The project is still at conceptual stage. The pilot will be done for a period of three years from July 2017-June 2020
Funding source
The project will be co-funded by Lusaka City Council and Kasisi Agricultural Training Center
Location
Lusaka, Zambia
Background/Context
Lusaka is the capital city of Zambia and is experiencing one of the fastest urbanization rates in Africa. The city covers an area of 360 square kilometers and is not only the most populated but most densely populated city in the country. It had a population of 2,191,225 and density of 100 persons per km2 as of 2010. This characteristic of the city implies that the city’s expanding population cannot be supported comfortably due to insufficient land to support agriculture activities. The situation is worsened by the growing need for housing development which seems to be a more lucrative investment than agricultural production. Thus Lusaka relies on nearby peri-urban areas for supply of fresh foods to the city. An on-going project by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Zambia called “City Regions Food Systems” reports that food losses and food waste have been observed to be major concern for the city region food system, especially at the market level. This is as a result of poor transportation facilities, bad road network and lack of storage facilities to mention but a few. This negatively impacts farmer incomes as a good amount of produce is lost before it reaches the market. It also creates a challenge for waste management for the city council due to huge amounts of waste that has to be disposed.
The Lusaka City Council therefore intends to partner with organic farming institute called Kasisi Agriculture Training Centre which requires a huge tonnage of organic waste to make manure. This will help the local authority with waste management as well as promote better nutrition for the city through promotion of organic farming products. It is hoped that after the pilot project, the council may be able to assess the projects viability and demand for organic waste such that farmers from the nearby Peri-Urban areas may not entirely lose out when their produce goes to waste but can sell their damaged produce at a minimal fee. It is also hoped that through this project, demand can be created for organic waste and other large scale farmers can partner with the council. The project also hopes to train underprivileged women in organic farming to increase their incomes given that organic produce fetches more monetary value as compared to conventionally grown produce.
Focus/Objectives
The major objective of the project will be to alleviate the problem of food losses and food waste by getting economic value out of food that does not make it to the table. More specific objectives will include:
1. Assess the possibility of increasing farmer incomes by buying off wasted produce
2. Increasing possible incomes for women who will be trained by Kasisi Training institute in organic farming as they will get higher incomes by producing organic agricultural produce
3. Supporting the production of more organic food stuff as it is healthier and has friendlier environmental impacts
4. Improve waste management in the city
5. Improving the culture of waste separation which the city is struggling with at the moment
Key characteristics of the experience/process
Lusaka City Council manages all markets within the city and is consequently responsible for waste management in the markets. Currently, waste collection is a challenge because waste management fees charged by the council are insufficient to collect all the generated waste and the council usually has insufficient resources and collect and dispose of waste generated in the markets. Much of the waste results from food coming from the nearby towns due to lack of storage facilities and poor infrastructure to get the produce to market in time. On the other hand, Kasisi Agriculture training center is an agriculture training institute for Jesuits of the catholic church and it trains students in organic farming. The training center also has a large farm where they grow organic produce.
The project will therefore aggregate food waste from the markets and supply it to Kasisi Agriculture Training Center to be used in the institute’s farm. While the council will be responsible for separation of waste at source and aggregation of the waste, the training institute will be responsible for collection thereby enhancing council’s efforts in management of waste. The council will also sponsor a selected number of women (from its existing women groups engaged in gardening) to the agriculture institute to be trained in organic farming. During the project, assessments will be done on how to economically value wasted fresh foods so that eventually, the farmer can sell wasted food at a small fee thereby improve farmer incomes. This will reduce the amount of food that goes to waste and make better use of the wasted product.
Key actors involved and their role
The project will involve four major actors:
1. The local authority whose role will be food waste aggregation in the market place
2. Kasisi Agricultural Training Institute whose role will be to transport the waste from points of aggregation to the their farm as well as to train the less privileged women that will the local authority will sponsor
3. Women groups that will be sponsored to be trained in organic farming
4. Selected researcher to assess the amount of food waste generated, amount of organic fertilizer generated from the waste and possible value for the farmer as well as cost sharing mechanisms in the aggregation and transportation costs for future pricing of the wasted food staffs.
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
This project is still at conceptual stage but it is hoped that the following results will be achieved at the end of the project:
1. Reduced economic losses (improved economic muscle and food security)for the farmer as a result of reduced food waste
2. Improved nutritional status of the city due to improved farming methods through increased production of organic farm produce
3. Improved incomes of women who will be trained in organic farming thereby improving their food security status
4. Promotion of sustainable agriculture systems through increased organic farming
Anticipated Challenges
Anticipated challenges on the project include:
1. It is expected that the women who will be trained in organic farming might have challenges in marketing their produce in the local markets as organic products are usually sold in local super markets which require large quantities in order to purchase from the farmer. It is hoped that since Kasisi agriculture training institute produces organic farm produce on a large scale, they can buy the produce from the women and aggregate with what they produce.
2. Once the pilot project is over and the farmer can sell wasted produce. The challenge anticipated is that who will bear the cost of aggregating the food waste to make it easy for Kasisi institute to collect large amounts of the waste. This is a concern because during the pilot project the food waste will be free but it is hoped that eventually the farmer can get a return on the wasted product. This has an implication on attaining the objective of the project to increase the farmer’s income. It is hoped that the researcher to be engaged will clearly show how all parties can benefit from the project.
Key messages
1. Food waste can be useful and has economic value
2. Promotion of organic farming can increase incomes for poor households
3. Challenges that result in food losses faced by farmers from rural and peri-urban areas such as poor transportation and inadequate storage facilities can be alleviated by making use of the wasted products
السيدة Mangiza Chongo
Proponent
Mangiza Chirwa Chongo
Main responsible entity
Lusaka City Council
Date/Timeframe
The project is still at conceptual stage. The pilot will be done for a period of three years from July 2017-June 2020
Funding source
The project will be co-funded by Lusaka City Council and Kasisi Agricultural Training Center
Location
Lusaka, Zambia
Background/Context
Lusaka is the capital city of Zambia and is experiencing one of the fastest urbanization rates in Africa. The city covers an area of 360 square kilometers and is not only the most populated but most densely populated city in the country. It had a population of 2,191,225 and density of 100 persons per km2 as of 2010. This characteristic of the city implies that the city’s expanding population cannot be supported comfortably due to insufficient land to support agriculture activities. The situation is worsened by the growing need for housing development which seems to be a more lucrative investment than agricultural production. Thus Lusaka relies on nearby peri-urban areas for supply of fresh foods to the city. An on-going project by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Zambia called “City Regions Food Systems” reports that food losses and food waste have been observed to be major concern for the city region food system, especially at the market level. This is as a result of poor transportation facilities, bad road network and lack of storage facilities to mention but a few. This negatively impacts farmer incomes as a good amount of produce is lost before it reaches the market. It also creates a challenge for waste management for the city council due to huge amounts of waste that has to be disposed.
The Lusaka City Council therefore intends to partner with organic farming institute called Kasisi Agriculture Training Centre which requires a huge tonnage of organic waste to make manure. This will help the local authority with waste management as well as promote better nutrition for the city through promotion of organic farming products. It is hoped that after the pilot project, the council may be able to assess the projects viability and demand for organic waste such that farmers from the nearby Peri-Urban areas may not entirely lose out when their produce goes to waste but can sell their damaged produce at a minimal fee. It is also hoped that through this project, demand can be created for organic waste and other large scale farmers can partner with the council. The project also hopes to train underprivileged women in organic farming to increase their incomes given that organic produce fetches more monetary value as compared to conventionally grown produce.
Focus/Objectives
The major objective of the project will be to alleviate the problem of food losses and food waste by getting economic value out of food that does not make it to the table. More specific objectives will include:
1. Assess the possibility of increasing farmer incomes by buying off wasted produce
2. Increasing possible incomes for women who will be trained by Kasisi Training institute in organic farming as they will get higher incomes by producing organic agricultural produce
3. Supporting the production of more organic food stuff as it is healthier and has friendlier environmental impacts
4. Improve waste management in the city
5. Improving the culture of waste separation which the city is struggling with at the moment
Key characteristics of the experience/process
Lusaka City Council manages all markets within the city and is consequently responsible for waste management in the markets. Currently, waste collection is a challenge because waste management fees charged by the council are insufficient to collect all the generated waste and the council usually has insufficient resources and collect and dispose of waste generated in the markets. Much of the waste results from food coming from the nearby towns due to lack of storage facilities and poor infrastructure to get the produce to market in time. On the other hand, Kasisi Agriculture training center is an agriculture training institute for Jesuits of the catholic church and it trains students in organic farming. The training center also has a large farm where they grow organic produce.
The project will therefore aggregate food waste from the markets and supply it to Kasisi Agriculture Training Center to be used in the institute’s farm. While the council will be responsible for separation of waste at source and aggregation of the waste, the training institute will be responsible for collection thereby enhancing council’s efforts in management of waste. The council will also sponsor a selected number of women (from its existing women groups engaged in gardening) to the agriculture institute to be trained in organic farming. During the project, assessments will be done on how to economically value wasted fresh foods so that eventually, the farmer can sell wasted food at a small fee thereby improve farmer incomes. This will reduce the amount of food that goes to waste and make better use of the wasted product.
Key actors involved and their role
The project will involve four major actors:
1. The local authority whose role will be food waste aggregation in the market place
2. Kasisi Agricultural Training Institute whose role will be to transport the waste from points of aggregation to the their farm as well as to train the less privileged women that will the local authority will sponsor
3. Women groups that will be sponsored to be trained in organic farming
4. Selected researcher to assess the amount of food waste generated, amount of organic fertilizer generated from the waste and possible value for the farmer as well as cost sharing mechanisms in the aggregation and transportation costs for future pricing of the wasted food staffs.
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
This project is still at conceptual stage but it is hoped that the following results will be achieved at the end of the project:
1. Reduced economic losses (improved economic muscle and food security)for the farmer as a result of reduced food waste
2. Improved nutritional status of the city due to improved farming methods through increased production of organic farm produce
3. Improved incomes of women who will be trained in organic farming thereby improving their food security status
4. Promotion of sustainable agriculture systems through increased organic farming
Anticipated Challenges
Anticipated challenges on the project include:
1. It is expected that the women who will be trained in organic farming might have challenges in marketing their produce in the local markets as organic products are usually sold in local super markets which require large quantities in order to purchase from the farmer. It is hoped that since Kasisi agriculture training institute produces organic farm produce on a large scale, they can buy the produce from the women and aggregate with what they produce.
2. Once the pilot project is over and the farmer can sell wasted produce. The challenge anticipated is that who will bear the cost of aggregating the food waste to make it easy for Kasisi institute to collect large amounts of the waste. This is a concern because during the pilot project the food waste will be free but it is hoped that eventually the farmer can get a return on the wasted product. This has an implication on attaining the objective of the project to increase the farmer’s income. It is hoped that the researcher to be engaged will clearly show how all parties can benefit from the project.
Key messages
1. Food waste can be useful and has economic value
2. Promotion of organic farming can increase incomes for poor households
3. Challenges that result in food losses faced by farmers from rural and peri-urban areas such as poor transportation and inadequate storage facilities can be alleviated by making use of the wasted products