The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) handbook, titled “On-farm Practices for the Safe Use of Wastewater in Urban and Peri-urban Horticulture,” is designed to assist urban and peri-urban farmer field schools in teaching about the risks of, and solutions to, using wastewater to irrigate crops.
19 September 2012: With 2.1 billion people expected to live in cities by 2030, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has produced a handbook for urban and peri-urban farmer field schools on teaching about overcoming health risks of using untreated wastewater to irrigate crops.
The handbook highlights safe irrigation practices and identifies means to reduce risk from wastewater through a multiple-barrier approach pioneered by the World Health Organization (WHO), FAO and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The handbook is designed as a “field guide” to train farmers, with practical information on how water becomes contaminated and associated health risks, as well as options for reducing risk.
The handbook, titled “On-farm Practices for the Safe Use of Wastewater in Urban and Peri-urban Horticulture,” contains lessons on contamination of irrigation water and vegetables, five ways to reduce health risks, indicators for monitoring and evaluating performance, spreading the word through farmer-to-farmer training, and disseminating and communicating strategies for safe vegetable production. [Publication: On-farm Practices for the Safe Use of Wastewater in Urban and Peri-urban Horticulture]