Urban Agriculture, A Pillar in Achieving Food Sovereignty and Nutritious Food.

Members of MVIWATA in Musoma Municipal have initiated Urban Agriculture trainings facilitated by Extension officers in collaboration with MVIWATA’s Groups and Networks in Musoma Municipality. The training is part of MVIWATA’s efforts to strengthen farmers’ groups and networks in urban areas so that they can fully engage in sustainable production initiatives through agriculture, animal husbandry, beekeeping and aquaculture to increase income in the family households, improve nutrition and promote food sovreignty.

Among the training topics that farmers receive in urban agriculture include the preparation of plastic bags and trays for planting nurseries, precedures for preparation of nursery for vegetable seedlings, How to mix manure fertilizers in prepared nurseries, transplanting in nurseries, types of vegetable nurseries, eenefits of growing seedlings in the garden as well as value addition of the products they produce.

Into the later phases of the training the focus will also be on animal husbandry, aquaculture and beekeeping. Likewise the training will focus on value addition and marketing of the produce from urban agriculture initiatives.

Sustainable production initiatives training for smallholder farmers and MVIWATA members is part of MVIWATA’s activities in ensuring that the community, especially the peasant farmers, have access to nutritious food emanating from what farmers’ produce, thus bringing into practice the concept of food sovereignty as well as improving nutrition and income in households.

One of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century will be to feed a projected global population of nine billion people while reducing humanity’s agricultural footprint at the same time. Land clearing and more intensive use of existing croplands are often considered to be the two main options to increase crop production, yet biodiversity loss and increased greenhouse gas emissions are associated with both of these approaches.

Urban agriculture, the growing of crops, livestock keeping and aquaculture within cities for human consumption, could be one means of increasing global food supply without relying on further land clearing, utilizing already cleared urban land and possibly allowing for “land sparing” in more natural rural areas.

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