Research & reports

Nurlela Machmuddin, Ahmad Mubarak, Rayhana Jafar, Jufriadi Jufriadi · Jurnal Ilmiah Membangun Desa dan Pertanian · Indonesia (Tarakan)

This study, conducted in Tarakan City, Indonesia, from April to June 2021, analyzed public perception of hydroponic technology for independent household food procurement. Respondents, with an average age of 30 and high school education, showed a heightened perception (81.11%) of hydroponics. The highest perceived benefits included healthier plants, maintained quality, easy and practical maintenance, and a high selling price compared to conventional methods.

Zachary Burt, C. Shambu Prasad, Pay Drechsel, Isha Ray · Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development · India (Karnataka)

A preference-ranking model was developed to understand the acceptance of fecal sludge-derived fertilizer (FSF) in Karnataka, India, by modeling farmowners and farmworkers separately. The study found that farmers willing to use FSF prefer to conceal its origins from workers and their caste group, especially caste-adhering, vegetarian farmowners. Workers were open to FSF if it resembled cow manure, revealing that the waste economy in rural India is shaped by unacknowledged caste hierarchies and practices.

Umbu Joka, Aprianus Nelson Bana · Agribusiness Journal · Indonesia (Kefamenanu City District)

This survey study, conducted in June 2020 with 20 farmers from the Nekaf Mese farmer group in Benpasi Village, Indonesia, aimed to determine the income and relative advantages of urban bean farming. Farmers cultivated 6-9 acres, generating an average revenue of Rp. 1,827,500 and an average income of Rp. 796,050 per planting season. The average relative profit was 1.74, indicating economic profitability.

Trecy Austin, Marleni Marleni · Jurnal Abdimas Indonesia · Indonesia (Palembang)

This community empowerment activity in Sialang Village, Palembang City, Indonesia, involved training and direct practical assistance to implement urban farming, specifically hydroponics and BUDIKDAMBER (fish and vegetable cultivation in buckets). The program aimed to enhance food security and support the Climate Village Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants from RT 19 and RT 65 RW 13 gained understanding of urban farming methods and their health and economic benefits, showing readiness to adopt these practices in their households.

Institut Teknologi Bandung, Ernawati Ernawati, Indratmo Soekarno, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Joko Sıswanto, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Yadi Suryadi, Institut Teknologi Bandung · Jurnal Keteknikan Pertanian Tropis dan Biosistem · Indonesia

This study discusses the need for competent human resources to support urban farming in Indonesia, given limited land and busy urban populations. It notes that only 24% of the community intends to engage in urban farming, and only 2% actually do, resulting in suboptimal outcomes. The research emphasizes that strong cooperation between the government and community is essential for urban farming to contribute to food security.

Dion Notario, Ferdian Suprata, Meda Canti, Listya Utami Karmawan · MITRA Jurnal Pemberdayaan Masyarakat · Indonesia (Jakarta)

A community empowerment program focusing on clean water management, compost making, and urban farming was implemented in Muara Baru flats, Jakarta. A majority of residents responded positively to the program and expressed willingness to actively participate. However, several obstacles hindering the program's success were identified, including a lack of commitment from the local community, climate change, water availability, and arable land availability.

Kinanti Indah Safitri, Oekan S. Abdoellah, Yusep Suparman, Akhmad Zainal Mubarak, Margareth · International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning · Indonesia (Bandung)

The existence of subsistence, semi-commercial, and commercial urban agriculture in Bandung Metropolitan, Indonesia, was investigated through qualitative research. Data was collected via observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation with 50 individuals from farmer groups and local government. Findings indicated that each category of urban agriculture had distinct characteristics and motivations, with subsistence agriculture in intra-city areas aiming to reduce food dependence, and semi-commercial and commercial agriculture in surrounding regencies focusing on economic development or profit maximization. The study concluded that policy instruments for sustainable agricultural management are needed for urban agriculture in Bandung Metropolitan.

Afrah, Anastasia Rouli Alodia, Angela Olivia Sitompul · HEALTH CARE JURNAL KESEHATAN · Indonesia

This qualitative study, using a literature review approach, investigated the trend of urban farming during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia and its benefits for the environment and community nutrition. As people were encouraged to stay home during the pandemic, urban farming became a popular choice. Urban farming benefits the environment by helping to lower urban temperatures and building temperatures, minimizing air conditioner use, and reducing air pollution levels. It also benefits nutrition by increasing food security and improving community nutritional status.

Novisrayani Kesmayanti, Abdul Aziz · Journal of Community Service · Indonesia (Palembang)

This community service activity (PKM) in Palembang, Indonesia, addressed challenges faced by PKK RT 19 RW 05 community members, including limited yard space and farming knowledge. The program provided education, technology transfer, demonstrations, and assistance for independent hydroponic urban farming. The activity successfully helped community members maximize the use of narrow yard spaces, transforming them into productive environments for family food supply through hydroponic cultivation.

Rahmi Winangsih, Rahmi Mulyasih, Marthalena, Rethorika Berthanilla, Ahmad Sururi · Bantenese - Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat · Indonesia (Cilegon)

This paper reports on an empowerment communication program within an urban farming initiative targeting women in Kampung Lukis Ramanuju, Cilegon City, Indonesia. The program aims to empower women to meet family and community food needs by cultivating high-economic-value crops like vegetables and fruits. As a result of the mentorship, the participating group became capable of producing crops for personal consumption.

Tuti Kusumaningsih, Rini Devijаnti Ridwаn, Sidarningsih Sidarningsih · Jurnal Layanan Masyarakat (Journal of Public Services) · Indonesia

In the Maesan and Sumberwringin sub-districts of Bondowoso Regency, Indonesia, community groups lacked knowledge and information regarding the health benefits, economic value, and cultivation of ciplukan (Physalis angulata L). To address this, the Community Service Team of the Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Airlangga, designed an activity to provide counseling and promote ciplukan as a medicinal plant, offer information on its health benefits and cultivation, and distribute ciplukan plants as an initial step. This activity received a very good response from the local community.

Yuyang Zhang, Qilin Wu, Lei Wu, Li Yan · Land · China

A study noting that although exposure to green space benefits residents' physical and mental health, its spatial distribution is inequitable, and that existing green equity studies typically rely on administrative units, a macro-scale approach that overlooks the fine-scale green spaces (such as community gardens and lawns) residents encounter most often, risking biased estimates. Using the community as the unit of analysis, the study drew on three types of green-space data - fine-scale green spaces within communities, surrounding large-scale parks, and streetscape imagery - and applied a proposed set of 11 metrics across morphology, visibility, and accessibility to 4,544 communities in urban Beijing. Through spatial visualization, spatial clustering, radar plots, and correlation analysis, the study found large differences and complementary relationships between metric categories, similarities within the same category, and confirmed inequity in green space across regions of the city as urbanization proceeds.

Fauzian Gilang Prananda, Sumeru Ashari · Jurnal Produksi Tanaman · Indonesia

A randomized complete block design trial at 550 m elevation on the rooftop of the Central Building, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia, grown from June to September 2019, compared production of five melon (Cucumis melo) varieties (Melindo-15, Gracia, Madesta, Action, Glamour), measuring female flower count and timing, leaf count, plant length, stem diameter, fruit weight and fruit reduction with ANOVA and 5% BNJ follow-up tests. Growth and fruit yield differed among varieties, with Melindo showing the best production potential.

Harefan Arief, Mochamad Soelton, Eko Tama Putra Saratian, Tafiprios Tafiprios, Astrid Puspaningrum, Mugiono Mugiono · ICCD · Indonesia

A 2021 report on a community service activity in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic delivered one month of online entrepreneurship education and training to a youth organization (Karang Taruna). Focused on marketing organic hydroponic vegetable urban farming products via information-technology-based programs, the training aimed to build participants' entrepreneurial knowledge and skills; the activity reportedly increased the youth group's creativity and motivation and produced a connection model for microenterprise entrepreneurship.

Sri Adiningsih, Siti Rahayu Nadhiroh, Farapti · Acta Scientifci Nutritional Health · Indonesia

This 2021 study examines Indonesia's Home Gardening Zone (HGZ) program, launched by the Ministry of Agriculture to increase dietary diversity and food security, with the aim of assessing why community gardeners participate in the program and exploring its potential impacts on community and household food security.

Nurinda Rahma Ardiasari, Purwanto Setyo Nugroho, Wiwik Setyaningsih · Senthong · Indonesia (Surabaya)

A qualitative-descriptive design study developed an architectural concept for an urban agriculture center in Surabaya, Indonesia, applying ecological architecture principles through field observation and literature analysis. The resulting design covers activity and spatial planning, site processing, building design, vegetation selection and building utilities, framed as a response to shrinking irreversible farmland and weak food security amid rapid urban population growth.

Shahida Mohd Sharif, Norsidah Ujang · INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF URBAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY · Indonesia

Noting that more than 50% of the population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050, and that urban migration raises the risk of insufficient social support leading to individualism, social isolation, and loneliness, a conceptual framework is proposed for investigating the level of social bonding among participants in community gardening activities. The paper argues that the choice of urban green space type is critical for wellbeing, positions community gardens as an intervention strategy for reintegrating socially isolated people into community life, and suggests that urban designers and policymakers adopt community gardens as safe public spaces for social interaction.

Wei Li, Yang Zhou, Zhanwei Zhang · Land · China

A study analyzing rural planning through policy analysis and focus-group interviews in Pu'an Village, a peri-urban village near Changzhou city in China's Yangtze River Delta. It examines the process of identifying the bulrush as a local multifunctional cultural symbol and proposes a "bulrush + creative industry" framework, with a creative processing industry as the core and creative planting and creative tourism as two extended industries. The research emphasizes participation by local villagers, outsiders and urban tourists, and the creative class and entrepreneurs, stressing the revival of local rural culture in peri-urban villages.

M. Ichwan, Ameilia Zuliyanti Siregar, E Yusni, Tulus Ikhsan Nasution · ABDIMAS UNWAHAS · Indonesia

As a community-service program run from August to December 2020 at Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Indonesia, this project set up a waste management unit called SIMALIM, combining smart urban farming methods, at USU's waste disposal site and the rooftop garden of its integrated laboratory, to handle organic waste from campus canteens and nearby residents. It combined black soldier fly (BSF) larvae rearing, eco-enzyme production, and aquaponics (catfish/gabus, tilapia/nila and lele species alongside organic vegetables), training students to participate as eco-campus ambassadors and members of USU's UI GreenMetric team. The project is framed as a model for generating income-producing products from proper organic waste management and improving USU's UI GreenMetric ranking.

Gusti Nur Asla Shabia · BHUMI Jurnal Agraria dan Pertanahan · Indonesia

Drawing on an ethnographic study of Garten Coop, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group in Freiburg, Germany, and comparing it with CSA studies in other countries, this paper examines how CSA could contribute to Indonesia's agrarian movement. It finds that CSA reorganizes management of production resources in a more democratic, autonomous and equal way, provides farmers income certainty through consumer commitment and a solidarity economy, and fosters independence through sustainable agriculture principles — thereby indirectly supporting the agrarian movement by helping farmers maintain their land and farming operations and by creating a forum for organizing farmers and consumers.

Irina Mildawani, Arief Rahman · The Journal of Synergy Landscape · Indonesia

A survey of 148 respondents in the Jabodetabek region of Indonesia, conducted via Google Form between July and December 2020, examined household gardening preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with activities before and predicted after it. Using qualitative content analysis (QCA), the study assessed emotional well-being and explored variation in garden type — vegetable versus ornamental plants, community versus household gardens, and who was involved. Gardening was seen as a favorable activity generating happy family time, with respondents wanting to continue it after the pandemic, but landscape architects had not yet been chosen as gardeners when professional assistance was needed.

Triyono Triyono, Siti Aisyah, Firman Mansir · Prosiding Seminar Nasional Program Pengabdian Masyarakat · Indonesia

This community-outreach report describes a project at Baitunnafi Mosque in Kampung Brajan, Tamantirto village (Kasihan district, Bantul regency), a fast-growing suburban area on the outskirts of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The mosque's roughly 1,500 m² grounds included about 500 m² of unused vacant land. The project involved coordination and religious-education sessions on using land for vegetable and fish cultivation as a healthy family food source, vegetable-growing training, and a demonstration of tarpaulin-pond technology for catfish farming. The mosque congregation, the target group, participated enthusiastically across the activity stages; the report states the urban farming activity addressed environmental problems while increasing the food supply and nutrition available to the congregation and surrounding community.

Farida Rahmawati, Ana Chusniatul Hidayah, Aida Nur Faizah, Ahmad Falahuddin, Muhammad Adryan Okuputra · Journal of Social Development Studies · Indonesia

This study examined the actions and innovations of Gelar Gulung, a citizen movement in Tegalweru Village, Tegalrejo District, Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, aimed at meeting residents' food needs independently during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a descriptive method with qualitative data gathered through observation, interviews, and literature review, the study identified five categories of action: (a) participatory mapping of self-reliant residents, (b) food emergency response, (c) social action for economic independence, (d) livelihood network building, and (e) urban farming (food-stock gardening). The report states these activities received a positive response from stakeholders, having increased food security during the pandemic and supported long-term economic independence.

Eun Yu, Yu Bin Yang, Seo Yoon Park, Eun Bin Jeon, Chae Rim Oh · Journal of Basic Design & Art · South Korea

Focusing on public community garden plots along Nowon-gu's Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail in Seoul, South Korea, this study used a Research Through Design methodology to develop a mobile application for integrated garden plot management. Surveying stakeholders, including potential users, connected to garden plots and weekend farms to identify problems and opportunity areas, the project developed service ideas and features including crop-management functions, a farm-tool rental function, and a community function allowing garden-plot users in a given area to communicate and help one another.

Dwiyana Anela Kurniasari, Siti Alimah, Agus Subhan Prasetyo, Nur Hafif · Prosiding Seminar Nasional Gender & Inklusi Sosial UWP · Indonesia

A study analyzed participation levels among PKK (Family Welfare and Empowerment) members in RT05/RW06 of the Balasklumprik area in Wiyung district, Surabaya, Indonesia, in a hydroponics training program conducted by the Agribusiness Study Program of Universitas Wijaya Putra in July 2020. Participation rates were 100% for seedling-raising training, 80% for hydroponic nutrition training, 86.67% success in the first pakcoy harvest, and 73.33% of members continued hydroponic cultivation after the training; descriptive analysis concluded that PKK members participated well in each activity of the hydroponics program.