Peri-Urban Agriculture and Agroecology

As we near the end of the 20th century and look back over the last three to four decades, we are witness to the continuing and increasing phenomenon of urbanization: massive population movements, particularly of rural populations in developing countries moving to urban centers. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), an average of 50% of the world's population is living in cities. In Latin America this figure is as high as 70% and even in China urbanization reaches 22%.

In the industrialized world, 90% of the population live in the cities. Although in recent decades, more and more Europeans and North Americans have fled urban areas for the tranquillity of the suburbs, city populations are still high. In developing countries the areas surrounding large cities, the peri-urban areas, are where, in contrast to the quiet and well-ordered suburban communities found in the developed countries, migrants from rural areas settle, dreaming of improving their lives, but usually forced to face the reality that they cannot find jobs and remain in their misery, in extremely poor living conditions.

There is already an acute absence of food in the developing world, where 5 billion of the almost 6 billion world population live. According to FAO statistics, 2 billion people live on US$2 per day, while 1 billion make do with less than US$1 per day. Some 800 million human beings must survive on less than 2,500 calories a day, which is the level of undernourishment, of whom 500 million live in Africa.

In developing countries urbanization occurs as the population tends to move towards the capital cities, rather than to the smaller regional or provincial centers. Hence we see the growth of mega-cities such as Lagos, San Paulo, Mexico City, Cairo, Manila and Bangkok, with rapidly growing, vast populations and little or no infrastructure development, such as running water, electricity, public transportation, housing, medical services and, the most important, well paying jobs. The undesirable results are poverty, widespread misery and a high crime rate.

Peri-urban Agriculture

As this condition worsens and the mobile populations - comprised of people who abandoned their land and moved to the cities - lose their earning power, again pointing mainly to developing countries, malnutrition and starvation set in. As a result of this process, we can see that people at the city's edge and in the surrounding areas exploit every strip of land available in order to grow food. This can be seen not only in backyards, but also on road shoulders, riverbanks - wherever land is available. The extra income that families can generate from "peri-urban agriculture" can help them alleviate poverty. The crops raised (usually vegetables) and the livestock grown (small herds of goats and sheep, rarely cattle, and chickens) can be used for self-consumption as well as for selling to the city markets (milk and milk products, eggs and meat).

Peri-urban farm management is also a gender issue. Usually, with the men away seeking work during the day, the women stay at home and are in a position to manage the family's agricultural initiatives. The vital role of women in this task, initiating agricultural resources in the peri-urban environment, is also a subject that is dealt with in the MASHAV/CINADCO training courses.

In the past and continuing today throughout the developed world where urban development is swallowing up agricultural communities and settlements, the level of agricultural activities necessarily decreases. "Green areas" and parks for recreation or small areas for limited agricultural production are therefore needed within these densely populated regions. For example, the southern plains of Japan have become one large urban region integrated with industries, yet the inhabitants continue to grow rice in the fields between their homes. This phenomenon can be explained perhaps by the Japanese tradition of growing one's own rice. However, it may also be explained by the local population's suspicion that their rice supply may one day become scarce!

In another example, looking at Israel we can see that the kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz, the collective agricultural settlements) are also losing their agricultural orientation, which has characterized these communities since their emergence at the beginning of this century, and they are becoming quite integrated into the Israeli economic, commercial and industrial scene. They produce more industrial products than in the past and are becoming involved in agro-tourism.

Peri-urban areas in developed countries are in the position to take advantage of their location to operate tourist enterprises and set up shopping centers and industrial parks, as well as recreational areas. Initiative is moving from the inner-city areas toward the periphery, where land is available and relatively less expensive, with enough room for adequate parking facilities as well as green areas.

In developing countries a similar phenomenon is also occurring in peri-urban areas, but at a much slower rate as a result of the lack of economic resources and low purchasing power of the majority of the population.

Generally speaking, in both developed and developing countries, changes are occurring in the peri-urban areas:

• The traditional family farm is transforming itself into a unit for the production of the daily needs of the city population: fresh vegetables and fruit, flowers, milk and milk products, chicken and eggs, as well as special products, such as mushrooms and other delicacies.

• In addition to the agricultural production taking place in the periphery, agroindustrial enterprises are springing up to process these agricultural products needed by the cities' population.

• The proximity of airports and ports to these newly-established enterprises and industries is encouraging the development of specific types of agriculture intended for export.

• Tourism and visits of the city population to these outlying areas are also encouraging the development of handicraft industries, which are basically family enterprises.

• Transportation and highway services are also becoming part of the system.

• Commercial business centers are being established.

Agro-ecological disturbances

Rapid development, population growth and peri-urban agricultural production are some of the main reasons for the present deterioration of natural resources - soil, water and air. These resources are becoming contaminated to such an extent that they endanger actual existence and future development. Water supply is becoming scarce. Air pollution is a limiting factor in many large urban complexes such as Santiago, Mexico City, Cairo, Athens, Paris, Los Angeles and others. Nitrates, heavy metals and radioactive materials, from city garbage and sewage water, pollute soil and water. Intensive peri-urban agricultural production demands the extensive use of pesticides and, as a result, pesticide residues occur in food, in the soil and in the underground water aquifers.

We urgently need to take environmental measures in order to stop the present contamination and to prevent the future deterioration of these environmental resources. It may prove necessary to increase drinking water supply by transporting water from remote, clean resources or by the desalinization of sea water. Recycling sewage water for agricultural uses, mainly irrigation, will leave more pure water for drinking purposes. Or it may even be possible to purify sewage water sufficiently for drinking.

Garbage containing such elements as glass, plastics and metals can be separated and recycled by industry, while the organic material (50-70% of the volume) can be converted into compost useful for agricultural purposes. Industrial water resources are being recycled and cleaned on-site to avoid contamination of the general water system by heavy metals, radioactive material, etc.

Modern cars and trucks are equipped with catalytic exchange devices in order to reduce air pollution, whereas the use of high-grade unpolluted fuel is encouraged. Special filters are set up on factory chimneys to clean contaminating emissions.

In Israel and other countries farmers are moving toward the use of integrated pest management systems (IPM) in order to reduce the use of pesticides and to introduce more biological and environmentally-friendly agrotechnical methods. Laws are being implemented and enforced in order to protect food and beverages from pesticide residues and the excess use of fertilizers.

All new development projects in Israel, including new agricultural enterprises, must be analyzed and monitored for possible environmental ecological disturbances. Called EIA, Ecological Impact Assessment, this study is required by the authorities before any new project is authorized. The aim is to review all possible ecological disturbances to prevent or to reduce their effects. EIA is another important topic dealt with within CINADCO/MASHAV courses.

We are living in a smaller world today, where the globalization processes and the communications revolution permit us to learn from one another to further agricultural development and production using improved and environmentally-friendly measures. We must be committed to protect and conserve our world's natural resources for the benefit of our generation and those to come.