Urban farming for the future of the environment

URBAN FARMING is a term that refers to the activities of farming or raising livestock independently in urban areas with limited land, which are then consumed by themselves or distributed to other places. The yields from urban farming are healthier because they fully implement an organic planting system, which does not use chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. The decline in the quality of life experienced by urban people can also be increased again through gardening activities at home that refresh the mind.

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~Types of Urban Farming
Quoted from the simplicable.com and online.aurora.edu pages, there are many types of urban farming that you can try. Some of them are verticulture, wall gardens, rooftop gardens, hydroponics, aquaponics, indoor farming, greenhouses, community gardens, and many more. In addition, the scale of urban farming varies, ranging from household scale to commercial scale.

~Urban farming contributes to the problem of hunger.
The fao.org website states that there are around 200 million urban farming farmers in the world who are able to supply food to 700 million people, which is around 12 percent of the world's population. The page also states that urban farming provides 30 percent of vegetable consumption in Kathmandu, 50 percent in Karachi and 85 percent in Shanghai. In developing countries, urban farming commodities such as fruit, vegetables, pork and poultry are able to meet 10-40 percent of the nutritional needs of urban families. That way, urban farming actually plays a major role in urban food security.

~Urban farming can help lower the surrounding temperature.
Allocating more city space for growing crops could actually reduce temperatures in cities. In a study at Cardiff University in 2007, the existence of a rooftop garden and a vertical wall garden can significantly reduce the surrounding air temperature. The larger the green area created, the greater the cooling effect.

~Urban farming helps reduce air pollution in cities.
The website swiha.edu states that urban farming can improve air quality near air pollution sources. The page also explains that on a larger scale, urban farming is contributing to fighting climate change.

~Adding to the aesthetics of the surrounding environment.
Plant gardens associated with urban farming provide aesthetic benefits to the surrounding environment, explained the fao.org page. With urban farming, you can conjure an urban environment that was previously barren and shabby to be green and beautiful. Another benefit that might be expected from urban farming is the development of green tourism or the formation of cultural heritage in urban areas.

~ Urban farming is not just about
growing vegetables or fruit.
In fact, urban farming is not just about growing vegetables or fruit. Reporting from swiha.edu, urban farming also involves livestock (poultry), fishery (aquaculture), agroforestry and horticulture activities. In some areas, livestock is an important part of urban farming. In Kenya, livestock is even raised in 17 percent of urban households in Kenya.

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POTENTIAL OF URBAN IN THE FUTURE

Reporting from Wired, a study conducted by a professor from Arizona State University, Matei Georgescu, revealed that if the full implementation of urban farming was carried out in every major city in the world, urban farming production could produce 180 million tons of food for a year. This figure represents 10 percent of the total global food production.

Not only that, urban farming also has the potential to save 15 billion kilowatts per hour of world energy use for a year and produce 170,000 tons of nitrogen into the air, which means preventing 57 million cubic meters of storm runoff that often pollutes rivers and clean waterways.

Seeing the large benefits that can be obtained from urban farming, public policy expert from the Australian National University, Robert Costanza further revealed the strategy that the city government needs to do, namely making urban farming a part of urban planning or urban planning in the future.

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NEGATIVE IMPACT OF URBAN FARMING

Urban farming can indeed be done amidst limitations, but urban farming has a big impact on the survival of urban communities. The same negative impact can also occur if the implementation of urban farming is not carried out properly and optimally.

According to research conducted by Lori Hoagland entitled Urban Agriculture: Environmental, Economic, and Social Perspectives, mistakes in urban farming practices can lead to increased noise and air pollution, flooding and a waste of energy, especially water.

Failure to maintain urban farming plantations can lead to the development of mosquito species that spread malaria. Lack of skills and inadequate infrastructure are usually the main causes of failure of urban farming.

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CONCLUSION

Even though urban farming has the potential to be profitable if it continues to be widely developed, food output from urban farming is currently still far from meeting the food needs of urban communities. As stated in the book Informal Urban Agriculture written by two agricultural science researchers, Michael Hardman and Peter Larkham, the commodities produced by urban farming are still too far from agricultural products in rural areas.

This is related to the lack of land use in urban areas, the weak financial resilience of urban farming activists, and in practice, urban farming activities are still very dependent on the volunteerism of residents.

Thanks for reading..

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^{Reference :
https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/12/urban-farming.html
https://www.ecowatch.com/urban-farming-david-suzuki-1984874080.html
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00079/full}