Nancy Karanja

Benefits and Selected Health Risks of Urban Dairy Production in Nakuru, Kenya

Health risks from food production in urban areas are attracting increased international attention, especially in poor countries with rapid urbanization where urban farming is widely practiced to mitigate hunger and poor nutrition as well as reduce food expenditures. This study examines a selected range of health risks as compared to the benefits for an urban population for which a considerable quantity of background data are available, namely Nakuru municipality in Kenya. The research was carried out in conjunction with a related survey of crop-livestock-waste interactions in the same town, described in the previous chapter.

Crop–Livestock–Waste Interactions in Nakuru’s Urban Agriculture

As a complement to the research in Nairobi presented in the previous chapter, which mapped materials and market flows of nutrients in Kenya’s capital city, this chapter presents a more in-depth picture of sources and types of waste generated by farmers in an urban area and the management practices involved. Both studies are aimed at informing policy. Whereas the Nairobi study focused on the handling of nutrients by community-based organizations, this study of Nakuru focuses on how urban farming households handle waste, including that generated by livestock. Some of the health risks involved are examined in Chapter 12 of this book.