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MOH condemns use of human waste as fertilizer

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The Ministry of Health has condemned the use of human waste as fertilizer in growing vegetables and other related food produce by some small scale farmers.

Ministry of Health Acting Spokesperson Dr. Elizabeth Chizema says the use of sewer in place of fertilizer is a health hazard and should not be encouraged.

Dr. Chizema was speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today.

She said the Ministry of Health will work with Lusaka City Council to investigate areas where such projects were been conducted.

Dr. Chizema advised members of the public to wash their vegetables thoroughly and to make sure they are adequately cooked.

Last week on Friday, Kitwe Town Clerk Ali Simwinga also called on small scale farmers in Ndeke Township in Kitwe district stop the use of faecal matter as manure. Mr. Simwinga ordered the said farmers to vacate their gardens before the end of this month.

Mr. Simwinga observed that growing vegetables using human waste was a danger to those who consume the food adding that the sewer used as manure has micro-organisms which do not die and once consumed they cause diarrhoea and in some cases tuberculosis.

ZANIS

14 COMMENTS

  1. The treated effluent seem to work well for the kapinga you see in some Lusaka lawns mu mayadi. I think the authorities sell the treated stuff. I stand to be corrected.

  2. we’ve been eating such vegies for years. Surprised they’ve only noticed now. You even get such vegies in Spar and Shoprite. It’s a funny sight seeing pipo walk out of Spar with bottled water coz they dont drink tap water but walking out with human waste vegies

  3. Nothing wrong with human waste aslong as it does not contain too much uric acid to kill the vegitables and no danger of worms coz of using undertreated human waste products.What is important is the nitrogen from the waste that is badly needed by the plants afterall chances that a person who grew up along the line of rail has consumed vegitables grown in this way is 98 percent.So no qualms we av all consumed these and yalenisha.

  4. JESUS CHRIST!!!!! Ali Simwinga is still kitwe town clerk? isn’t there anyone else in kitwe who can do this job surely

  5. A young English couple was visiting me one summer after I had been composting humanure for about six years. One evening, as dinner was being prepared, the couple suddenly understood the horrible reality of their situation: the food they were about to eat was recycled s.hi.t. When this “fact” dawned upon them, it seemed to set off some kind of instinctive alarm in their minds, possibly inherited directly from Queen Victoria. “We don’t want to eat s.h.it!” they informed me (that’s an exact quote), as if in preparing dinner I was simply defec.ating on plates and setting them on the table. Never mind that the food was delicious. It was the thought of it that mattered but the good thing about it all is that they finally eat and enjoyed the meal(i dont give a damn if they wanted to…

  6. There is nothing wrong in using human waste as that is manure. and the vegetables boom. Just test them b4 puting them for sell. Or WASH them adquently

  7. Hmmm guys…amafi ati fertilizer on vegetables???? Yaba any way we have all eaten these vegs especially those at north mead come from Garden ponds.

  8. prisoners at kamfinsa have been doing this for ages. those who know the place, the cabbage fields are situated between the prison and the dam. when they take the cabbages to kitwe, peoplejust zampa them ati they have big heads, kanshi ni arrangement.

  9. This is not surprising. For some of us who were brought up in Livingstone in the late 60s and 70s, we will remember that there were two grocers who were selling, among other things, vegetables grown out of human manure. The shops were Rama’s and PSA both on Musi -O- Tunya Road. Nothing really strange, especially if that waste is treated.

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