SDC A&FS Network: Newsletter

​​Peer learning concept

The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) Project works on urban food systems with six “front- runner” secondary cities – two each in the involved countries of Bangladesh, Kenya, and Rwanda. Secondary cities are typically of a size where food system transformation is considered more feasible, ​as argued in this NICE supported publication​.

In each of these cities, it is the local government, municipality, or city corporation that is the main project partner. They have identified focal points from the city architecture that engage in the peer-learning process. The process is facilitated by the World Food System Centre (WFSC) and the AgroEcosystem group at ETH-Zürich, which has a pre-existing collaboration with the FAO Headquarters.

From virtual to face-to-face

After several online peer-learning events between all six NICE cities from all countries, a face-to-face peer-learning event was organised in Kenya from 11-17 February 2023.

The program was agreed between the city leadership, WFSC & AE-group at ETH, and FAO HQ, and made the link to the FAO Green Cities Initiative that works in Kenya in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The opportunity was taken to involve the city of Bambilor from Senegal which is also part of the Green Cities Initiative. Jointly with officials from all these cities, national partners from the Ministries of Education, Health and Agriculture, FAO Kenyan representative, and participation of the Swiss Embassy in Nairobi, the peer-learning event involved visits to Busia and Nairobi.

The topics of focus included food system governance and facilitating multisectoral engagement from nutrition, health and agriculture, as well as from civil society and local businesses involved in food production, processing and sales. Here the NICE cities learnt in particular from Kisumu, Mombasa, Nairobi, and Bambilor about their food city charters, and anchoring of food system platforms through local legislation and by-laws.

Attention was given to the channeling of nutritious food to the public procurement system which Busia city has been successfully doing with its school feeding program, to the whole question of introducing agroecological transition, and to the interlinkages between demand and supply, and how this can be best achieved.

When working with secondary cities, the farming systems involve the food shed, while many consumers are based in the urban/peri-urban centers, and it was reflected how demand work needs to include consumers more broadly, through social activations, while also involving farmers, and more traditional multipliers like schools, health facilities (clinics), and community nutrition officers. The cities are also cognizant that many urban and peri-urban inhabitants are constrained in their consumer choices by a lack of resources, triggering the attention given to the public procurement system, and also examining other support modalities like small grants.

Poster gallery

The cities involved all presented the different ways they are working on urban food systems through a poster.

Outlook and next steps

Going forward, the NICE project will continue its peer learning concept through a mix of virtual and face-to-face meetings. It is also planned to continue the fruitful exchange with FAO at country level and with the Green City Initiative. As the NICE city focal points gain confidence, they will start to contribute to city networks at national and multilateral levels (like the Milan Pact). The two cities involved in Rwanda (Rusizi and Rubavu) are part of a national urban agriculture city network where experience sharing has already begun.

Ultimately, the peer learning is closely linked with the question of scales and the NICE project is starting to document its learnings in a synthetic manner for sharing with other cities that will be coming on board with the initial three​ countries, and ultimately beyond.

For more information on the NICE project see our website: https://nice-nutrition.ch and recently published protocol paper: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1081535

NICE project coordinator: Helen Prytherch, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). Contact: helen.prytherch@swisstph.ch

With the following authors of this contribution:
Dominique Barjolle, Senior Researcher, SAE group, ETH Zürich: barjolle@ethz.ch
Elizabeth Imbo, NICE Country Manager, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture: elizabeth.imbo@syngenta.com
Martijn Sonnevelt, World Food System Centre (WFSC), ETH Zürich: martijin.sonnevelt@ethz.ch

The story began with internationally renowned entomologist Dr. Ibrahim Baoua. When coming back to his home country, after having spent many years abroad, he decided to combine his university career with the endeavor to bring back the academic knowledge to the farmers, especially the smallholders in his region, the Sahel in Niger. Dr. Baoua works as a scientist at the University of Maradi, but at the same time he has funded an organization, named “Sahel Bio”, to facilitate the two-way exchange: knowledge from the university to the farmers on the ground, and also bringing their knowledge and experience back to academia, so that both can cross-fertilize each other.

Speaking of fertilization: that was one of the first entry points, because soil is becoming more and more infertile and land degradation is rampant in the Sahel – ​desertification, erosion, and overgrazing, to name a few of the challenges. Dr. Baoua and the very engaged team at Sahel Bio, mainly students and academics from Maradi University, came up with the idea to use effective microorganisms – EM (Pseudomonas fluorescens)– as one means to improve soil fertility (along with compost, green manure, and crop rotation). It’s not only about bringing this technology and knowledge to the villages, but in the communities, small groups of “field scientists” are formed to experiment with the EM and other technologies and make them as easy to manage as possible for the very specific context.

This also applies to Dr. Baoua’s pet subject: entomology. The millet head miner moth (Heliocheilus albipunctella) is a serious threat to millet production in the region. One possibility to fight the moth is using a minute wasp (Habrobracon hebetor), which lays its egg into the caterpillar of the moth during the propagation cycle. Bringing this cutting-edge knowledge to the smallholder farmers is definitely one of the highlights of Sahel Bio’s work and sheds a light on how university knowledge, if implemented correctly, can directly serve the needs of the poor and vulnerable population.

The absence of quality seeds, especially for millet, beans, and peanuts, is a serious factor hampering yield increases. By having a well-organized, community-based and -driven seed improvement process, backed and supported by the scientists, Sahel Bio was able to significantly improve yields of this staple crop. For Sahel Bio, “high-quality” means that the seeds are responding to the needs of the community in the given environmental context: easy germination, propagation, ​and storage in the community. Additionally, the plants show good drought-, pest- and disease-resistance and, most importantly, have a short vegetation cycle to respond to the ever-shorter rain periods.

Sahel Bio is not only able to meet the needs of the smallholder for better seeds, but the group processes also foster and strengthen social cohesion and self-esteem in the communities – both important factors to improve resilience.