NAIROBI, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of Kenyan researchers on Friday announced the launch of environmentally friendly agricultural innovations tailor-made for urban slums to boost food and nutrition security.

Elizabeth Murage, senior research scientist at Nairobi-based African Population & Health Research Centre (APHRC) said that piloting green farming innovations in the informal settlements will help eradicate hunger and malnutrition that escalated amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have been engaging communities in Kenya's informal settlement to promote innovative urban farming which is key to achieve food and nutrition security," Murage said during an interview in Nairobi.

She said that researchers affiliated with APHRC have been providing training and skills transfer to communities in Nairobi's informal settlements to enable them to implement green farming projects.

"As part of empowerment, we also want the communities to participate in creating solutions for their food and nutrition security problems," said Murage.

She said that up-scaling green farming in urban slums will ensure that households improve their dietary diversity which is key to strengthen immunity amid the pandemic.

A study carried out by APHRC before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya indicates that about 80 percent of households in the informal settlements were food insecure.

Murage said the pandemic worsened the hunger crisis in urban slums amid lockdowns and curfews that hampered distribution of key staples while eroding households' purchasing power due to job losses.

"Travel restrictions disrupted the food supply chain and food prices increased making food access a challenge for the majority," said Murage.

She said that APHRC will utilize 22 million shillings (200,000 U.S. dollars) prize money it secured from philanthropists for reinventing food systems to promote nature-based farming in urban slums.

"Our vision is to ensure Nairobi is food secure, healthy and environmentally friendly through a regenerative, transformative, human-centered food system by 2050," said Murage.

She said that innovative agro-ecological urban farming, action on food waste and involving women and youth in agribusiness is key to eradicate hunger, malnutrition and poverty in the informal settlements.

Murage said that researchers are keen to partner with communities residing in urban slums to set up demonstration farms and training hubs in order to facilitate knowledge transfer on green farming, food handling and storage. Enditem

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