Urban or peri-urban agriculture encompasses a variety of activities, ranging from livestock farming and horticulture to agro-forestry. Some of these activities are concentrated in peri-urban areas (such as livestock farming), while others are practiced in the heart of cities themselves. Others still are tied to a city’s unique particularities (aquaculture, for instance, is tied to the presence of ponds, streams, estuaries, or lagoons), while agro-forestry is more common in “green belts.” Intra- and peri-urban produce plays a major role in supplying major South American and African cities with food. Peri-urban agriculture makes it possible to reduce pressure on the pioneer forest front and, consequently, to reduce forest depletion. It also helps to reduce urban pollution. (M. Margiotta,1997).
Source: FAO website
Such practices can be found across the globe, in the south as well as the north. The reasons for this practice are diverse, ranging from food security to the development of spaces for urban interaction and conviviality, by way of the desire for more ecological corridors for protecting nature.
File translated by Michael C. Behrent – Assistant Professor – Department of History – Appalachian State University – Boone, NC 28608