• Soil and land management

Soil and land management

This report, by researchers working in urban agriculture (UA), examines concrete strategies to integrate city farming into the urban landscape. Drawing on original field work in cities across the rapidly urbanising global South, the book examines the contribution of UA and city farming to livelihoods and food security.

The case studies covered by the authors, focus on the following aspects of urban agriculture:

• food production diversification for robust and secure food provision
• the socio-economic and agronomic aspects of urban composting
• urban agriculture as a viable livelihood strategy
• strategies for integrating city farming into urban landscapes
• complex social-ecological networks of urban agriculture
• public health aspects including the impact of pesticides, micro-biological risks, pollution and water contamination on food production and people.

Ultimately the book calls on city farmers, politicians, environmentalists, and regulatory bodies to work together to improve the long term sustainability of urban farming as a major secure source of food and employment for urban populations. It also concludes that UA is now part of the debate on how to improve our cities - it is now a recognised field of research that has seen some rapid policy development in the past 15 years. This is because UA supports livelihoods and generates an economic value from land that would otherwise be idle or vacant. Its economic impact reaches far beyond farmers: it stimulates employment further along the chain of production for those who market, transport and sell produce, as well as for those who provide the tools and other means of production.

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