Anyone can be an urban farmer. Have a basil plant in your window? A window box of lettuce? A community garden plot? Sell vegetables from your backyard? Run a mushroom growing wearhouse in the industrial sector? Then you are an urban farmer.
A container of yellow squash, zucchinni, and Roma tomatoes on a rooftop in Chicago
In most countries, urban agriculture is dominated by small producers achieving food security and earning income for their families. In many countries (like the US and Argentina) farmers are middle-income family gardeners using their own backyards to improve the quality of the food they eat. Their motives are cultural or nutritional, not economic. In many developing countries, most farmers are low-income groups trying to supplement their meager food supply. Many of these farmers do not own the land they cultivate. (UNDP, 1996)
In order to understand who farms the cities, it is important to understand why
- for a source of income
- for food (to keep from starving)
- for better nutrition
- for more local food
- to be outside
- to teach
- to create commuinty
- to supplement an income
- to green the city
- to business
- to use the resources (land, waste-water, compost) that cities have to offer
Sou Thom grows food in baskets in the hanging garden at her home on the ‘great lake’ of Tonle Sap in Rolous, a floating district of Siem Reap, Cambodia. It’s a high density, peri-urban area where food security is a growing concern due to lack of land. Since she lost her husband during the Khmer Rouge regime, Sou Thom has struggled to feed her large family. Recently she found an innovative way to feed her family and generate income: she created a small vegetable and herb garden on wooden planks by using small and medium sized rattan baskets. (IDRC)
Here’s a few stats from around the world to give you a picture of urban farmers…
- In Kathmandu, Nepal 37% of households raise horticultural crops and 11% raise animals
- In Moscow, Russia 65% of families were engaged in agriculture in 1991 compared with only 20% in 1970
- In Kenya 67% of urban families farm (80% of which are low income) on urban or peri-urban sites
- In the US, 25% of urban families work in food gardens or horticulture (UNDP 1989 p.55)
- 800 million people are involved in urban agriculture world-wide and contribute to feeding urban residents (UNDP 1996)
- In Lima, Peru 80% of home gardens are farmed by women
- In Nairobi, Kenya 65% of urban farmers are women
- In Kampala, Uganda 67% of urban farmers are women
- In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 67% of the principal gardeners are women (UNDP 1996 p.67)
Use the links below to help navigate through your city farming adventure!
