World Ark Magazine - January/February 2008 - (Page 30) O Brian Halweil and Danielle Nierenberg are both fellows at the Worldwatch Institute. This article is a reprinted excerpt from the book State of the World 2007, which can be purchased at www.worldwatch.org. n the sur face, farmers in Accra. Their plots vary from Accra in Ghana, just a quarter of an acre to nearly 50 Beijing in China acres in the city outskirts. Among the and Vancouver biggest challenges they face is keepin Canada seem ing their crops irrigated, since clean, to have little in affordable sources of water are not common. They easy to find. Backyard farmers often range in population from roughly 2 use greywater—the waste water from million in the metropolitan region of bathrooms and kitchens. While sewage Vancouver to more than 14.5 million water can be a health hazard, farmers in Beijing. The per capita incomes are in Accra—and in cities all over the vastly different: about $700 a year in world—are finding that human waste most of Ghana, about $2,200 in Beijing can be a valuable fertilizer. In Beijing, city planners in the and more than $32,000 in Vancouver. But take a closer look, digging a little 1990s decided that urban agriculture deeper into the backyard and rooftop was an important way to meet the city’s gardens, and you’ll realize that these food needs, preserve green spaces and city folk share a preoccupation that conserve the region’s water and land has thrived since the first cities—rais- resources more efficiently. They began offering courses and assistance for ing food. Accra has a population of 6 million, aspiring farmers, they surveyed existincluding a steady supply of migrants ing land use to better understand the from rural areas and immigrants who extent of urban farming and they tried seek work in its factories. Because food to incorporate urban farming into longis expensive, people farm anywhere term city planning decisions. Today, urban and peri-urban agrithey can: in backyard plots, in empty lots, along roadsides and in abandoned culture (farming in, around and near dumps. These farmers grow a variety cities) in Beijing not only provides resiof crops for home use and sale, includ- dents with safer, healthier food, it also ing exotic varieties like green peppers, keeps farmers in business. Between spring onions and cauliflower, as well 1995 and 2003, the income for farmers as more traditional crops like okra, hot living just outside of Beijing doubled. peppers and leafy greens such as alefi The city includes tens of thousands of household farms and more than 1,900 and suwule. There are more than 1,000 such agritourism gardens for Beijing resi- On this day, a very special child was born. No one knows if the child was a boy or girl, or exactly where the birth occurred. But we do know the event happened in a city. What was so special about this anonymous birth? This child was the grain of sand that tipped the scales. For the first time, most of the world’s population now lives in cities instead of rural areas. 30 January/February 2008 | WORLD ARK www.heifer.org http://www.worldwatch.org http://www.heifer.org
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