Published by City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture

Subject:

South East Asia/Australia and Urban Agriculture

An Annotated Bibliography of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Vietnam with Emphasis on Hanoi

(PDF file) "Urban agriculture began in Vietnam before the catch-phrase became popular and the practice was recognized by local administrators, academicians and scientists. Information is included on urban and peri-urban agriculture and their contribution to supplying the cities of Hanoi (the capital city) and Ho Chi Minh City. Emphasis is on vegetable production in the peri-urban area of Hanoi and its constraints." Posted June 9, 2007

Community Gardens Promote Healthy Lifestyle In Urban Setting

"As pilot communities, residents demonstrated how two issues could be addressed with the interplay of integrated solid waste management, urban agriculture and environmental planning," Ms. Gatuslao said. "The allotment gardens are flourishing, providing the communities with an accessible, safe source of fresh vegetables and income, plus more time together for family and neighbors," Ms. Gatuslao added. "GIS-based community mapping integrated the views and opinions of the community into the database of the city government, which enabled increased participation in city planning by residents." Posted June 6, 2007

Feeding Asian Cities - Proceedings of the regional seminar: FAO 2001

(large download 3.4MB PDF) "Contrary to the views of many urban planners and development experts, participants at a workshop in Havana, Cuba concluded that urban agriculture has to be seen as a permanent component of the urban system although some forms are based on temporal use of vacant lands only. From the perspective of urban food security, nutrition and health, urban agriculture can potentially make a significant contribution."
The French version of this report can be found on this FTP site: Nourrir les villes d'Asie
Posted May 13, 2007

Research Papers Posted: International Workshop on Urban/Peri-Urban Agriculture in the Asian and Pacific Region - May 22-26, 2006

"Including: Urban Harvest: A CGIAR Global Program on Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture; Urban Agriculture in Asia: Lessons from Japanese Experience; Newly Developed Technologies and Innovations in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Korea; Urban Agriculture Program in the Philippines; Urban/peri-urban Agriculture: Status and Challenges in Taiwan; Peri-Urban Aquatic Production Systems in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Status and Potential of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Malaysia." Posted March 19, 2007

International Workshop on Urban/Periurban Agriculture (UPA) in the Asian and Pacific Region

"It will also focus on the urgent needs of farmers, city dwellers and the government on the development of UPA in their respective settings. Finally, it will allow Asian countries to step forward toward a better understanding of UPA, and small-scale farmers to take advantage of its benefits in the Asian and Pacific region ..." Updated May 17, 2006

Philippine City Preparing Legislation To Set Up Policies For The Establishment Of Allotment Gardens

"The city government of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, is presently preparing an ordinance that will give tax holidays and other incentives to landowners who make their areas available for allotment gardens. - Aside from benefiting from incentives, Acenas said, the lot owners would protect their properties against squatters and have a major role in environment protection. " Posted January 26, 2006

Composting Toilet Installed in Philippine Community Garden

"Inaugurated recently in the allotment garden in barangay Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City, this toilet is the ecological sanitation or "ecosan" toilet, which allows the re-use of human waste into fertilizer, "closing the loop," so to speak, of the waste cycle. The waste will be treated using tried and tested European technology, and will be used to fertilize fruit trees in the allotment garden." Posted December 17, 2005

Allotment Gardens in the Philippines

"On December 11, 2003, the first allotment garden of the Philippines was officially launched in barangay Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City. Meanwhile, this number has grown to four self-sustaining gardens located in different urban areas of the city, enabling a total of 32 urban poor families the legal access to land for vegetable production. A fifth garden for 14 additional families is presently being established in barangay Kauswagan." Posted December 17, 2005

Two 'Farming in the City' Annotated Bibliographies from Urban Harvest

"An Annotated Bibliography of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Uganda by Sarah N. Kimeze and An Annotated Bibliography of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in the Philippines with Emphasis on Metro Manila by Dr. Constancio C. de Guzman. These publications contain a list of citations from articles, books, documents, reports, and theses on urban and peri-urban agriculture in their selected locations followed by a brief description on the content." Posted December 16, 2005

Urban Agriculture Network - Western Pacific - Monthly Newsletter

"Urban agriculture is one counter-measure to food terrorism that must now be considered and developed. ... Good business people know that behind most threats lie opportunities. The threat of food terrorism is an opportunity in disguise for global urban and peri-urban agriculture." Posted March 24 2004

Urban Gardens: Persistence and Change

"This publication is based on a research project which aimed to examine the socio-cultural and biophysical dimensions of urban homegardens in Baguio City, northern Philippines. Includes: the multiple roles and functions of homegardens especially for households along the urban margins; how the urban environment helps shape and is shaped by local homegarden systems; the contribution of local knowledge to the management of homegardens under socio-economic and agroecological transitions." Posted March 19 2004

Philippine References - Urban Agriculture

12 papers and a book are referenced, including: "Allotment Gardens for the Philippines: A Contribution to Urban Food Security"; "Quality and quantity requirements for vegetables by private households, vendors and institutional users in a Philippine urban setting"; "Urban Agriculture - A Step-By-Step Guide To Successful Container Gardening in the City"; and "Appropriate methods for microenterprise development in urban agriculture". Posted October 21, 2002

GIS-based Urban Environmental Resources Management and Food Security Project, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

"The project will establish a GIS-based urban environmental planning system in Cagayan de Oro through a participative process. It will address the needs of the community in terms of improved solid waste management linked with urban food security. The target groups are the urban poor, particularly the garbage pickers at the landfill site, and the marginal urban farmers. " Posted March 6, 2002

Feeding Asian Cities

"Asian cities have been growing rapidly with urban poverty creating increased food insecurity. These proceedings of the FAO-CityNet-AFMA regional seminar "Feeding Asian Cities" held in Bangkok in November 2000, review issues related to food production in urban, periurban and rural areas, rural-urban linkages, processing as well as wholesale and retail activities and suggest possible directions for remedial action." Posted February 3, 2002

Urban Agriculture in Thailand

"I find that practicing urban agrology has helped me integrate with Thai culture more easily as my neighbours have an excuse to come visit, talk, bring me their kitchen scraps, paint the sides of my planters, get their hands dirty, have their children feed the chickens, etc." Posted January 31, 2002

The Javanese Homegarden

"Locally, the proportion of land in homegardens shows large variations. In the 1920s it was as high as 50 percent surrounding Jakarta and it still is over 30 percent around Jogjakarta. The extent of the contribution of the homegarden to national agricultural production, however, is not known; the products are mostly consumed locally and hence rarely appear in the statistical record." Posted September 30, 2001

Homegardens

"Tropical homegardens consist of an assemblage of plants, which may include trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants, growing in or adjacent to a homestead or home compound. These gardens are planted and maintained by members of the household and their products are intended primarily for household consumption; the gardens also have considerable ornamental value, and they provide shade to people and animals." Posted September 30, 2001

Government Sets Urban Agriculture Program in Metro Manila

"Montemayor said potential sites for the urban agriculture program are schools, vacant lots and backyards, including subdivisions and public lots, individual homes and other available lands." Posted August 4, 2001

Periurban Vegetable Project at Xavier University College of Agriculture in the Philippines

"By 2015, the UN predicts that there will be 358 cities with one million or more inhabitants, no less than 153 will be in Asia, among them Cagayan de Oro City if its annual growth rate will remain at the actual level of 4.5 %. In the year 1960, Cagayan de Oro had a population of less than 100,000 residents with very rapid growth from thereon reaching an estimated 520,000 people today. The population density is typical with more than 3,500 persons per km2 in urban areas and just over 200 citizens in the periurban or fringe areas surrounding the city." Posted August 21, 2001

Asia Urbs Magazine Article on Feeding The Cities

See Issue No. 5, Summer 2001 (PDF format). "Importing food has always been a major activity of city life. But as the size of populations grows and the logistics become more complex, urban planners are having to address issues of food security. Vincent Rotgé, Asia Urbs Project Operations Manager, told an audience in Bangkok recently that the Asia Urbs Programme can play a key role in this area." Updated May 3, 2002

Urban Harvest: CGIAR - Strategic Initiative On Urban And Peri-Urban Agriculture (SIUPA)

"For more than 30 years the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has been striving to increase food security and reduce poverty for the poorest people living in developing countries. The CGIAR'S response to the threat of growing urbanization and the increased dependence of city dwellers on urban farming was to launch SIUPA." Posted June 10, 2001

A Brisbane Community Garden, Australia

Gardening In The Street: Sociality, Production and Consumption in Northey Street City Farm. "From a sociological viewpoint, the notion and practice of urban agriculture challenges the traditional urban-rural dichotomy, that is, the geographical differentiation of labour between food producers in rural areas, and non-food producers in urban areas. This blurring of rural-urban boundaries has postmodernist connotations." (thesis 23,000 words) Posted February 10, 2001

Introducing Simplified Hydroponics in Manila Philippines, Payatas, Quezon City

"Community response after tragedy. ... The project aims to introduce, develop and promote community-based and at low-cost hydroponically grown food production, in particular vegetables, among poor Filipinos residing in the urban areas. It will enable these sectors to produce hydroponically-grown crops all year round for themselves and their neighboring communities, allowing them to meet their own nutritional requirements and complement to their daily income." . Posted September 12, 2000

Municipal Organic Waste Recycling for Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Africa and Asia

"Regarding the high price of industrial fertilizers, organic waste stream products generated in the urban and peri-urban areas are considered as valuable nutrient sources for crop production, especially for high-value crops (e.g. vegetables, ornamental plants) and for urban gardens and recreation areas."Posted August 12, 2000

Roofwater Fish Farm Ideal For Learning

"Scientist Vivienne Hallman on periurban acres at Figtree Pocket, 10 kilometres from the Brisbane, CBD Australia, is proving that urban fringe farmers can grow native fish successfully on natural foods. Most of the water can come from a home rooftop. Much of the fish food can be home-grown earthworms and insect larvae." Posted February 12, 2000

An Urban Rooftop Integrated Microfarm For Mt.Gravatt's Commercial Buildings (Australia)

"Key technologies, such as hydroponics, aquaculture, aquaponics, vermiculture, and very small animal husbandry can now be integrated safely and economically into modern urban rooftop microfarms which can: A. Take food wastes from local restaurants and food shops. B. Put them through a biogas digester to eliminate pathogens and other harmful micro-organisms. C. Use advanced vermiculture to create nutrients for fish and plants from the sterilised food wastes. D. Grow fish, crustaceans, herbs, salad vegetables and selected small animals (such as quails and meat rabbits) for sale to local restaurants or food stores." Posted February 12, 2000

Singapore's Aero-Green Pioneers Tropical Aeroponics

"One of the most interesting concepts mooted for Singapore is rooftop gardening and farming using aeroponics. Professor Lee Sing Kong, the academic who has led Singapore's aeroponic development, is a long-term advocate of better use of rooftops through plant growing for aesthetics, better energy conservation and improved food production. The aeroponic technology has significant advantages in reduced weight for rooftops, plus greater versatility for vertical or sloping walls of buildings that face the sun." Posted February 12, 2000

The United Nations University Press - Food and Nutrition Bulletins, 1985, 1987

These valuable, early papers on Urban Agriculture, look at food gardens around the world. Northern Colombia; Lima, Peru; Lusaka, Zambia; Chagga home gardens, Northern Tanzani; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Javanese home garden; West Indian kitchen gardens; Newfoundland; Poland. Posted January 27, 2000

Urban Agriculture Agrotechnology Park Study Tour

Singapore Tropical Hydroponic Study Tour, August 27 to September 3, 2000. See the new opportunities for hydroponics in urban farming's agrotechnology parks and rooftop farming and rooftop and indoor gardening. Posted February 12, 2000

The Urban Agriculture Network - Western Pacific. (Covering Australia, New Zealand, Pacifc islands, and South East Asia)

An office of the Urban Agriculture Network (TUAN) has been set up to begin work in the Western Pacific region. "According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 2.5 million Australian households (about 35%) grow some of their own fruit and vegetables. This is estimated to be about 110,000 tonnes of fruit and about 153,000 tonnes of vegetables a year. About 80,000 Australian households have poultry that produce around 2,000 tonnes of meat and more than 26 million dozen eggs." Updated January 23, 2001

Seed Suppliers for Developing Countries

"We have a seed breeding company in Vietnam and a farm in Indonesia for high quality seed production. Some of our varieties provide outstanding performance for growing in the lowlands and highlands. For instance, we have bred tomato varieties that can be cultivated in the Mekong Delta under 45oC and heavy rains, so that the farmers can grow them all year round. " Updated January 4, 2000

Cities Feeding People Homepage

This site provides information about the program initiative on urban agriculture (UA) at Canada's International Development Research Centre. UA projects in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Morocco, India, Cambodia, Kenya, Ghana, are described. The site also describes a Latin American UA organization named AGUILA currently grouping nearly 40 institutions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru.

Jakarta Governor Says Poor Can Farm City Land

Agence France Presse reports that "security forces in Indonesia have been powerless to stop scores of incidents of people digging up golf courses and parks to plant vegetables, banana trees and fast-growing tubers." Posted August 10, 1998

Urban and Periurban Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development for Sustainable Vegetable Production and Marketing Systems in Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines

"The general objectives of the project were: * to supply the local urban population with year-round healthy vegetable; * to provide work and additional income to the urban populace; * to facilitate small - and medium sized farm enterprise access to the market by developing; economically viable, environmental benign and socially accepted vegetable production systems." Posted August 21, 2001

The Vegetable Patch

Welcome to Gavin & Paula Atkinson's vegetable garden in suburban Brisbane, Australia. Their site is all about growing organic vegetables. You'll find here profiles of vegetables they're growing and last season's harvest. Posted June 9, 1998

Bangkok Food Gardens

Short-life vegetables are lettuce, phak khana, khuenchai, phak bung (morning glory), tang-o, scallions, cucumber, and cauliflower.

Australian City Farms

For the first time, a booklet has been produced to document the activities, focus and set-up of Australian city farms, community gardens and creative living/enterprise centres.

City Farm in Perth, Australia

"We all wanted to move out of the city and find some greenery. Then we thought, 'Why not bring the greenery to the city?'"

Improving Nutrition Through Home Gardening

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization publishes Improving Nutrition Through Home Gardening: A training package for preparing field workers in Southeast Asia.

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