UA Magazine No. 23: Urban Nutrient Management will be published in December 2009.
Please send your contribution before 15 September 2009 to: email hidden; JavaScript is required

Urban food demand, especially for fresh perishable food products, is increasing with population growth. Urban agriculture responds to this demand through intensive and continuous production taking advantage of market proximity. Such intensive production is highly dependent on nutrients and water. Rapidly growing cities face the challenge of providing basic services such as drinking water and sanitation on the one hand, and sustainably managing urban wastes and wastewater on the other. UA Magazine no. 20 focused on water, and the following issue, no. 23, will focus on the equally important aspect of nutrient management.

For more information about the call for contributions and about RUAF, visit the RUAF website (www.ruaf.org).

UA Magazine is published two times a year on the RUAF website and in hardcopy version. This English version is translated into Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese and Portuguese.  The UA Magazine welcomes contributions on new initiatives at individual, neighbourhood, city and national levels. Attention is given to technical, socio-economic, institutional and policy aspects of sustainable urban food production, marketing, processing and distribution systems. Although articles on any related issue are welcome and considered for publication, each UA Magazine focuses on a selected theme.

Charlie M. Shackleton, Margaret W. Pasquini and Axel W. Drescher
Paperback £24.95, June 2009

African Indigenous Vegetables in Urban Agriculture provides a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge of the potential and challenges associated with the multiple roles, use, management and livelihood contributions of indigenous vegetables in urban agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on critical analysis of current debates and practices, it presents a multidisciplinary analysis of the realities and future opportunities.

More information about the book is available on our website: www.earthscan.co.uk/?TabId=56958&v=451875

To request a review or inspection copy, and for all queries, please contact email hidden; JavaScript is required

Download a 20% discount for the book from our website here:
www.earthscan.co.uk/Portals/0/pdfs/African_Indigenous_Vegetables_in_Urban_Agriculture.pdf

Ryerson University’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education and Centre for Studies in Food Security (www.ryerson.ca/foodsecurity), ETC-Urban Agriculture (www.etc-urbanagriculture.org) and RUAF (www.ruaf.org) are offering the following two distance learning courses on urban agriculture in May and September respectively:

Understanding Urban Agriculture (CVFN 410)
Duration: 42 hours Fee: $474 (Canadian dollars)
Schedule: May 9-August 8, 2009

Millions globally practise urban agriculture, with governments and civil society organizations increasingly promoting it to enhance urban food security, health, community building, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental management. This course provides a good introduction and expands your understanding of urban agriculture, its main types and dimensions, its potential impacts, the constraints and opportunities facing it, the stakeholders involved in it, the historical contexts shaping it, and the local, regional, and international development trends bearing on it.

Dimensions of Urban Agriculture (CVFN 411)
Duration: 42 hours Fee: $474 (Canadian dollars)
Schedule: September-December, 2009

This course describes the dimensions (functions, roles, benefits, potential risks) of urban agriculture and how these complement, supplement, compete with, substitute for, or undermine those provided by other land uses, sectoral activities and actors. The main dimensions covered are: health and food security, socio-cultural dimensions, economic dimensions, and environmental dimensions. Selected well-documented case studies will be used throughout the course to highlight each dimension separately, before bringing them all together.

For more information and instructions on enrollment, please visit www.ryerson.ca/ce/foodsecurity or contact Reg Noble, Academic Coordinator, E-mail: email hidden; JavaScript is required or email hidden; JavaScript is required.