Post-Disaster Food and Nutrition from Urban Agriculture: A Self-Sufficiency Analysis of Nerima Ward, Tokyo

Abstract

Background: Post-earthquake studies from around the world have reported that survivors relying on emergency food for prolonged periods of time experienced several dietary related health problems. The present study aimed to quantify the potential nutrient production of urban agricultural vegetables and the resulting nutritional self-sufficiency throughout the year for mitigating post-disaster situations. Methods: We estimated the vegetable production of urban agriculture throughout the year. Two methods were developed to capture the production from professional and hobby farms: Method I utilized secondary governmental data on agricultural production from professional farms, and Method II was based on a supplementary spatial analysis to estimate the production from hobby farms. Next, the weight of produced vegetables [t] was converted into nutrients [kg]. Furthermore, the self-sufficiency by nutrient and time of year was estimated by incorporating the reference consumption of vegetables [kg], recommended dietary allowance of nutrients per capita [mg], and population statistics. The research was conducted in Nerima, the second most populous ward of Tokyo’s 23 special wards. Self-sufficiency rates were calculated with the registered residents. Results: The estimated total vegetable production of 5660 tons was equivalent to a weight-based self-sufficiency rate of 6.18%. The average nutritional self-sufficiencies of Methods I and II were 2.48% and 0.38%, respectively, resulting in an aggregated average of 2.86%. Fluctuations throughout the year were observed according to the harvest seasons of the available crops. Vitamin K (6.15%) had the highest self-sufficiency of selected nutrients, while calcium had the lowest (0.96%). Conclusions: This study suggests that depending on the time of year, urban agriculture has the potential to contribute nutrients to diets during post-disaster situations as disaster preparedness food. Emergency responses should be targeted according to the time of year the disaster takes place to meet nutrient requirements in periods of low self-sufficiency and prevent gastrointestinal symptoms and cardiovascular diseases among survivors.

Non-Market Food Provision and Sharing in Japan’s Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes

“…Despite the growing attention paid to the sharing economy and household food production, the non-market and non-monetized sharing of home-grown food has largely escaped scholars' attention [11]. There are several studies which revealed the multidimensional roles of non-market food provision through home-gardens and community gardens in developed countries [12][13][14][15][16]. However, the existing literature has not examined the relationship between such sharing practices and landscape characteristics.…”

Resilience with Mixed Agricultural and Urban Land Uses in Tokyo, Japan

“…These areas remain vulnerable today and were often built up with low-quality housing (e.g., wooden rental houses-Moku-chin, in Japanese), lacking infrastructure, and with narrow roads [61]. Local municipalities (e.g., Nerima ward) have been exploring the potential to utilize the remaining UA in these areas for low-cost disaster preparedness purposes (evacuation and food provisioning) [23].…”

“…The dataset on professional UA (vegetable fields and orchards) was retrieved (2015) and primary data of the spatial locations and areas of hobby UA types was developed in the present study. This was conducted according to the method developed by Sioen et al [23,37] and described below, updated, and refined according to the latest satellite imagery (2015-2016) and objective of the present study.…”

“…At the same time, stable vacant lots are small in size, and as shown in this study, may not be able to provide sufficient nutrients to the local population. It is crucial that agricultural activities in peri-urban areas be protected given the current locations of UA and the need to increase the resilience of the urban core [23,[71][72][73].…”

“…The rationale for this research is that previous studies have highlighted the lack of evidence on the potential contributions of fruits and vegetable production from UA to nutritious diets [23]. This study proposes a methodology to identify the spatial distribution of different UA types in the urban area of Tokyo and to quantify the contributions of fruit and vegetable weight and nutritional self-sufficiency according to each land use pattern.…”