DR. BANARSI LAL
Agriculture brings so much value to our communities including food production and economic prosperity. Urban agriculture has become a burning topic on growing and producing the food in the urban areas. It can be defined as the growing of plants and raising of animals within (intra-urban) and around (peri-urban) cities. Urban farms are accompanied by the complementary activities such as processing and distributing food, collecting and reusing food waste and rainwater and educating and employing local residents.
Urban agriculture is distinguished from rural agriculture as it is integrated into the urban economic and ecological system. Such linkages include the urban residents as labourers, urban resources such as organic wastes like compost and urban wastewater for irrigation, urban consumers, urban ecology, urban food
system, etc. It has been observed by the United Nations that the earth population will increase by 40 per cent and cross nine billion by 2050.It is estimated that 80 per cent of population will reside in cities. It has been observed that many countries produce around 20% of their food in cities. Now the developmental agencies have started to integrate urban agriculture in their policies to solve the urban people problems. Urban poor people are mainly engaged in urban agriculture. In many cities it has been observed that lower and middle class government officials, school teachers, rich people are involved in urban agriculture. Women constitute an important part of urban farmers as agriculture and related agro- pro
cessing activities are efficiently performed by them.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy. About 80 per cent of J&K population depends on agriculture. Over the years, the farmers of J&K have adopted new agricultural technologies to increase the agricultural production. Like other states/UTs of the country, people
from rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir are migrating towards the urban areas. Rapid urbanization has increased the urban poverty.
Cities like Jammu and Srinagar are not able children aged five years or less in low-income farming households were found to be significantly better-off nutritionally (less stunted) than the counterparts in non-farming house holds and urban farmers generally eat more vegetables than non-urban farmers of the same wealth class. In addition to production for their own consumption needs, large amount of food is produced for other categories of the population. In certain cities urban dwellers are actively involved in agriculture. These urban farmers produce substantial amounts of food for urban consumers.
some part of it is processed for own use, cooked and sold in the streets, or processed and packaged for sale. In urban agriculture, we may encounter individual or family farms, groups or cooperative farms and commercial enterprises at various scales ranging from micro- and small farms to medium-sized and some large-scale enterprises. The technological level of the majority of urban agriculture enterprises in most of the cities like Jammu and Srinagar is still low. However, in some cities of the country like Bangalore and Hyderabad technically advanced and intensive agriculture can be found. Urbanization is rapidly increasing together with the rapid increase in urban poverty and urban food insecurity. Most of the cities in the state have great difficulties to cope with the development and are unable to create sufficient formal employment opportunities for the poor people.
Disposal of urban wastes and waste water and maintaining air and river water quality problems are also increasing.
to generate sufficient income and employment opportunities for the rapidly growing population. The costs of supplying and distributing food from rural areas to the urban areas or to import food for the cities are continuously rising and it is expected that urban food insecurity will increase in future. Food prices are increasing which is an emerging problem for the poor urban consumers. Urban agriculture has immense scope in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as it can create income and employment opportunities for the urban poor people. Keeping the scope of urban agriculture in view, there is need to create aware ness on urban agriculture among the urban and peri-urban people of J&K. Urban agriculture is different than urban jobs that require travelling to the town centre and industrial area. Urban agriculture may take place inside the cities (intra-urban) or in the peri-urban areas. Urban agriculture is possible on the homeland or on land away from the residence, on private land or on public land (parks, con servation areas, along roads, streams and rail ways), or semi-public land (school yards, grounds of schools and hospitals).By urban agriculture food products from different types of crops and animals as well as non-food products like aromatic and medicinal herbs, ornamental plants, tree products etc. or combinations of these can be produced. Production units in urban agriculture in general tend to be more specialized than rural enterprises.
Urban agriculture includes agricultural production activities as well as food processing and marketing activities. In urban agriculture, production and marketing tend to be easier in terms of time and space.
Growing crops in urban areas is quite challenging but possible across the globe. It requires specific knowledge depending upon the location and limitations of land available in the urban areas. Urban agricultural production is mostly done for self-consumption with surpluses being traded. However, the
importance of the market-oriented urban agriculture both in volume and economic value should not be underestimated. In urban agriculture mainly fresh products are sold and Urban agriculture can provide a complementary strategy to reduce urban poverty and food insecurity and enhance urban environmental management. Urban agriculture plays an important role in enhancing urban food security since the costs of supplying and distributing food to urban areas based on rural production and imports continue to increase and do not satisfy the demand, especially for the poor people. Urban agriculture also contributes to local economic development, poverty alleviation and social inclusion of the urban poor and women in particular, as well as to the greening of the city and the productive reuse of urban wastes. The importance of urban agriculture is being recognized by many international organizations like the UN, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and municipalities. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and healthy nutrition in urban and peri-urban areas. Urban agriculture may improve both food intake and the quality of the food may improve. In certain countries, 40-60 percent of food consumed by low-income groups is self-produced. It has been observed that the Urban agriculture to a large extent complements rural agriculture and increases the efficiency of the national food system. It provides products that rural agriculture cannot supply easily (e.g. perishable products).Urban agriculture can play an important strategy for poverty eradication and social integration. It can give the positive stimulus especially to the
poor urban women. Several municipalities or NGOs have initiated urban agriculture projects that involve disadvantaged groups such as orphans, disabled people, women, immigrants without jobs, or elderly people, with the aim to integrate them more strongly into the urban network and to provide them with a
decent livelihood. The participants in the project may feel enriched by working constructively, building their community, working together and in addition producing food and other products for consumption and for sale. Urban agriculture may be undertaken for the physical or psychological relaxation.
Also, urban and peri-urban farms may take on an important role in providing recreation al opportunities for citizens or having educational functions such as bringing youth in contact with animals, teaching about ecology, etc. Urban agriculture can improve the urban ecological system and can play an important
role in the urban environmental management system. Urban agriculture can positively impact upon the greening and cleaning of the cities.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head, KVK Reasi).