From Piles of Trash Kibera’s Organic Farms Relieve Hunger
Trash dumps are being turned into organic gardens in a notorious Nairobi slum.
Youth in Kandimiru, a village within Kibera — known as Africa's biggest urban slum — are growing and selling produce on the former rubbish heaps, potentially easing the food crisis acutely felt by Africa's poor.
The science-fiction site I09 features photos of the transformation, calling it "the future of urban agriculture." It could also be the future of Kibera’s youth: "Most of the members were criminals who have chosen to reform," Mohammed Abdullahi, an official with the Kibera Youth Initiative for Community Development, tells IRIN news.
There are other indicators of change in the Kenyan slum, where vigilante groups rather than police patrol the streets. The Associated Press reports that some residents of Kibera "have helped construct a network of public latrines that recycle human waste into gas for cooking and light" and others, with the help of a Swiss aid organization, "use sunlight to purify drinking water, dramatically slashing cases of waterborne disease."
The most futuristic advance that could arise in Kibera involves using the methane gas from toilets to power people's homes. According to the AP, "Residents pay three cents to use one of eight drop toilets installed around a buried tank. The waste goes into an airtight 'biodigester,' where methane gas filters into an upper tank. The gas can be used to light stoves, turn on lamps, or heat water, although it is not yet pumped to individual homes."
Now that would make news on I09.
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Comments
Is this a good idea?
When I first read this article, I think several things. Firstly, is it really a good idea to grow vegetables, organic or not, on an old landfill? I would guess: NO! When growing vegetables, above or in the ground, they absorb all the toxins and heavy metals that are readily available in the soil. You can only imagine that the landfill in kibera is not an up-to-date aired and lined landfill; it is probably just a heap of rubbish. In oxygen deprived landfills dioxins and other very toxic compounds are created, and these would immediately be absorbed into the food. It is just a reminder that poor people are treated as second class humans, that do not deserve the same things we do in richer nations. They do, of course, also deserve safe food that will not poison them.
Secondly, using biodigesters to create methane to make gas for cooking and electricity is not futuristic at all. It is a technology that has been successfully used in most countries with a functioning sewage system and wastewater treatment plants, for a long time. Methane is a by-product, and in Stockholm it is used for public transportation buses, cooking gas, and electricity.
Methane Gas for Power in the United States?
I agree, Cecilia, that growing vegetables from soil covering toxic waste is worrisome. I recall one of my friends telling me how in his hometown in Massachusetts the community built a soccer field on top of an old landfill. People were excited about the possibility that such land could be re-used... but then kids who played regularly on the field started getting sick and thus the idea of a soccer field on a toxic landfill didn't seem like the best idea after all.
It's true that the poor deserve safe food that will not poison them. On the other hand, the immediacy of this solution seems to be helping with the immediate problems of food shortages and high food prices. Does starving today outweigh the health risks that may be incurred by food grown on such sites?
I was particularly interested in your comments on methane. Living in the United States, I am really unfamiliar with the concept of using methane as an energy source. So I did a quick internet search when I read your comment to see if I have been completely disconnected from this development. It turns out that the use of methane is not so advanced in the United States. This isn't surprising to me really-- after all, we're a country that has waited until the last possible moment to diversify our energy dependence from oil (and we've still got people chanting "drill baby, drill."
I did find some interesting (recent) developments in using methane in California. I find it particularly interesting as I grew up in a big farming town in central California, flanked on either side by dairies. Apparently these dairies are now big sources of methane power for California. Most of the articles I have briefly skimmed about the subject come from March and April of this year. It seems that the U.S. is behind the times when it comes to alternative energy sources. Why am I not surprised?
Methane Gas and Sustainable Practices
I appreciate the digging you did, Leah, to find the articles on the California dairies working to capture and treat methane to produce renewable gas. I wonder whether the U.S. is really behind the times when it comes to exploring alternative energy sources -- but the work that's being done is either not regularly highlighted or is ill-supported by the government and private sector (or perhaps a combination of both). There are interesting examples of methane use in the developing world as well -- I recently returned from a visit to the Rio Muchacho organic farm in Ecuador where they've built a simple biogas plant where fermented manure produces energy for cooking, heating water and lighting. The design was based on a model in Vietnam, and the farm has been using this technique for a number of years, so it's not viewed as a "futuristic" practice though it is still far from standard.
Methane gas in California
I went to school in Central California for a short while, and took a course in wastewater treatment, and I learned that methane gas production does occur, and it is done to reduce the amount of sewage sludge that you have to dispose of. So methane gas production does happen in the US, but it is probably used for electricity production on-site. I'm sure there are other places in the states that captures methane, like at landfills and dairy production. But the energy might just be used locally on-site. If you hear the term "biogas", that's it.
Vermont Dairy
Four Vermont Dairy farmers are capturing methane gas for energy as a way to diversify their farms as the price of milk has slowly declined in recent years. The farmers have received grant money from the federal and state governments, along with the utility company, reports the New York Times.
Utility customers pay a premium price for electricity produced from cow manure, but for many, it's worth it. “Rural customers, in particular, are very excited that something that is considered by some to be a liability, manure, has become, in essence, a resource,” said one utility company representative.
Here's how the process works:
As an added bonus, the digester's byproducts are turned into fertilizer and cow bedding.
Green Agriculture
I came across an article in the New York Times reporting that the United Nation's estimates that "The trillions of farm animals around the world generate 18 percent of the emissions that are raising global temperatures." Because of rising incomes in developing countries demand for meat has risen by 33 percent in China, India, and Brazil. The increased demand may put an even larger strain on the environment with production increases.
That is why these solutions are so important. The article sites methane capture but also references taxes that may be put on beef, Sweden's plan to put labels on food explaining the higher emissions from red meat as opposed to chicken, and Denmark's method of injecting manure fertilizer below the soil to decrease fumes.
Has anyone heard of any other methods to curb meat consumption or make agriculture greener? I know the UN is starting to promote "green" agricultural financing in developing countries, does anyone know more?
I did find some interesting
I did find some interesting (recent) developments in using methane in California. I find it particularly interesting as I grew up in a big farming town in central California, flanked on either side by dairies. Apparently these dairies are now big sources of methane power for California. Most of the articles I have briefly skimmed about the subject come from March and April of this year. It seems that the U.S. is behind the times when it comes to alternative energy sources. Why am I not surprised?
Watch how farm leader Moha
Watch how farm leader Moha Mohamed shows the BBC's World Today program how the organic produce is being grown.
methane gas from toilets in future houses???
Hi, I have been in oil industry for many years and have reach a point where I have had enough! seen too many countries in Africa fighting poverty...not that we are the guilty ones! I am planning to raise funds to build a village for orphans in Angola. I am supporting an orphanage with about 50 kids...I am looking at building a green village...solar panels, recycling of all waters...agricultural area where they will get introduced to agriculture techniques and where waste waters are reused to irrigate. I am confident I will have the land soon and thereafter will look at all technologies. Can you help me finding out exactly how use waters/organic watsee can be used and methane recovered for kitchen purpose...lighting etc.? Thx for your help. Best Regards
. Xavier
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