Urban Agriculture Paradigms in Urban Health in Tanzania and Togo
© 2022 Akuto Akpedze Konou
CEAT PhD candidate Akuto Akpedze Konou and her supervisor Jérôme Chenal are working on a multidimensional assessment of the perceived health impacts of Urban Agriculture in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and Lomé, Togo, from an urban planning perspective, under the umbrella of the SNF Sinergia Project "Global Health Africa."
This study is a research project that aims to find out whether food security or psychological well-being is the most important role that urban agriculture plays in the health of African cities in the perception of farmers, consumers and planners. The research is done from an urban planning perspective, using quantitative and qualitative empirical approaches on comparative case studies.
The thesis topic is part of the transcontinental learning project “African contributions to global health: Circulation of knowledge and innovations" one of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Sinergia projects.
It is a multidisciplinary team composed of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from three co-applicants: Swiss TPH, EPFL and the University of Basel, as well as 20 project partners. Team members specialized in the history and economics of health in Africa, veterinary and human epidemiology, pharmaceutical medicine, environmental engineering, and urban planning.
Urban farming in Africa is generally practised on a larger scale than the community or balcony garden of the Western environment. The thesis aims to investigate the place of urban farming as practised in Africa, in aspects of urban health, using a multidimensional approach.
It, therefore, put forward 4 hypotheses that tell the small story that even if there is not much scientific interest in urban farming and health in the organization of African cities, there is not enough quantity and good quality production to achieve food security goals, the perceived psychological well-being derived from the empowerment female urban farmers from this is a sufficient motive to plan urban farming in African cities. Two cases are being studied, Lomé in Togo and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
It is believed that the research could contribute to Global Health, in the sense that if positive effects of Urban Farming practices are noticed scientifically, even if only on women's health in Africa (and research has shown that women, even in Western countries, generally have a greater mental burden than men), Urban Agriculture might be systematically integrated into urban planning projects, adapting it to Western realities.
The fieldwork has already been done in Lomé in April-May 2022 thanks to the support of the project partners of the Centre of Excellence CERViDA-DOUNEDON of the Université de Lomé. The one in Dar es Salaam is being prepared for early 2023, after a preliminary visit which took place in December 2022, with the assistance of ARDHI University. Articles are being written about the results. CEAT-EPFL would like to express its sincere thanks to Dr Coffi Aholou and Professor Kossiwa Zinsou-Klassou of CERViDA as well as to Dr Victoria Mathew Mwakalinga of ARDHI University and all their collaborators.
