Analysis of Extent of Organic Waste Use in Urban Agriculture in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

Addition of organic manure to soils improves soil texture, structure and condition (aeration and temperatures) of the soil. Regardless of the importance of organic manure, organic wastes are carelessly dumped at dumpsites and on the streets, with government of the day, showing a lack of capacity to contain them. This underutilized resource can be utilized in urban farming, resulting in the reduction of the ever increasing waste volumes carelessly dumped on the streets by urban households. This paper was aimed at ascertaining the extent of organic waste (manure) use in urban farming and also determine the factors affecting extent of organic waste use in urban farming. Data were collected from Enugu and Nsukka urban centres, Nigeria. From the two centres, 120 household heads that use organic waste in urban farming were randomly selected and used in the study. The results show that extent of organic waste use (poultry and pig manure) was high; indicating that biodegradable organic waste from dumpsites can equally be used in farming, if they are sorted and bagged. Factors that affected extent of organic waste use in urban farming include household heads’ number of years spent in formal school, farming experience, gender, occupation, age, income level and farm size. Other factors include price of organic manure, price of chemical fertilizers and availability of organic manure. The results of this study underscore the need for government to explore various cost-effective ways of treating wastes, so that farmers can use wastes from dumpsites more in their farm productions.