Urban agriculture and health: assessing risks and overseeing practices

Abstract

Practiced worldwide for its environmental and social benefits as much as for its food-growing potential, urban and peri-urban agriculture is exposed to various forms of pollution related to cultivation methods and urban air and soil quality, as well as to the varied reactions to pollutants exhibited by different crop types. Faced with this broad spectrum of factors, empirically proven methodological frameworks make it possible to assess health risks and oversee practices in close contact with all actors involved. This is the aim of the work undertaken by teams from AgroParisTech and INRA working on the T4P and REFUGE programs on urban farms in the Paris region, and the Franco-Madagascan ADURAA and QUALISANN programs studying vegetables-growing in Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar.