Research & reports

QU Xue-shu · Anhui nongye kexue · China

A Chinese paper frames Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a risk- and benefit-sharing arrangement between farms and their supporting communities, as an outgrowth of food-security concerns and land interest during urbanization, and explores its potential extension into tourism. Analyzing the feasibility and conditions for combining CSA with tourism, the paper proposes a new tourism form under the CSA model, termed 'TCSA tourism.'

Ratnawati Yuni Suryandari · · Indonesia

An essay arguing that in developing countries, including Indonesia, the fastest urban growth is occurring in city centers, and that unequal income, poverty, poorly functioning food distribution systems and shrinking farmland make food sources especially critical for the urban poor. It cites World Bank figures stating that 360 million urban residents in developing countries suffer chronic malnutrition, that five of six urban households in India spend 70% of income on food, and that in Kuala Lumpur 45–50% of residents' income goes to food, twice the share in the UK. The article frames urban agriculture as a holistic approach to meeting urban poor residents' needs and improving urban environmental quality, discussing urban agriculture's issues and challenges in Indonesia through the case of Jakarta and its surroundings.

Zhigang Wei · Journal of Qingdao Agricultural University · China

A comprehensive survey of agricultural structure and layout in Qingdao, China. It states the sector has achieved transformation and upgrading, with growing agricultural industrialization and increasingly optimized layout of agricultural areas approaching cluster-scale planting and breeding industries. However, it reports that further adjustment of planting structure faces major bottlenecks due to limits on arable land and food security: the traditional small-scale fish-farming model seriously restricts further development of animal husbandry and aquaculture, and fluctuating agricultural product markets combined with a lack of competitiveness are affecting the agricultural industry's layout. It concludes that crop structure needs further adjustment, that production should be scaled up, specialized and standardized, and that urban agriculture should be emphasized to expand agricultural functions.

Priyanie Amerasinghe · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Asia

A chapter in the edited volume "Cities, poverty and food: multi-stakeholder policy and planning in urban agriculture" (Dubbeling, de Zeeuw and van Veenhuizen, eds., Practical Action Publishing), addressing efforts to build stakeholder synergies for urban agriculture in Gampaha, Sri Lanka. The available record consists only of this bibliographic citation; no further findings or methods are given in the abstract.

Tianyi Zhang · Anhui nongye kexue · China

A paper examining the connotation and development of circular economy and circular agriculture from a circular-economy perspective. It uses the replicable Sino-Singapore Eco-City in Tianjin as a case study, analyzing the background, significance, and features of its construction, and identifies a sustainable development orientation of "harmony and three capabilities," along with implications for Tianjin's urban agriculture development in terms of water-saving, land-saving, and energy-saving. Under circular economy theory, enhancing the economical use of agricultural resources and the resource utilization of agricultural waste is said to have positive effects on improving the urban environment, including decentralizing organic solid waste from the sewage cycle system, further studying the physiological and biochemical mechanisms behind increasing yield and income in ecological agriculture, and incorporating urban agriculture into city land-use and development planning.

Xueming Li · Journal of University of Science and Technology Liaoning · China

Using statistical analysis, a study of Ganjingzi District in Dalian, China, examined the features and problems of construction land during rapid urbanization. It found that both urban and rural construction land scales are expanding simultaneously, that rural residential land use has serious problems, that current traffic land use results in low efficiency of the traffic network, and that profits from urban construction land need to increase. The study proposes an optimized design for the structure and layout of urban construction land.

蔡元杰 · 浙江现代农业 · China

This survey report covers Yinzhou district, China, which borders central Ningbo and benefits from a favorable location and strong overall economic capacity, describing local efforts to transform and upgrade agriculture around reliance on the city, service to urban areas, and increasing farmer income. It states the district has built modern industrial and support systems and achieved positive results while maintaining rapid, healthy agricultural development, but presents no specific quantitative data.

Chandra Sen · Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics · India

This study estimated the impact of air pollution on crop yields in peri-urban areas of Varanasi, India. Phytotoxic gases are known to cause major yield reductions in important crops in developing countries, and in this study all major crops grown in peri-urban Varanasi — paddy, pigeon pea, maize, wheat, and potato — showed yield reductions attributable to air pollution. Air pollution was found to reduce both the yield and the nutritional quality of the produce, and the study calls for similar validation studies in other cities and for efforts to reduce air pollution in the city to improve crop yield and quality.

Xi-Guang Wang, Wei-Hua Lin, Wen Zeng · Journal of Geographic Information System · China

Focused on urban gardening (green-space) administration in China, this paper (2010) argues that agencies need a gardening information management system to provide a scientific basis for garden planning, project construction, maintenance, and social service. Based on a needs analysis of gardening-sector requirements, it discusses key technologies for building the system and proposes a flexible construction approach using a secondary-development design and runtime environment built on a data-center integration platform, stating that the system supports daily management work and plays a role in improving the urban ecological and investment environment.

邓清南, 许虹 · Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Sunyatseni · China

Pixian County in Sichuan, China — regarded as the birthplace of China's "farmhouse leisure" (nongjiale) tourism — is described as having successfully completed the initial stage of ecological agritourism development. Facing intensifying market competition from leisure agritourism in suburban Chengdu and the challenge of sustaining farmhouse leisure tourism, this discussion piece argues that upgrading Pixian's traditional ecological agritourism into urban-type agricultural tourism is a promising direction to explore, offering some preliminary reflections based on the actual state of agritourism development in Pixian County.

Nyuk Hien Wong, Steve Kardinal Jusuf · Architectural Science Review · Asia

A study measured microclimate conditions and thermal effects along two pedestrian canyons with different greenery and building-distribution conditions in Singapore, addressing the previously unexamined cooling effects of different green canyon forms in the tropics. Results showed cooling effects inside the canyons varied with vegetation cover and the shading provided by trees and buildings, and that planting vegetation within a canyon is an effective passive measure for improving microclimate. Calculated mean radiant temperature and physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) further showed that mature trees provide pedestrian thermal comfort through their shading capacity.

XU Zengxian · Journal of Changjiang Vegetables · China (Wuhan)

The government of Wuhan, China, developed a plant protection and mechanical control team, supported by home construction projects, as urban agriculture developed. This study summarized the operational mode, safeguard measures, and achievements of Wuhan's plant protection and mechanical control service.

Zhang Ya-guang · Guangdong nongye kexue · China (Tianjin)

This study analyzed the characteristics and strategic localization of Tianjin coastal urban agriculture. Tianjin coastal urban agriculture was shown to possess characteristics such as positional superiority, industrial fusion, multiplicity of functions, essential factor intensiveness, sustainable development, openness, and ecological protection. Its functions include strengthened economic function, consummated environmental protection ecology function, prominent radiation leading function, and developed social culture service function. Key forms include seedling source agriculture, green ecological agriculture, facility agriculture, processing agriculture, sea agriculture, port agriculture, and leisure sightseeing agriculture.

Jin-Woo Choi, Hag-Kee Kim, Kyong-Jae Lee, Hyun-Kyung Kang · Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture · South Korea

This study analyzed the economics and growth characteristics of native and imported ground cover plants in a new shallow soil rooftop gardening method, using 13cm soil thickness, on the rooftop of the Korean National Housing Corporation. The new method cost 45,000 won/m², which was 50% less expensive than existing methods. Native ground cover plants and some imported species showed increased cover rate, live weight, and dry weight, with improved growth, though some species required weed maintenance.

W.-L. Rao, Z.-K. Zhang, Runzhong Li · Plant Disease · China (Kunming)

In June 2007, sweet cherry trees with mottling and mosaic symptoms were observed in a private garden near Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. Twenty-four samples from sweet cherry, sour cherry, flowering cherry, and peach trees in private and community gardens were tested for eight viruses by RT-PCR. Cherry virus A (CVA) was detected in two symptomatic sweet cherry trees, marking the first report of CVA in sweet cherry in China.

Wei‐Chao Jiang · Anhui nongye kexue · China (Hefei City)

This study investigated the urban agriculture park of Dawei Town in Baohe District of Hefei City, China, using site investigation, observation, and questionnaires. It expounded on the park's strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities through SWOT analysis and analyzed new problems under eco-tourism, proposing suggestions.

马国珍, 代晖军, 田昌明, 张友录 · 青海经济研究 · China (Xining City)

"Farm-supermarket direct docking" (农超对接) refers to the direct entry of agricultural products into supermarkets, connecting agriculture and supermarkets. This model effectively reduces circulation links and costs for agricultural products, ensuring urban supply and consumption safety and benefiting consumers. Although still in pilot stages in China, it represents a development trend for agricultural product production and marketing.

XU Guang-zhong · Journal of Qinghai Normal University · China (Qinghai)

This analysis proposes the development of urban agriculture in Qinghai to address the ecological crisis arising from rapid urbanization. Urban agriculture, based on modern science and technology, integrates production, services, and consumption, possessing economic, ecological, and social functions. Promoting urban agriculture in Qinghai is stated to expand urban green areas and enhance the eco-city's functions.

Mattia Celio, Christopher A. Scott, Mark Giordano · Geographical Journal · India (Hyderabad)

A study in Hyderabad, India, examined urban water capture and its impacts on pre-existing claims, particularly agriculture. Urban water appropriation often leads to conflict with existing water uses. The findings indicate that the magnitude and direction of impacts from urban water transfer on agriculture vary spatially and temporally, depending on location-specific rainfall patterns, existing water infrastructure and institutions, and farmers' adaptive capacities, including recourse to groundwater.

Liang Wei · Anhui nongye kexue · China (Dingxi)

This study analyzed the advantages, disadvantages, and existing problems in the development of urban agriculture in Dingxi City, China. Strategic concepts and countermeasures were proposed to provide consultation for urban agriculture development in Dingxi City and similar regions.

Sébastien Gadal · RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2019 · India (Jaipur)

To evaluate the impact of urbanization on rural territories around Jaipur, urban sprawl was monitored by remote sensing from the 1990s until 2008. Using Landsat 5, Landsat 7, Spot 3, and Kompsat-2 satellite images, land cover changes and land use transformations in rural areas were analyzed. This analysis identified the territorial transformation of rural space towards becoming part of the Jaipur metropolitan area, indicating that surrounding rural areas are transitioning into geographical areas of urban agriculture.

Huang Xue-qun, Li Jin, Song JianHui · Nongye xiandaihua yanjiu · China (Tianjin)

This paper proposes development ideas and countermeasures for facility agriculture in Tianjin, China, based on the current urban agriculture situation. It outlines the scientific planning of three facility agriculture development zones and strategies to promote 4412 projects using modern technology. The goal is to achieve automation, mechanization, standardization, and branding in agricultural facilities.

Dionys Forster · DORA Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)) · Vietnam (Hanoi)

This work aims to develop a methodology for determining nutrient flows and budgets in peri-urban agricultural systems in Hanoi, Vietnam. The methodology will assess nutrient status at farm, village, and communal levels, considering the spatial and temporal variability of crop and nutrient management. This is intended to support the recycling and reuse of solid and liquid organic waste in peri-urban agriculture.

Zhu Jie-fang · Tangdu Journal · China (Xi'an)

A SWOT analysis of urban agriculture in Xi'an city, China, identified several countermeasures for its promotion. These include the municipal government providing guiding functions and overall plans, establishing socialized service systems and favorable external environments, enacting complete rules and laws, increasing investments and circulating funds, training modern farmers for technical support, and perfecting the municipal government's management system.

尤俊 · 农机科技推广 · China (Wuhan)

In recent years, the agricultural machinery department in Wuhan, Hubei Province, has thoroughly implemented the "Agricultural Mechanization Promotion Law" to serve the development of modern urban agriculture. This initiative focuses on improving the overall level of agricultural machinery, guided by subsidy policies, and utilizing promotion, technical training, and administrative enforcement to strategically adjust agricultural machinery structures and foster the growth of large-scale agricultural machinery operators and service organizations.