective and practical approach to harness these components effectively in urban development, meeting important needs for food, health, income and environments.
This output covers a suite of approaches that can be adapted according to the needs of each city.
Aquatic animals and aquatic plants Environmental services Other commodities that these outputs could be applied to include urban agriculture products, and other non-food peri-urban products such as ornamental fish, cut flowers, recreational angling.
This output would be appropriate in a range of production systems in urban and peri-urban environments depending upon potential for aquatic production.
This output has potential in all farming systems associated with urban and peri-urban areas.
From Crop Post Harvest Programme - Food safety in peri-urban horticultural products. From Natural Resources Systems Programme - Peri-urban: Participatory action planning and implementation; Self-help groups and community action; Planning and development policy and method in the PUI. Particular value in implementation and uptake could be achieved by targeting outputs at smaller, up and coming urban centres where more flexible infrastructures, particularly in terms of waste water management, would be more conducive to incorporating and encouraging effective and safe peri-urban aquatic cultures into their future urban development strategies. The vast scale and network of poor persons involved in and reliant on urban and peri-urban waste water fed culture in terms of production, marketing and consumption often goes un-noticed and unprotected. With co-ordinated approaches to informative management institutional constraints can be overcome in order to maintain and develop peri-urban aquatic food production systems within the spheres of sustainable urban development policy and planning. How the outputs were validated: Validation and triangulation of research findings and subsequent outputs has been achieved through a continual process of stakeholder dissemination and dialogue. Through partner organisations in each country research findings were fed back to each of the target communities by presenting them in both open and closed sessions to a range of stakeholders from different income, cultural, gender and ethnic backgrounds. Overall findings were validated in State of the System (SOS) meetings with four categories of stakeholders: Producers; Market actors (including supermarket); local level government officials; and Government Policy, Planning and Research level actors. Diverse written outputs from these participatory sessions were distributed in dual language format for further discussion. Within this process an equal gender balance was always aimed at but not always possible. Novel production approaches were trialled with poorer producers based upon a mix of researcher and producer perception. These trials not only concentrated on increased production, but also on improved techniques to protect producer health. Neighbouring producers have adopted some of the production techniques and are reporting improved market opportunities. Partner organisations are now incorporating findings from this research into their other fields of work. Where the Outputs were Validated: Outputs were validated at various locations across Africa and Asia: Lagos - Nigeria, Blantyre - Malawi, Dar Es Salaam - Tanzania, Kampala - Uganda, Yaoundé - Cameroon, Dhaka - Bangladesh, Kolkata - India, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam, Phnom Penh - Cambodia, Bangkok - Thailand. Although there was variation in the extent of urbanisation, all locations were peri-urban, many relying upon formal and informal irrigation by way of wastewater from cities. Whilst not exclusively rice-based the wetlands supported a wide variety of aquatic plants, most notably in Asia. All sites could be considered high potential and the sector generally has potential for many tropical and sub-tropical cities that tend to have a large poor population on the periphery. Who are the Users? Producer manuals are now being used in the research areas by extension officers, farmers and commune officials to develop tilapia fingerling production and improve aquatic plant production for the benefit of poorer producers. In some locations the WorldFish Centre is exploring mechanisms to further develop urban and peri-urban aquaculture based upon the knowledge gained through the DFID-funded research. Associate organisations are using the examples from existing work to develop proposals for new development projects. The network that has developed between all various project partners has also led to involvement in a World Bank funded project. Materials produced from peri-urban projects are currently being used by educationalist on a small scale for training and business purposes. Where the outputs have been used: The outputs are being used variously around Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Blantyre in Malawi, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Bangkok in Thailand, Yaoundé in Cameroon, Dhaka and Mymensingh in Bangladesh and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Scale of Current Use: The scale of current use varies from a localised household level use of technically based outputs through peri-urban community level e.g. extension services, commune offices to a more metropolitan and international research and policy level. Many outputs were only completed within the last two years and whilst uptake has been good this is still localised. Evidence at international level shows some of the findings are starting to be included in discussions for FAO and World Bank projects. There is clearly scope for these outputs to be taken up wherever there are cities. Policy and Institutional Structures, and Key Components for Success: At local community level informal institutions have had considerable beneficial effects in helping to develop interest in project research and outputs in terms of filling the institutional responsibility void found at higher levels for aquatic food production systems. Examples of these include Farmer's, Women's and Agricultural Unions. Those involved in the research and promotion of the output have had to work with greater interdisciplinarity because of the need to consider social as well as technical issues. This approach has strengthened the relevance of outputs and built the capacity of several partners to deliver other projects more effectively. In order to bring together partners from the various projects across Asia, a regional Platform on Urban and Peri-Urban Aquaculture was established and is managed by one UK and one Bangladeshi partner. Although still in its early stages this has facilitated information sharing and lead to the involvement of some partners in new projects. This mechanism could be adapted for effective development in other areas. Lessons Learned and Uptake Pathways Promotion of Outputs: In Asia key partners in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Dhaka and West Bengal are disseminating local language versions of five policy briefs and DVDs to over 1000 decision making stakeholders. In Vietnam direct association with local farmer groups is also demonstrating uptake of improved aquatic plant and fish production technologies with more than 500 households. In Cambodia an independent NGO is also distributing the DVD amongst its user community. In Thailand an independent think-tank involved in assessing the policy briefs is currently using them to respond to requests from around 20 municipalities keen to learn more about peri-urban aquatic plant production. In Africa key partners are working with a range of stakeholders to continue the development of technical solutions whilst at the same time working with policy makers to ensure a positive policy environment exists to encourage peri-urban aquaculture development. Potential Barriers Preventing Adoption of Outputs: Cities have developed on an ad hoc basis and as such major infrastructure that could facilitate urban and peri-urban aquatic production has not been installed. Peri-urban policy usually favours industrialisation at the expense of agriculture, however agriculture and aquaculture in and around cities could create employment, mitigate environmental degradation, reduce waste processing costs and provide affordable quality food. In some locations the market considers food produced in wastewater-fed ponds to be of inferior quality. How to Overcome Barriers to Adoption of Outputs: Early consideration of appropriate drainage and formal planning procedures that leave space for aquaculture development as part of wastewater treatment. Education to inform people of the safety of wastewater-raised food, as part of general food hygiene education. Research contributing to this output confirms generally high sanitation standards, fully comparable with other local products, but the procedures for effectively monitoring food safety are often lacking. Lessons Learned: Involving the largest number of poor people and their representative organisations in the early stages of the project is key to secure ownership of the outputs of the project. As a result of early dialogue with the key informal institutions at a community level to better understand the constraints and benefits for peri-urban aquatic production for both poorer and better off households it proved easier to channel outputs and research findings through such institutions to poorer people and subsequently monitor their response. Taking time and care in translation and format of outputs aids uptake. Outputs work best when written or translated by experienced journalists rather than translated by government or scientific partners who tend to use formal language that stakeholders find unappealing and difficult to understand. Poverty Impact Studies: Household baseline surveys were conducted in four indicative peri-urban communities around each of the cities studied in Africa and Asia. Subsequently one year's detailed household monitoring was conducted covering income, well-being and the role of peri-urban aquatic production in poverty alleviation. Following these assessments, discussions between farmers and researchers lead to a participatory technology development period to improve production aspects relevant to each location. The results of these surveys and development trials have been recorded and assessed by all stakeholders involved. How the Poor have Benefited (including gender and other poverty groups): Although varying in timescale due to the different development statuses of each city, the majority of current producers changed from their original cultivation of rice on low lying seasonally flooded land to the production of either aquatic plants or fish as the city expanded. The impacts of this change resulted in household incomes increasing on average five fold from the same areas of land. Although overall incomes from aquatic plant cultivation were lower than fish farming, aquatic plant growers benefited greatly from more regular monthly and sometimes weekly availability of income due to the rapid regrowth of plant stocks. In terms of employment there were significantly higher percentage of women involved in aquatic plant cultivation compared to fish farming, with women also playing the major role in marketing both aquatic plants and fish. From our project interventions 3 peri-urban rice producers in Hanoi for the first time successfully produced tilapia fingerlings in their modified rice plots, one aquatic plant farmer in Bangkok produced chemical-free morning glory in an integrated fish-plant system, and 40 households practicing fish farming in 2 peri-urban communities in Ho Chi Minh City adopted information from calendars distributed as part of the project to improve their fish pond culture. Direct and Indirect Environmental Benefits: Where urban and peri-urban aquaculture relies upon wastewater these technologies could be considered as remediation measures. This would be promoting lower cost, lower maintenance wastewater processing and recycling wastewater for agricultural use and in the process "recapturing" valuable nutrients which otherwise would be lost. Environmental success and benefits of peri-urban systems strongly depend on the urban authority's capacity to effectively control waterborne pollution through effective monitoring and regulation. In effect peri-urban aquatic food production systems can act as barometers or indicators of a city's capacity to maintain a cleaner, healthier environment for its citizens. One potential measure may be to incentivise aquatic production by indirect "green" subsidies such as tax concessions. Indirect benefits include creation and maintenance of green spaces that can be used for recreation and tourism whilst increasing the biodiversity of peri-urban areas. Adverse Environmental Impacts: In some limited circumstances aquatic production in and around cities may also use pesticides and introduce nutrients, but AFGRP outputs show that these can be reduced where alternatives are available and people are educated about the benefits of change. Coping with the Effects of Climate Change, or Risk from Natural Disasters: Peri-urban aquatic systems are often located in wetlands on the peripheries of cities. Urbanisation, with its ever increasing pressures on all land and water, has for many cities involved the gradual encroachment and finally disappearance of such wetlands. This disappearance has already had severe consequences, particularly for poorer people, in two ways. Firstly for those cities which are now facing increased seasonal occurrence and severity of flooding with associated loss of life, displacement and crippling financial burdens, the deliberate and steady removal of these wetlands has exacerbated the position as they had previously fulfilled the vital roles of buffers or "sinks" for soaking up, containing and then safely releasing the increasing flood waters. Once they have been drained, filled and built upon as a consequence city authorities have had to spend increasing proportions of their budgets in flood prevention strategies. Conversely for cities where climate change has increasingly resulted in declining rainfall, the deliberate removal of existing wetlands for urban construction has accelerated the overuse of water by lowering water tables followed by excessive ground water pumping. For these cities removal of wetlands will most definitely accelerate drought whilst also most adversely affecting the poorest people. Relevant Research Projects,
with links to the
|
For relevant research projects, with links to further information Geographical regions included: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Malawi, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam,  Target Audiences for this content:Fishers, Consumers, |
