The recently concluded world food summit observed that urban
populations are likely to be more exposed to rising food prices than
their rural counterparts: they are more likely to consume staple foods
derived from tradable commodities and are less likely to produce a
significant share of their own food or produce for sale. Anticipating
this, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has been advocating
urban and peri-urban agriculture — to improve food availability in
towns and cities, to provide employment to the urban poor, and to
reduce the ecological footprint of the city. Urban agriculture is a
wide range of resourceful practices: roof gardens, wetland development,
commercial farming, poultry farming, and livestock raising. Globally,
urban and peri-urban farms already supply food to about 700 million
city dwellers. The idea is increasingly finding favour in Latin
American and African cities. In India, the East Kolkata wetland leads
the field: 150 tonnes of vegetable are produced every day and 15,000
tonnes of paddy and 11,000 tonnes of fish are harvested annually.
Equally importantly, 60,000 people find employment. Some developed
countries too have embraced the practice. In some German cities, as
much as 30 per cent of the land is put to agricultural use.
But urban and peri-urban agriculture is nowhere near performing up to
its potential. It has not found the support it needs because cities are
still conceived essentially as non-agrarian and urban agriculture is
viewed as an oxymoron. While parks have been accepted as a desirable
element in cityscape, food-producing green spaces are yet to become an
integral part of the city. Agriculture in itself is yet to be
recognised as urban land use, alongside commercial and industrial uses.
It needs special protective measures, including a regulatory authority
(as in Kolkata) for its development. Unfortunately, where livestock
rearing can easily be regulated, there is wholesale eviction of animals
for supposedly aesthetic reasons. In Gaborone in Botswana, land
considered to have low potential is earmarked for poultry zones. The
FAO has established that ‘micro-gardens’ can bring in up to $3 a day
for poor families, and that one-metre-square rooftop tomato gardens (as
in Dakar in Senegal) can yield 18 kg to 30 kg of tomatoes a year. In
the long run, such efforts will make food affordable for the urban
poor. These ideas are relevant not only for low-income food deficit
countries. In a situation where global cropland has declined from 0.75
hectare per person in 1900 to 0.23 hectare per person in 2004, progress
lies in welcoming and supporting every additional square metre of
productive green space.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/17/stories/2008061755550800.htm
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© 2008, The Hindu.
