Abstract:In response to changing urban food systems, short supply chains have been advocated to meet urban food needs while building more sustainable urban food systems. Despite an increasing interest in urban food supply and the flows of food from production to consumption, there is a lack of empirical studies and methodologies which systematically analyse the actual proportion and nutritional significance of local and regional food supplied to urban markets. The aim of this empirical study therefore was to compare the geographical sources supplying food to the urban population ("foodsheds") in Tamale, Ghana and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to record the supplied quantities and to assess the level of interaction between the sources and the respective city. The study was conducted over two years, covering the seasons of abundant and short supply, via traffic surveys on the access roads to the two cities, and in the Tamale markets, resulting altogether in more than 40,000 records of food flow. Results indicated that food sources were highly crop-and season-specific, ranging from one-dimensional to multi-dimensional foodsheds with diverse sources across seasons. Across the commodity-specific foodsheds, city region boundaries were established. Within the proposed city region a relatively large proportion of smallholders contributed to urban food supply, taking advantage of the proximity to urban markets. While food provided from within the city region offers certain place-based benefits, like the provision of fresh perishable crops, a larger geographical diversity of foodsheds appeared to enhance the resilience of urban food systems, such as against climate related production failures.

In large areas of sub-Saharan Africa crop production must cope with low soil fertility. To increase soil fertility, the application of biochar (charred biomass) has been suggested. In urban areas, untreated waste water is widely used for irrigation because it is a nutrient-rich year-round water source. Uncertainty exists regarding the interactions between soil properties, biochar, waste water and fertilization over time. The aims of this study were to determine these interactions in two typical sandy, soil organic carbon (SOC) and nutrient depleted soils under urban vegetable production in Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) over two years. The addition of biochar at 2 kg m−2 made from rice husks and corn cobs initially doubled SOC stocks but SOC losses of 35% occurred thereafter. Both biochar types had no effect on soil pH, phosphorous availability and effective cation exchange capacity (CEC) but rice husk biochar retained nitrogen (N). Irrigation with domestic waste water increased soil pH and exchangeable sodium over time. Inorganic fertilization alone acidified soils, increased available phosphorous and decreased base saturation. Organic fertilization increased SOC, N and CEC. The results from both locations demonstrate that the effects of biochar and waste water were less pronounced than reported elsewhere.

Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices are crucial in managing climatic shocks faced by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. However, evidence on the socio-psychological drivers of farmers’ adoption of CSA practices remains limited. This study employed the Theory of Planned Behavior framework to analyze smallholder farmers’ intention and adoption behavior toward CSA practices in rural Ghana. The study sampled 350 smallholder farmers from the Upper East and North-East Regions of Ghana and employed the Structural Equation Model to understand smallholder farmers’ intention and adoption behavior toward CSA practices. Results showed that farmers’ attitudes (notably their beneficial evaluation of CSA practices) had a significant impact (0.25) on their intention to adopt CSA practices. Social pressure exerted on farmers to use CSA practices (Subjective norm) also had a significant impact (0.52) on farmers’ adoption behavior. Perceived behavior control which measures the controllability and use of CSA practices also had a significant impact on both the intention (0.43) and adoption behavior (0.20) of smallholder farmers. Findings highlight the role socio-psychological factors play in explaining the adoption of CSA practices in rural Ghana. We recommend the need to create awareness of CSA practices by sharing relevant information more widely on CSA practices through community leaders, chief farmers, assembly members, and clan heads in order to exert influence on farmer’s adoption of CSA practices.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

In West Africa, rampant urbanization is changing food systems, including the magnitude and composition of food flows and the length of supply chains. An increasing body of literature discusses pathways to sustainable transformation of urban food systems taking into account links between urban and rural spaces. Research and policy have focused on the role of cities as consumption centers receiving food from local, regional, and global hinterlands. This study aims at widening the perspective on the role of cities in food distribution, by bringing into focus a city's function as a consumption, aggregation, and disaggregation center. The analysis is based on a comprehensive set of primary data on food flows collected in four West African cities across different seasons. The analysis shows that the investigated cities are integrated into multi-scale urban and market networks. Their position within these networks interacts with their reliance on other territories for food supply and with their functions, such as the aggregation of goods. The capital cities of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Bamako (Mali) relied more on lower-rank urban settlements further away, while Tamale, a secondary city in Ghana, acted as an assembly market for local rural producers and in turn supplied larger urban centers. Bamenda, a secondary city in Cameroon, acted as a consumption center sourcing mainly from its hinterland. Beyond that, city functions were context-specific and varied according to type of product and season. Extending the perspective on the role of cities has implications for policy, including bringing into focus and strengthening midstream segments, such as market and transport links.