Urban agriculture could transform food security

[ACCRA] Using science,technology和innovation(STI) could help promote the use of urban agriculture to sustainfood and nutrition securityin Africancities，专家说。

The experts who specialise in agriculture, geography and urban planning say that urban agriculture has been neglected in urban planning and development agenda.

Agricultural activities such as cropfarming和livestockkeeping are deemed as activities of rural dwellers by African urbanites, according to the experts.

They explain that the continent needs to increase the adoption of modern technology and innovations in farming such as using agriculturaldatamonitoring sensors that transmit timely data on amount of nutrients in the soil, rainfall and temperatures to mobile phone devices for action.

“We need to find localised solutions to food and nutrition security issues in our urban settings.”

George Ofori, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences

专家在上周在加纳举行的可持续非洲城市会议上（7月3日至6日）发表了这些评论。

The conference that brought together 200 experts from many countries including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Canada and Germany, had delegates discuss current challenges and exploring future pathways forsustainablecities in Africa.

The conference was organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in collaboration with the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Network of African Academy of Sciences and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany.

“Hunger levels are on the rise in Africa but we haven’t found sustainable solutions,” says Sheryl Hendricks, director, Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

亨德里克斯解释说城市beplay下载官网西西软件could help increase agricultural diversity, especially in producing vegetables to enhance nutrition security.

According to Hendricks science, technology and innovationresearchcould help find innovations to aid food safety and reduce post-harvest losses and food waste.

George Ofori, a fellow of the GAAS, says that Africa should reduce over-reliance on modern technologies developed outside of the continent to increase sustainability. “We need to find localised solutions to food and nutrition security issues in our urban settings,” Ofori explains.

阿克塞尔Drescher研究员的能力Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiberg, Germany, says that urban agriculture is practised in some African cities such as Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, Lusaka in Zambia and Bamako in Mali, adding that urban agriculture could produce eggs, milk, poultry, fruits and vegetables that are highly nutritious.

But Drescher explains that there is a need for more research to examine the potential of urban agriculture in addressing food and nutrition security and increasing sustainability of African cities.

免责声明：德国联邦教育和研究部赞助了吉尔伯特·纳克维亚（Gilbert Nakweya）参加加纳阿克拉的活动。

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.