Abstract
Recent studies have examined the urban metabolism of cities using urban consumption as a proxy for food inflows but very few studies have aimed at quantifying the role of cities as trade hubs and nutrient sinks of their hinterlands. We therefore examined the linkages between food and animal feed supply, their places of production and nutrient flows through the urban system in the two West African cities of Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Using primary data on food and feed flows, and secondary data to assess the transformation of these flows into nutrient terms, we show that, besides urban consumption, the function of the two study sites as trade hubs significantly determines nutrient flows. In Tamale, > 50% of the nutrient inflows was neither consumed nor was lost in situ but left that city again for other destinations. At least 30% of the incoming cereals was stored in the city for later consumption or export. Ouagadougou relied more on imported goods with 40% of N imported from foreign countries compared to Tamale where only 10% of the N was imported, thus contributing to heavier nutrient extraction in remote production areas.
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Notes
The peak season was considered to be the main harvest period, November/December, and the lean season was defined as the end of the dry season, April/May.
Figures on solid waste generation and collection vary, depending on the source. A more recent news report referred to an amount of 300 t of solid waste generated per day and a collection rate of 82% (Daily Graphic 2015).
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Acknowledgements
This work was carried out as part of the UrbanFoodPlus project, jointly funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the initiative GlobE – Research for the Global Food Supply, Grant Numbers 031A242-A and 031A242-D, with support from the CGIAR research programme on Water, Land and Ecosystems.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Form used to record food flows on the access road to Tamale (Ghana).
Appendix 2
Nutrient contents of food and feed items recorded in the survey of Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).
Category | Commodity | Nutrient content (kg t−1) | Source | Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | P | K | ||||
Cereals | Maize | 13 | 2.41 | 3.05 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | |
Rice | 11.50 | 1.15 | 0.98 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Millet | 18.70 | 3.11 | 3.80 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Fruits | Watermelon | 0.80 | 0.09 | 1.09 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | |
Orange | 1.20 | 0.19 | 1.66 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Banana | 2.20 | 0.25 | 3.76 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Mango | 0.90 | 0.18 | 1.80 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Livestock and fish | Cattle | 29.40 | 1.82 | 3.05 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | |
Fish | 36.60 | 2.42 | 3.79 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Goats | 28.00 | 1.50 | 3.85 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Sheep | 26.30 | 1.49 | 2.50 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Chickens | 32.60 | 1.94 | 2.76 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Roots, tubers and legumes | Yam | 3.10 | 0.53 | 8.16 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | |
Groundnut | 41.00 | 3.94 | 7.20 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Bean | 5.00 | 0.56 | 2.42 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Cassava | 1.80 | 0.47 | 2.71 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Plantain | 1.90 | 0.34 | 5.00 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Sweet potato | 2.40 | 0.43 | 4.16 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Vegetables | Tomato | 1.60 | 0.32 | 2.55 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | |
Onion | 1.80 | 0.39 | 1.83 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Hot pepper | 3.00 | 0.43 | 3.31 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Avocado | 2.70 | 0.46 | 4.92 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Cabbage | 2.50 | 0.37 | 3.17 | Stadlmayr et al. (2012) | ||
Animal feeda | Cassava peel | 7.38 | 2.10 | 6.40 | Feedipedia (2018) | |
Cowpea forage | 27.85 | 2.40 | 19.10 | Feedipedia (2018) | Aerial part, fresh | |
Fresh grass | 5.18 | 0.77 | 6.29 | Feedipedia (2018) | Fresh weight taken into account (i.e. nutrient contents reduced by 40.6% [feedipedia]); assumed type of grass: Andropogon (Andropogon canaliculatus) | |
Groundnut forage | 24.15 | 2.00 | 18.90 | Feedipedia (2018) | Fresh | |
Maize bran | 18.31 | 3.40 | 7.30 | Feedipedia (2018) | ||
Fodder (not specified) | 15.83 | 1.62 | 11.58 | Calculated for Tamale (considering proportional nutrient contents by weight) | ||
Pigeon pea forage | 29.23 | 1.80 | 14.70 | Feedipedia (2018) | Aerial part, fresh | |
Rice straw | 6.46 | 0.90 | 18.00 | Feedipedia (2018) | ||
Soybean forage | 24.15 | 2.70 | 20.23 | Feedipedia (2018) | Aerial part, fresh | |
Bean forage | 11.36 | 1.10 | 23.50 | Feedipedia (2018) | Common bean straw | |
Millet stalks | 8.40 | 1.50 | 23.80 | Feedipedia (2018) | Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), straw | |
Sorghum forage | 5.92 | 0.70 | 12.90 | Feedipedia (2018) | Sorghum hay | |
Maize stalks | 5.92 | 0.70 | 13.60 | Feedipedia (2018) | Maize stover, dried | |
Fodder (not specified) | 13.85 | 2.40 | 10.37 | Calculated for Ouagadougou (considering proportional nutrient contents by weight) | ||
Faecal sludge | Dewatered faecal sludge (20% of raw sludge) | 10.5 | 10.2 | 3.9 | Cofie et al. (2009) | |
Municipal waste | HH organic waste | 14.3 | 4.6 | 13.0 | Cofie et al. (2009) | Market and HH waste were merged for the nutrient contents of municipal waste |
Market organic waste | 12.5 | 4.5 | 9.4 | Cofie et al. (2009) | Market and HH waste were merged for the nutrient contents of municipal waste | |
Appendix 3
Quantification of faecal sludge and solid waste in Tamale (Ghana).
Total waste generated (t day−1) | Organic fraction (%) | Total waste collected (t day−1) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Municipal solid waste (scenario 1) | 250 | 60 | 115 |
Source: Pradhan et al. (2013) | Source: Miezah et al. (2015) | Source: Personal communication (Abudu Imoro, Deputy Regional Manager, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, 2014) | |
Municipal solid waste (scenario 2) | 300 | 60 | 246 |
Source: Daily Graphic (2015) | Source: Miezah et al. (2015) | Source: Daily Graphic (2015) |
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Karg, H., Akoto-Danso, E.K., Drechsel, P. et al. Food- and feed-based nutrient flows in two West African cities. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 115, 173–188 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-018-9944-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-018-9944-4