Uses of Wastewater for Urban Agriculture and Its Contribution to Household Food Security in Akaki Kality Sub City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2022-12
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The use of wastewater in urban agriculture (UA) has been a heated topic due to its contribution on food security and extending effect on human health following the presence of microbes and heavy metals. A cross-sectional and experimental-based research design was conducted in the Akaki Kality sub-city of Addis Ababa to investigate the use of wastewater in urban agriculture and its contribution to household food security. Household questionnaire survey data were acquired from 183 individual farmers using a purposive sampling method. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distritribution and measure of central tendency such as mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum to describe the data. Meanwhile, ordinal logistic regression was utilized to determine the explanatory variables that had an effect on household food insecurity status. The descriptive statistic shows that about 40% of the households were categorized as food secure, on the other hand 61.05% of the households had acceptable food consumption score (>35). The results of the ordered logistic model reveal that household head family size, education level, farm size, farming experience, on-farm income, offfarm income, household expenditure, access to extension service and access to fertilizer significantly influenced sample households' food security in the study area. Households had poor practices in food handling, personal hygiene, and water sanitation and this was also reflected during personal observation. The level of total coliform and E. coli was found to high in the analyzed sample, and this makes it unsafe for irrigation. The food safety gap showed in practice makes the farmers more exposable for different types of disease. Meanwhile, the heavy metal concentration in irrigation water did not exceed the recommended limit due to dilution of wastewater, environmental monitoring system, seasonal variation, deposition of metals in soil, etc. Despite the low level of heavy metals in the analyzed sample, continuous use of this water may results in different health related disease for the farmers as well as the consumers. Finally, the study concludes the use of wastewater for urban agriculture is safe. Yet, adequate monitoring and analysis of the metals in irrigation water is required to prevent their accumulation in the food chain.
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Wastewater, Food Security, Urban agriculture, irrigation, Akaki Kaliti sub city