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Agriculture &Urban Bill Brieger | 22 Apr 2014 06:39 am

Earth Day, Green Cities, Urban Agriculture and Malaria

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about six years ago following a global food crisis, a United Nations high-level task force called for a paradigm shift in urban planning, to one that encourages urban and peri-urban food production. By including urban agriculture in urban land use considerations, planners hoped to achieve benefits ranging from improved food security, economic development to greener environments.

FAO recognizes that there are complex political issues involved in meeting the vision of promoting urban agriculture, including basic access to land, water and other resources, before the benefits can be realized. The issue is further complicated by malaria in some urban environments.

Prathiba De Silva and John Marshall observed that, “Malaria transmission in urban and periurban areas is highly focused around vector breeding sites, which tend to be more numerous in areas of lower socioeconomic status. Control strategies should therefore adopt an element of spatial targeting rather than targeting a wide urban area uniformly. Vector breeding sites are common in areas with slum-like conditions and in areas where urban agriculture is practiced.”

In another study Christophe Antonio-Nkondjio and colleagues concluded that, “The data confirm high selection pressure on mosquitoes originating from urban areas and suggest urban agriculture rather than pollution as the major factor driving resistance to insecticide.” Similarly, Seidahmed et al. observed

— Urban gardens along the banks of the Niger River in Bamako, Mali —

different urban agriculture land use patterns between urban and peri-urban areas as well as differences in insecticide resistance.

These studies suggest that urban planners not only need to consider urban agriculture in land use planning but also need a strong working relationship with public health authorities. Both need to work on pesticide use issues. Green cities can be places that help feed their populations, but they can also be places that a strong focus on local land use can be used to prevent malaria.

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