Scientists, Reseachers Encourage Farming In Urban Areas To Boost Food Security

Prof. Bernd Marschner

DUNGU, TAMALE– Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) covers between 5 percent and 36 percent of a city’s total food supply and up to 90 percent of its fresh vegetable consumption, a team of African-German agriculture scientists and researchers currently conducting a study in Tamale under a project called Urban Foodplus say.

 

Accordingly, the team comprising animal scientists, water engineers, social anthropologists, economists, geographers as well as plant and soil scientists, observed that in view of increasing population in cities and towns, farming should be highly encouraged in such places since the practice has the potential to increase high yields to enhance food security.

Currently, Africa’s population is about 1.1 billion and by 2050 it is projected to hit 2.4 billion, with sub-Saharan Africa, currently 900 million-plus, swelling to 2.2 billion according to a recent study by the Population Research Bureau, a Washington-based outfit. This is because Africa’s total fertility rate—the number of children a woman can expect to have in her lifetime—is 4.7. The figure in America is 2.0; in East Asia 1.7. By 2050, a quarter or half of the continent’s population will migrate from the rural areas to live in urban centres where there are more social amenities and relative comfort.

According to The Economists, the prospect of so rapid a rise has triggered a host of Malthusian fears, on the continent and elsewhere. If Africa is struggling to feed a billion people, it is hard to see how it could feed 4 billion in future. Though the past decade has been relatively peaceful, perhaps a population boom will fuel civil strife. And surely, some fear, the expanding masses will destroy what is left of Africa’s flora and fauna, wiping out endangered species and pouring concrete on primal forest and grassland. 

For instance, as a result of persistent rural-urban migration in Ghana over the years, many migrants have resorted to farming and rearing of animals in every little space they find to squat in their new place of destination. They suddenly find farming close to market centres very lucrative since consumers relish fresh vegetables, and quiet apart from that, a farmer does not have to spend so much on transportation.  

Leader of the Team of the African-German Researchers Professor Bernd Marschner told Savannahnews, that the project intends to enhance resource use efficiency in UPA for improved food security in West African cities.

He, however, observed that, little is known about how to overcome problems in resource use efficiencies and intimated that, the researchers are to make sure farmers are able to overcome the problems associated with UPA so as to improve food security.

Pic. By E.Nchanji: Vegetable farmer in Tamale.

“Our aim is to reduce the risks associated with eating vegetables produced through the use of waste water and other unapproved ways of farming so that the consumer’s health is not at endangered. Vegetables produced with waste water are often infected with pathogens and other diseases that can harm or kill humans when they eat them. We are using simple technologies such as biochar as a water filter and organic fertiliser in place of chemical fertilisers to address some of these challenges posed by UPA”, Prof. Marschner emphasised. 

Using waste or polluted water to water gardens especially during the dry season is a common practice in many towns and cities in Ghana including Tamale. Consumers often have to contend with using salt or vinegar to wash vegetables thoroughly and after that, cook it for a while to be sure the germs are all killed before they eat it.

The researchers have already formed a partnership with vegetable growers at Zagyuri, a suburb of Tamale to conduct experimental test on crops and perhaps establish the effect of using waste water from the Kamina Military Barracks to irrigate their gardens.

A research scientist at Savannah Agriculture Research Institute Abubakari Mutari, who participated in a workshop organised by the African-German researchers, appealed to chiefs in the Tamale Metropolis and other parts of the country to deliberately allocate land to vegetable growers to enhance food security in urban and peri-urban areas.

He commended the researchers for their interest in Africa’s agriculture and food security and quick to add that, the team is building on projects that CSIR-SARI have done in the past and continue to do to ease the challenges posed by UPA. 

Urban Foodplus is spearheaded by the Universities of Kassel and Bochum. It also aims at addressing challenges of soil fertility and water scarcity in order to promote urban food crops production in a number of cities in West Africa.

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to the tune of 7 million Euros, the researchers are partnering with fourteen African institutions including the University for Development Studies, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research among others. The research is taking place concurrently in Tamale and Ouagadougou-Burkina Faso, and will later be extended to other West African cities including Bamenda-Cameroon and Bamako-Mali.

Violence Against Children Costs The World US$7 Trillion Dollars –Study

NALURO ESTATE, SAGNARIGU DISTRICT –A global research report released ahead of the post-2015 agenda has indicated that, children are clear that violence perpetrated against them must be part of the new global agenda.

The study, commissioned by ChildFund Alliance and conducted by Overseas Development Institute (ODI), reveals that the total costs of physical, psychological and sexual violence committed against children globally, cost up to US$7 trillion a year.

According to the Communications Officer of Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) William Anim-Dankwa, the estimate is based on previous research on costs of violence against children in high and middle-income countries. “Researchers used these estimates to obtain a global cost in terms of productivity loss for the total number of victims in a given year.

Addressing a press conference in Saganarigu, he said the research also estimates that, the global cost of children forced to work in hazardous conditions, which deprives them of their livelihood, amounts to more than US$97 billion every year; and that the annual costs of children being recruited by armed forces and groups are US$144 million.

“This research is adding to the weight that governments need to ensure that violence against children is addressed in their new global agenda, which children around the world are calling for world leaders to do”, he stressed. 

The study said, children strongly endorsed that the gains made under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should continue, with their top three issues being: the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (82%), universal primary education (81%) and the eradication of HIV/AIDS (74%).

The ChildFund Alliance conducted over 50 consultations with children in 40 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe including Ghana. This study of over 2,300 individual children collected their views, aspirations and priorities for the post 2015 agenda. The Ghana consultations involved children from Savelugu, Kanvili and Gburimani in the Northern Region.

In 82% of all participating countries, the study reveals that, children want prevention of violence and exploitation to be one of the new priorities for the years following 2015, and made specific calls for ending bullying, child labour, child marriage, child trafficking, corporal punishment, female genital mutilation and cutting, recruitment of children by armed forces or groups, and violence in schools.

According to the study, they want governments to ensure that everyone –men and women, boys and girls –can benefit from good quality education and healthcare systems. On the environment, children said they want more trees planted than cut (67%); less use of toxic materials and more recycling (59%); and less greenhouse emissions and clearner air (31%).

Children want to be involved in the monitoring of the next generation of development goals, and are aware of the importance of measuring progress at the local level, and with the direct engagement of the communities.

Review of Triple-S Project Phase Out, SMARTerWASH Begins

AGRIC, SAGNARIGU DISTRICT– The periodic Northern Region Learning Alliance Platform meeting by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) on the Sustainable Services at Scale (Triple-S) project has ended, paving way for SMARTerWASH, another promising project.

The seventh Regional Learning Alliance Platform meeting held recently at the CWSA, brought together stakeholders in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector to share experiences of the best practices and find solution to challenges facing the sector in the Northern Region.

The meeting also discussed findings from the East Gonja District aimed at monitoring the functionality and service levels of water facilities in the Salaga Township and its immediate environs.     

Extension Services Specialist and Regional Learning Alliance facilitator Godwin Kofoku in an interview with Savannahnews explained that, the Triple-S project began in 2009 in Sunyani West District in the Brong Ahafo Region, Akatsi District in the Volta Region and East Gonja District in the Northern Region. 

According to him, the focused of the project was to monitor sustainable water services delivery as against normal infrastructure provision. The functionality and services monitoring which came in the form of periodic data collection by officials of beneficiary districts, he said, assisted the districts and partners to focus on the actual services received by citizens as opposed to water infrastructure provision.

Mr. Kofoku stressed that, the project also assisted Assemblies to assess the capacity gap of District Works Department, District Water and Sanitation Teams and other departments in providing the needed support for sustainable water services.

However, an important part of ensuring the provision of sustainable water services is having a strong and complete monitoring system that provides continuous reliable data needed for corrective action and strategic planning. This is key to sustainable delivery of water and sanitation services to citizens.

But the lack of adequate funds and logistical supplies for effective monitoring to ensure the functionality of these facilities scattered nationwide, according to Mr. Kofoku, is adversely affecting rural water and sanitation services delivery. 

Besides, the challenge of easy access to and regular supply of spare parts for periodic maintenance of water facilities to ensure maximum functionality are major factors affecting sustainability. In view of this, the CWSA in partnership with IRC Ghana, has developed an innovative project called SMARTerWASH to address the challenge of monitoring in the subsector.

SMARTerWASH, is a smart and innovative Public Private Partnership (PPP) project between the CWSA, the International Water and Sanitation Center (IRC) and Akvo of The Netherlands, Skyfox, a Ghanaian private company, Water For People (WFP), USA and Rabobank Group of The Netherlands that seeks to develop simple tools for monitoring and data collection in the rural water and sanitation sub sector. 

SMARTerWASH is the use of Smart Mobile Phones in Monitoring Rural Water and Sanitation Services to ensure functionality and sustainable services to rural communities and small towns. 

The three-year project is being funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Agentschap.nl (Agency.nl) which is the implementing agency of the Government of the Netherlands. With a total cost of Euro3, 812,709 of which Euro2, 220.000 is the maximum subsidy, the project began in April 2013 and will end on March 31, 2016. 

Private funding is being provided by Cisco Systems and Konrad Hilton Foundation through Akvo, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through IRC Ghana, Skyfox and the IDA World Bank through the CWSA. The SMARTerWASH project seeks to develop the capacity of stakeholders at the national, regional, district and community levels to use mobile systems to monitor water and sanitation services and to use policy, planning and operations to ensure good quality services that last.

The seventh Northern Region Learning Alliance Platform meeting brought together stakeholders from the CWSA, East Gonja District Assembly, WaterAid-Ghana, the media and other interested groups involved in advocacy in the water, sanitation and Hygiene sector in the region.   

IEGA Project in Northern Region Enhance Educational Structures

Hardi Tijani, Executive Dir. RAINS

Timely steps taken by the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) to deal with challenges militating against quality education delivery in four districts in the Northern Region of Ghana, could soon yield substantial results in schools and pupils performances.

Challenges such as teacher absenteeism, truancy, low enrollment levels, lack of teachers’ accommodation, lack of teaching and learning materials, irregular PTA, SMC and DEOC meetings among others, are widely believed to contribute to poor performances of schools in the Northern Region.

According to the Ghana Education Service, nearly 1million children nationwide are out of school. Whereas there are no schools in some communities for parents to enroll their wards, there are indeed schools in other communities, but parents also do not see the need to enroll their wards.      

The above factors including other considerations informed the decision by RAINS to implement the “Improving Educational Governance and Accountability in Northern Region (IEGA)” project in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality, Gushegu, Karaga and West Mamprusi Districts. In each of these districts, the project was implemented in two selected communities covering a total of eight communities.

The three year IEGA project, aimed at addressing the growing levels of inadequate quality education delivery at the basic school levels which lead to undesirable education outcomes. The overarching goal of the project was to strengthen education governance and management so as to ensure quality education delivery in the four deprived districts.

PTA, SMC Meeting at Moglaa

With the successful implementation of this project, it is now expected that performances of schools and pupils in the beneficiary districts would improve remarkably well, thereby leading to a reduction in the huge number of candidates who fail at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) every year.

A Project Officer at RAINS, Mohammed Saani told Savannahnews that, prior to the implementation of IEGA, there was evidence the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), School Management Committees (SMCs), District Education Oversight Committees (DEOCs) and even Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the various districts were ineffective.

Due to the ineffectiveness of these structures, performances of schools and pupils in the districts were not the best and therefore, there was the need to reinvigorate the structures to enable them function well and effectively play their oversight roles and responsibilities. 

As the project came to an end in November, the objective of having the capacity of the leadership of the various educational structures in all four districts enhanced had been achieved. Also, the leaderships of all the various structures were now more aware of their roles and responsibilities in education governance and management better than before.

Mr. Saani noted that, as a result of IEGA, there were now quarterly district education review meetings which provide opportunity for education stakeholders to assess performance and challenges of schools, and the way forward on how to deal with challenges that confront education delivery.

RAINS, is a non-governmental organisation set up by a group of social development activists in Northern Ghana in 1993. Since its foundation, RAINS has focused on improving the quality of life particularly for children, women and girls in the Northern Region.