Prof.
Dr. Bend Marshner, a Soil Scientist at the Geographical Institute in Germany has
raised concerns over the absolute neglect of urban Agriculture in the West
African sub-region. He said much of Agricultural
research and aid work in the sub-region has been focusing on rural agriculture.
According to him, urban Agriculture is becoming increasingly more important
since consumers in the cities are demanding for more vegetables which need to
be produce closer to them because they perished during transportation. Prof.
Dr. Marshner was speaking to a team of researchers in West Africa at the
opening ceremony of the UrbanFoodPlus Summer School at the University for
Development Studies on how to enhance food security in sub-region. UrbanFoodPlus
is an African-German partnership aimed to enhance resource use efficiency in
urban and peri-urban Agriculture for improved food security in West African
cities, financed by the German Ministry of Education and Research. It is a
seven million Euro project which is a five-year activity, brought together PhD
students, post-doctoral researchers and professors from four German
universities and partnered with various West African institutions. Prof. Dr.
Bend Marshner also stated that urban
vegetable growers depend on wastewater during dry season due to scarcity. This
he said poses consumers to health hazards, hence the need to developing simple
treatment technologies to engage in all year-round farming. The summer school will dedicate a day to assess the potential of
biochar, a type of charcoal produce at very low oxygen levels to improve soil
quality, reduce greenhouse gas emission and improve the water holding capacity
of soils.
Source:Saaka Alhassan
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