Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
that are irrigated with wastewater (Shuval et al, 1986), it is di
cult for
farmers and municipalities to comply with the WHO wastewater irrigation
guidelines (WHO, 2006) for various reasons (Drechsel et al, 2002). Simply
banning the use of wastewater for unrestricted irrigation would deprive many
farmers and sellers of their livelihood and drastically reduce the amount of
many perishable vegetables in Ghana's cities (Cofie and Drechsel, 2007). It
also would not solve the problem of post-harvest contamination. Therefore,
more efforts are needed to test possible options for risk reduction at farm,
market, street restaurant and household level (Drechsel et al, 2002). For
example, market sellers could improve their vegetable washing to better meet
the demands of their customers (Drechsel et al, 2000). Further requirements
are that the sanitary facilities in markets provide permanent access to clean
running water and that support through education and awareness campaigns
takes place. Risk reduction should also include sensitization of consumers
(especially parents) on potential health implications of unhygienic handling
and consumption of contaminated vegetables.
In conclusion, adoption of the 'multiple barrier approach' (WHO, 2006),
where health risk intervention methods (such as good irrigation practices and
vegetable washing before food preparation at the household) are used,
appears to be the most appropriate overall risk-reduction strategy.
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was made possible by financial support from IDRC's International
Graduate Research Awards in Urban Agriculture (AGROPOLIS), the
Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) projects CP38 and CP51, and
a capacity building grant of the International Water Management Institute
(IWMI). We are grateful to Mr Osei Tutu from the Biological Science
Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,
KNUST, Ghana, and Richmond Kofi Yawson, a laboratory assistant at IWMI
lab, for their support in data collection and laboratory analysis.
N
OTES
1
Philip Amoah, Ph.D. Biological Sciences, IWMI West Africa Oce, PMB CT 112
Cantonments, Accra, Ghana;
tel:
þ
233-21-7847452 or
þ
233-20-8154651; email:
p.amoah@cgiar.org
2
Products pass through three main sampling stages from the field where they are harvested
to the retail outlet where consumers buy them: the farm, where samples of crops are
collected; the wholesale market, where samples are taken from crops wholesalers will
purchase; and the retailer, where samples were taken two to three hours after
vegetables had been displayed and where some had been refreshed.
3
The acceptable daily intake (ADI) is a measure of the quantity of a particular chemical
in food which, it is believed, can be consumed on a daily basis over a lifetime without
harm.
