Research & reports

尚华夏, 俞继东, 周四清, 储健 · 江苏农村经济 · China

A study of Nanjing, China, analyzes the city's "One Village, One Product" development model under its urban agriculture strategy, reporting that Nanjing has 150 specialized villages and 10 specialized towns, more than half of which are effectively linked with leading agribusiness enterprises. It argues that cultivating dominant industries with clear comparative advantage — based on local resources, location, industrial base, and market conditions — underpins the "one village, one product / one town, one industry" approach.

Sophie Graefe, Eva Schlecht, Andreas Buerkert · Outlook on Agriculture · Niger (Niamey)

Semi-structured interviews with 130 households in Niamey, Niger, characterized urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and assessed resource use. The study found high use of livestock manure and indiscriminate use of nutrient-loaded wastewater for irrigation, leading to significant nutrient surpluses in UPA gardens. Initial calculations suggested large gaseous emissions of nitrogenous compounds and and leaching of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to groundwater.

Erastus K. Kang’ethe, Delia Grace, Thomas F. Randolph · East African Medical Journal · East Africa

This study synthesizes current knowledge on urban agriculture (UA) in East Africa, focusing on its human health impact. It identifies UA as an important source of food security, but notes that many zoonotic and food-borne diseases are associated with it, with a lack of evidence on human health impact and management. Major constraints include illegality and limited access to inputs and markets, indicating a need for more research to understand both positive and negative health impacts.

Zoia Komirenko, D.M. Hoermann, Komirenko, Z., Hoermann, D.M. · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · Ukraine (Kyiv)

This study surveyed 240 Kyiv households with urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in 2005 using a standardized questionnaire. Data collected covered production, inputs, sales, and the importance of plots for self-sufficiency, recreation, and leisure. Cluster analysis identified four groups of UPA users, revealing that the importance of UPA shifts from livelihood necessity to recreational resource, or combines both, depending on the plot type.

Han Lu-yu · Chinese and Overseas Architecture · China

With the continuous promotion of social economy and living quality, the living behaviors of suburban residents are diversifying. Higher demands in spirit, culture, and leisure entertainment are driving the construction of more community gardens. Gangcheng Garden, a large new community garden in northern Gaoqiao Town, with its natural and comfortable landscaping environment and various leisure, cultural, and gymnastic facilities, has become a place for leisure, entertainment, neighborly communication, and refuge.

Camillus J. Sawio · · Global

This paper, based on existing literature, discusses the increasing international, regional, and local recognition of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) over the past three decades. It highlights UPA's contributions to feeding urban populations, poverty alleviation, food security, and sustainable urban management, attributing this recognition to efforts by various international organizations and resulting municipal declarations.

Bernard Keraita, Pay Drechsel, Flemming Konradsen · Water Science & Technology · Ghana (Kumasi)

A study in Kumasi, Ghana, assessed the use of on-farm ponds to reduce microbial contamination in wastewater-contaminated irrigation water, analyzing over 300 samples. It found that while ponds are common, their potential for pathogen removal via sedimentation is not fully optimized. Helminth eggs reduced by about 70% with careful water collection, but thermotolerant coliforms took six days in the dry season to meet WHO guidelines, indicating suboptimal performance for some pathogens.

Pay Drechsel, Olufunke Cofie, R. van Veenhuizen, Theophilus O. Larbi · Irrigation and Drainage · West Africa

Informal irrigation in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in West Africa offers benefits but is often hindered by water pollution, threatening public health. A multi-stakeholder process implemented since 2005 in six West African cities, including Accra, Ghana, aimed to integrate UPA into sustainable urban development. However, an internal lesson learned was that local partners may not prioritize every project, and capacity-building efforts might not provide expected incentives for commitment.

Euis Suryaningsih · Jurnal Hortikultura · Indonesia (Bandung)

From January to July 2001, a field experiment on vegetable disease control in a mosaic farming system in periurban agriculture was conducted at a farmer's field in Rancaekek, Bandung, Indonesia. Treatments included white plastic net cages, biorational pesticides, Bacillus subtilis, a mixture of Mancozeb and Bacillus subtilis, and an unsprayed control. All tested alternative control methods were very effective against major diseases of chili pepper, shallot, eggplant, beans, and cucumber, but the use of poisonous synthetic pesticides in periurban agriculture increases the likelihood of contaminating humans and the environment.

丁婕 · 中国花卉园艺 · China

A news brief reports that Ningxia's first "farmer ecological park" was completed and opened to the public at the Taqiao flower garden zone in Xingqing district, Yinchuan city, China. Xingqing district is described as shifting its agricultural development model toward modern urban agriculture and urban-rural integration, positioning facility agriculture and the flower industry as the centerpiece of agricultural restructuring and a new source of farmer income.

XU Yong-xian, Biao Huang · Soils · China

A study of a small-scale vegetable farming system in peri-urban Nanjing, China, monitored heavy metal balances and pollution potential from July 2003 to July 2004. Heavy metals entered the soil mainly through fertilization and irrigation, with organic manure application accounting for more than 98% of inputs. Annual heavy metal input in the area was significantly higher than in European farmland, while annual output was very low, under 10% of input, leading to accumulation of heavy metals in the plots; long-term vegetable cultivation had already caused heavy metal buildup in the soils. Copper, lead, zinc, and cadmium concentrations in vegetables and soil were still below national safety standard limits, so the vegetable farming system was assessed as currently safe. However, an evaluation that incorporated atmospheric deposition showed the region carries a high risk of copper, zinc, and cadmium contamination, and the study concludes that intensive vegetable cultivation will aggravate soil heavy metal pollution, potentially pushing the soil to Second Grade of the National Soil Environment Quality Standard within several decades.

George Danso, Pay Drechsel, Olufunke Cofie · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Sub-Saharan Africa

A book chapter (in Parrot, Njoya, Temple, Assogba-Komlan, Kahane, Ba Diao and Havard, eds., "Agriculture and urban development in Sub-Saharan Africa: environment and health issues," L'Harmattan, 2008) addresses large-scale urban waste composting for urban and peri-urban agriculture in West Africa as an integrated approach to support municipal authority decision-making. The abstract provided is only the editorial citation, with no method or findings stated.

Yang Zheng · Zhongguo shengtai nongye xuebao · China (Shanghai)

A text on Shanghai, China (2008) discusses the concept, characteristics, and scope of "urban modern fishery" as a component of urban agriculture and a foundation of Shanghai's ecologically sustainable development, analyzing the status and function of fishery within Shanghai's urban agriculture. It proposes that the structure of urban modern fishery in Shanghai incorporate three sectors: an economic sector covering ordinary aquaculture, specialty-species aquaculture, distant-water fishery, aquatic product manufacturing, and modern aquatic logistics; an ecological sector covering aquatic ecological industry and recreational fishery; and a knowledge-based sector covering hatchery fishery, fishery information industry, and fishery technology services.

Do Thuy Trang, Kåre Mølbak, Phung Dac Cam, Anders Dalsgaard · Tropical Medicine & International Health · Vietnam (Hanoi)

A cross-sectional study in a peri-urban area of Hanoi, Vietnam, surveyed 400 agricultural households and examined 807 stool samples from 620 adults and 187 children for helminth infections. The study found that 39% of samples were infected with helminths, with Ascaris sp. at 21.6%, Trichuris sp. at 9.8%, and hookworm at 21.8%. Wastewater exposure was not a major risk, but lack of sanitation facilities and use of fresh or inadequately composted human excreta in agriculture were important risk factors for infection.

Alex Thornton, Etienne Nel · Africanus Journal of Development Studies · South Africa (Peddie)

This study investigated the significance of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a livelihoods strategy in Peddie, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, based on a PhD study. The findings indicate that UPA is not as significant or widely practiced as often assumed, despite its potential to address food insecurity and generate income. Its development has been slowed by various structural historical and socioeconomic barriers, limiting its current impact.

Nita Chaudhuri, Daryl Cole, D S Niang · Epidemiology · Senegal (Dakar)

A Participatory Education and Action Research (PEAR) process was conducted with 3 farmers in periurban Dakar, Senegal, and surveyed 55 farmers using pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Post-intervention, farmers showed a clearer understanding of environmental impacts like water contamination and pesticide runoff, and perceived a broader range of health risks linked to urban agriculture. Observations also indicated reduced pesticide container litter in the fields.

焦必方 · 上海经济研究 · Japan (Tokyo)

This paper analyzes the experiences of modern rural construction in the suburbs of Tokyo, focusing on Mitaka City and Hinohara Village. It highlights the development of suburban rail networks and other infrastructure, the provision of comprehensive public facilities, and the promotion of urban agriculture tailored to suburban characteristics. The study also notes efforts to balance regional development disparities, advocate democratic management, and pursue social harmony.

William F. Stewart, James R. Barkley, Andrew Kernis, Katerie Gladdys, Troy D. Glover · Journal of Park and Recreation Administration · United States

This study assessed participants' lived experiences and place meanings in urban-agricultural fringe landscapes in the Chicago metropolitan area and Urbana, Illinois, using an autodriven photo elicitation method (APEC). Participants expressed place meanings that valued human history, tolerated human development, and indicated a need to heal the land. These findings informed two principles for park development: embodying public memories and allowing community-based restoration of ecological and cultural heritage.

Viola Devasirvatham, P. S. Cornish · International Journal of Water · Australia

Peri-urban horticulture in Australia requires irrigation for year-round vegetable production. Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) offers higher water use efficiency and crop yields, with the potential to reduce environmental risks from drainage and runoff. However, SDI has potential disadvantages, including poor germination or crop establishment and uneven wetting patterns. Research is needed to solve these problems and enable environmentally acceptable vegetable production.

Valeria Olivera · · Cuba (City of the Havana)

This study surveyed producers in urban and peri-urban agriculture settings in Cuba to identify low-growing plant species commonly used for hedges in agroforestry systems. The surveys revealed 13 species across 9 families utilized as hedges. In the City of Havana, Marpacifco (Hibiscus rosasinensis), Bugambilia (Bougainvillea glabra), and Muralla (Murraya paniculata) were most frequently used, while in rural areas, Cardona (Euphorbia lactea), Tuna (Opuntia dillenii), and Itamo real (Pedilanthus tithymaloides) were more common.

이민수, 박덕병, 황대용 · 농어촌관광연구 · South Korea

A cost-benefit analysis of Sunchang County's 2007 pilot "allotment garden with log house" program (family farm-stay plots), launched by South Korea's Rural Development Administration in JeonBuk Province, using the county's internal records and interviews with project managers. The analysis found the program to be an inefficient business with a weak cost-benefit structure that produced a negative net benefit: at an assumed 6.5% discount rate, net present value was estimated at -262 million won, with a benefit-cost ratio of 0.70 and an internal rate of return of 2.7%. The authors nonetheless conclude the program is worth maintaining as part of the government's balanced regional development policy.

Mure Agbonlahor, S. Momoh, A. O. Dipeolu · International Journal of Vegetable Science · Africa

A sample survey of 242 urban vegetable farmers conducted through March 2006 examined production efficiency and its determinants in fadama agriculture — flood-plain cropping of short-duration crops on low-lying, seasonally flooded land — in urban southwestern Nigeria, using a stochastic frontier model. Mean farm size was 0.54 hectares and mean producer age was 42.6 years, while mean technical efficiency was only 74.36%, with the main sources of inefficiency identified as labor employment and the use of land and seed/cultivar resources; the most common crop combination was Telfaria occidentale, Amaranthus hybridus and Zea mays.

Urban Harvest / Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) · Urban Harvest, Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) · Peru

Urban Harvest, the global urban and peri-urban agriculture initiative coordinated by the International Potato Center (CIP), published in 2007 the proceedings and declaration of its Third Inter-institutional Meeting held in Lima on 25-26 August 2006. The report notes that Lima Metropolitana spans the lower basins of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, with the Rímac's average flow of 29 m3/s far exceeding the Chillón (5 m3/s) and Lurín (0.41 m3/s), while bacterial contamination in all three rivers exceeds the vegetable-irrigation limit of 1,000 fecal coliforms per 100ml. In Villa María del Triunfo, a municipal urban agriculture program began in 2001, and by 2006 the municipality had identified 1,926 people engaged in productive urban agriculture.

Stephanie Buechler, Gayathri Devi Mekala, B. Keraita · Victoria University Research Repository (Victoria University) · Global

This 2006 global study from Victoria University discusses wastewater use in urban and peri-urban agriculture for crop production and aquaculture, noting its role in generating livelihoods and providing cheap produce. However, the study emphasizes that clear policy guidelines and careful research are needed to prevent potential negative impacts on human health and the environment from wastewater reuse.

Adolphe Monkiédjé, Michael Spiteller, D. Fotio, Premasis Sukul · Journal of Environmental Quality · Cameroon (Yaounde)

This study evaluated the effect of different land uses on soil health indicators in peri-urban agricultural areas of Yaounde, Cameroon, by comparing five tilled sites with native forest land. While most cropped land showed higher levels of many soil health indicators, cultivation of crops like corn and sugarcane significantly impacted native soil quality. Specifically, phenol oxidase, microbial biomass C/organic C, and microbial biomass C/microbial biomass P were negatively affected, indicating negative management impacts on soil health.