URBANE Project, West Africa

Sustainable business model development for agro-ecological farming in West-Africa

Today more than half of the planet’s inhabitants live in cities and urbanization is projected to increase further. The worldwide migration of rural people to cities is particularly prominent in West Africa. This leads to the increased practising of peri-urban agriculture, generating opportunities like new jobs and increased income from food production, but also bringing problems arising from pressures towards intensification of farming with attendant environmental and human health risks.

URBANE is addressing this challenge of sustainable agriculture for food nutrition security, tackling issues related to the application and intensification of peri-urban agriculture, as well as providing the necessary framework for its sustainable and safe application in different contexts. To achieve this, the project will be built around the principles of agroecology and it will apply a collaborative and transdisciplinary One Health approach, geared towards achieving optimal health outcomes that take account of interlinkages between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. 

URBANE will build on the extensive experience in agroecology of its 28 partners in Africa and Europe. Its One Health approach and concept will be demonstrated through 6 case studies in Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Benin, Burkina-Faso), while the scope for its transferability to other regions will also be studied and facilitated through specific tools.

TU/e is the leader of a work package that aims to support the development of new business models that support the necessary transition of peri-urban farming towards agroecological farming concepts. New sustainable and inclusive business models will be worked out that support the URBANE approach, do justice to the local contexts, and include an assessment of the future upscaling potential to ensure long-term sustainable impact.

The project will be carried out in strong cooperation between the ITEM (Innovation, Technology Entrepreneurship & Marketing) group and the (TIS) Technology, Innovation & Society group of the department IE&IS (Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences). The core of this work package will be formed by two complementary PhD projects comprising both joint and individual work, building on insights from other studies on sustainability transitions, sustainable business models, development studies and innovation management literature.