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Ukraine: Expertise on developing short food supply chains in conflict zones – Urban Agriculture

Linked by Michael Levenston

Russian troops retreating from this northern Ukrainian city left behind crushed buildings, streets littered with destroyed cars and residents in dire need of food and other aid.

“Later this year out of necessity urban agriculture will appear across many cities in Ukraine.”

By Andrew Adam-Bradford
Urban Agriculture Specialist
Food For Cities Forum
April 7, 2022
(Must read. Mike)

Letter from Andrew Adam-Bradford to the group:

There is a very clear and urgent role for urban agriculture in Ukraine. One extreme example will be growing food under siege conditions.

Later this year out of necessity urban agriculture will appear across many cities in Ukraine. I am particularly referring to the small-scale production of vegetables under extremely challenging conditions. Particularly for survivors growing food under siege. Growing in home gardens, safe urban green space, out of any type of container and even in rubble to sustain the most basic food security conditions.

Remote technical support can enhance this process. If seed distribution is possible with the delivery of other humanitarian relief, then again this enhances any urban agriculture.

Simple practical actions include:

  1. Provision of seed packages with fast-growing and high-nutritional dense crops;
  2. Promotion of growing mediums using soil, rubble and compost mixes;
  3. Promotion of greywater, surface water and human-urine blends for crop irrigation under emergency conditions.

Such practices maximise soil and water conservation. Integrating compost production with soil and rubble mixtures improves both the physical the nutritional quality of what may be a limited growing material. The blending of nutrient-rich human urine with other water sources, such as greywater and surface waters, maximises the potential irrigation capacity thus allowing for the emergency cultivation of crops. Innovations can even include emergency hydroponics. Such ‘resource recovery and reuse’ practices offer a crude form of the circular economy. I am currently preparing a simple and short guide that puts many of the above practices into simple instructions for distribution in Ukraine.

Your contact working with the municipality can play a crucial role in this process by requesting assistance from the Food Security Cluster coordinator who is already operational in Ukraine. The earlier the contact then the more time is available for preparations, leading to greater urban agriculture impacts during the growing seasons.

I am available and very happy to support any initiatives from the municipalities and any other networks in Ukraine.

You may have seen calls for abstracts on the Food-for-Cities Group for a book on urban agriculture and forced displacement. This includes urban agriculture under siege conditions so there is available expertise that can be mobilised to support such initiatives.

Best wishes,
Andrew Adam-Bradford
andrewadambradford@gmail.com

Farm small, think big: How agriculture can help in today’s global refugee crisis

See: Cities and Agriculture –Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems

  1. Role of Urban Agriculture in Disasters and Emergencies
    By Andrew Adam-Bradford and René van Veenhuizen