The global study has reported that urban agriculture is making significant contribution in global food processing progressively.
The researcher came up with the data that the total agriculture activities resuming in 20km stretch of the urban areas cover a wide area, almost equal to 28 countries of the European region!
Pay Drechsel, author of International Water Management Institute (IWMI) believes that, “it is the first ever study that is targeting the urban area in the context of global agriculture practices performing inside and the surrounding settings.”
The team of researchers claiming that the study might be specifically done, for instance urban areas selected for the research may possibly be comprised of 50,000 or more population.
Urban world
Drechsel added that, the picture for urban agriculture is totally shocking in comparison with conventional farming i.e. rural agriculture. The statistics revealed that total acres of rice cropping in South Asia were surprisingly inferior than total cultivation of rice occurred across the globe.
Similarly, the production of maize from the rural agricultural areas of sub-Saharan Africa was not bigger than the urban areas exploited for the same around the globe.
According to UN statistics, above 50% of the world’s population is residing in urban areas which clearly shows the transformation of agriculture dynamics in the world of agriculture.
Dr Drechsel said that, we have to believe that tables are energetically turning around getting closer to urban farming.
By taking Ghana for better understanding, Drechsel stated that the major chunk of the vegetable farms is making use of contaminated water for their crops, while in Accra; around 10% of the wastewater by urban households is being recycled indirectly for irrigation purposes.
Anne Thebo, leading researcher from the private university added his remarks that, the study is a fundamental move towards the urban agriculture concept at regional and global levels.
The process and method of urban agriculture is totally different in the case of developed and developing countries due to availability of resources, said the Doctor.
He further added that, "In the North, we consider agricultural activities in cities as something positive." He expressed that it was very important to enhance the scale of association among both urban development plans and agriculture ones.
