Jan-Olof Drangert

Community perceptions of human excreta as fertilizer in peri-urban agriculture in Ghana

Although human excreta contain the necessary nutrients for plant growth, local authorities in Ghana spend huge sums of money to dispose them as waste. Reusing excreta for agricultural purposes saves expenditure for chemical fertilizers, improves soil fertility, reduces poverty and ensures food security. People’s attitudes and perceptions about excreta vary between cultures and even within specific cultures. This study aimed to explore attitudes and perceptions among a peri-urban agricultural community towards sanitized human excreta and its use. The study adopted an exploratory design and collected data from 154 randomly selected households using questionnaires and focus group discussions. It was found that there is a general negative attitude to fresh excreta and the handling of it. However, the residents accept that excreta can be used as fertilizer, but they are not willing to use it on their own crops or consume crops fertilized with excreta. The study recommends open discussions in the community for a successful implementation of ecological sanitation.

A cultural-spatial analysis of excreting, recirculation of human excreta and health--the case of North West Frontier Province, Pakistan.

The sanitation issue is entering the development discussion and the UN proclaimed 2008 the year of sanitation. The study aims to understand the cultural-spatial dimension among Muslim communities of excreting and recirculating human excreta in North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. Information on local perceptions and cultural understanding was collected through interviews, group discussions and observations in four selected villages. The study identifies a diversity of excreting practices among age groups and sexes, and varied adherence to expressed cultural norms. Interviewees express less resentment towards urine compared to faeces, however, their negative attitude subsides when faecal matter is mixed with water since this changes appearance, odour-and cultural meaning. Religious dictums about excreta and sewage accommodate contradicting routine behaviours to cater for needs of residents and farmers. For example, when mothers pray wearing soiled clothing, and in the use of wastewater as fertiliser for food production. The excreta-related practices are compatible with good hygienic behaviour as outlined by WHO Guidelines, except for children who are allowed to defecate anywhere.

Urine blindness and the use of nutrients from human excreta in urban agriculture

A brief look around the globe shows that most countries are facing sanitary problems, especially in the expanding cities in the Southern Hemisphere. Governments and municipal councils are trying hard to improve sanitation conditions within the mind set of piped systems. There is a need to know what is being done in other countries in order to enlarge the policy options. Among these are the ones recirculating water and nutrients. This article focuses on excreta disposal systems which use little or no water, and various ways to use the end products of faeces and urine. Doing away with our urine blindness will pave the way to discover new possibilities which will save scarce resources in the future.

Why Did They Become Pipe-Bound Cities? Early Water and Sewerage Alternatives in Swedish Cities

For decades and even centuries, Swedish towns, prompted by the need for clean water, haddiscussedpotential water systems. Some towns haddevelopedplans, but it was first in the secondhalf of the 19th century that the gradual conversion was made to pipe-boundsystems for water andsanitation. Not until 1863, after towns hadgainedthe authority to collect taxes, borrow money, lay pipes through private compounds, and monitor the urban environment, did infrastructure development become the task of local government. Cholera epidemics and fire protection (and thus lower insurance fees) were among the factors motivating the town councils andproperty owners. Especially from 1875 on, the hygienic value of water was also emphasizedin the effort to enforce public health legislation. Pipes for the systems were importedanddesigns emulated.

Going Small When the City Grows Big: New Options for Water Supply and Sanitation in Rapidly Expanding Urban Areas

Abstract Actual development of water and wastewater systems in towns is an outcome of several interrelated factors such as physical, economic, and social environments. Demography is also an important factor to consider in the formulation of development strategies. Too often in policy papers, population increase only serves as an argument for urgent action, but rarely as a factor in its own right that affects chances of improving a grave situation. A model is developed to generate water management options in urban areas related to population growth. A hypothesis is that management should go small in periods when the city expands rapidly. A study is presented of the development of water and sanitation in the town of Kisumu in Kenya on the shore of Lake Victoria during last century. The aim is to describe and analyze actual development in the water sector and to foresee what prospective developments could be identified in light of continued rapid population growth. The slow growth of the town in the colonial period allowed towns to adequately meet the needs of all residents for water. The extremely rapid population growth after Independence in 1963 interacted with other factors to cause a successive deterioration of residents access to water and sewage disposal.

Closing the food loops: guidelines and criteria for improving nutrient management

Abstract As global consumption expands, the world is increasingly facing threats to resource availability and food security. To meet future food demands, agricultural resource efficiency needs to be optimized for both water and nutrients. Policy makers should start to radically rethink nutrient management across the entire food chain. Closing the food loop by recycling nutrients in food waste and excreta is an important way of limiting the use of mineral nutrients, as well as improving national and global food security. This article presents a framework for sustainable nutrient management and discusses the responsibility of four key stakeholder groups—agriculture, the food industry, consumers, and waste management—for achieving an effective food loop. In particular, we suggest a number of criteria, policy actions, and supporting strategies based on a cross-sectoral application of the waste hierarchy.

Generating applicable environmental knowledge among farmers: experiences from two regions in Poland

ABSTRACT Raising environmental awareness among farmers is the key to successfully reaching environmental goals. The present study assessed the knowledge development process and the raising of environmental awareness among 30 farmers from Poland exposed to four approaches aimed to reduce phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) losses to water. The farmers were interviewed with open-ended questions on-farm both before and after the project intervention. As hoped, the farmers attempted to adjust their farm practices to the European Union regulations, which are in some cases supported by subsidies. As a complement, the project offered tools for system-thinking based on farm data and support from agricultural advisors: a) a survey of plant-available P, potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and soil pH, resulting in soil maps; b) assessment of nitrogen leaching risks from individual fields; c) compilation of a farm-gate balance. Farmers were positive to soil surveys and maps, but had limited understanding of the nutrient balance concept and calculations. They generally relied on their own experiences regarding fertilization rather than on calculated farm nutrient balances and leaching risks. Farmers’ understanding and willingness to adopt new approaches to improve nutrient efficiency and reduce negative environmental impacts are discussed.

Who cares about water

Successfully supplying water to households in rural areas is only partly a matter of technology; mainly, it is a question of improving or adapting the existing ways in which rural people organize their human and physical resources. A study carried out in Sukumaland, Tanzania, looked into what individuals had done (or had not done)— and why — by using a combination of observation, interviews, and water-testing.

Sustainable agriculture: The study on farmers’ perception and practices regarding nutrient management and limiting losses

Abstract The paper presents the results of a scientific project focused on limiting nutrient losses from farms by introducing measures to apply fertilizers in a more sustainable way. It is a case study of selected aspects of farm management, focussing on the issue of sustainable agriculture and their tools. The main aim of the study was to analyse and evaluate farmers’ knowledge of the fertilizing process and its aspects, as well as applying sustainable agricultural activities on farms. The study emphasised the importance of nutrient management, as very important for sustainable farming. Also, the links between farmers’ opinions and their activities were analysed. The important issue concerned measures for sustainable farm management introduced on the farms, as well as measures to limit nutrient leaching into groundwater. Twenty-eight farmers from two regions in Poland were interviewed about their perceptions for the case study. In general, the farmers considered their farm activities to be more sustainable than in the past. They demonstrated an understanding of the general idea of sustainable agriculture. However, many farmers still demonstrated a poor grasp of nutrient flows and nutrient balances on farms. Their knowledge and perception was based on general, rather than specific knowledge gleaned from an academic/vocational course. The farmers demonstrated a realization that there were some new, or low-cost measures that could be introduced to make management more sustainable and pro-environmental, but there was still a need for wider adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.