In Vietnam, urban agriculture still represents a substantial share of food supply and employment. Its contribution to the food needs of the entire population of Hanoi was estimated at 44 per cent in 2002 (Mai et al., 2004). In the same year, over 70 per cent of leafy vegetables originated within a 30 km production radius of the city (Moustier et al., 2004).

Towns and cities are growing rapidly in developing countries. This process is often accompanied by high levels of poverty and hunger, leading many urban dwellers to engage in farming activities to help satisfy their food needs. Policy makers need to recognize this reality and actively seize the opportunities offered by urban agriculture.

As part of the RUAF

Agriculture in what is now Mexico City can be traced back to the great city of Tenochtitl

To better understand the linkage between sanitation and agriculture at municipal scale, a study was carried out that addressed the following research questions:
- How does a larger investment in flush toilets affect water quality and urban farmers?
- How much of the nutrient demand of urban farmers could be covered through waste composting?

Rapid urbanisation in developing countries intensifies the challenges of making sufficient food available for the increasing urban population, and managing the related waste flow. Unlike in rural communities, there is usually little or no return of food biomass and related nutrients into the food production process. Most waste ends up on landfills or pollutes the urban environment.

The disposal of waste presents an increasing challenge to the administrative bodies of megacities. The Municipal Corporation of the Indian city Pune has introduced source separation systems and onsite organic waste composting. The citizens concerned are looking for practical ways to treat their organic wastes and they have found city farming to be a viable solution.

The potential of urban agriculture for feeding a growing population is becoming increasingly visible. In Cuba,

This report by Jon Padgham identifies and summarizes potential climate change impacts on agriculture in the developing world, examines causes of vulnerability, and suggests where investments are needed to better climate-proof agriculture.

This paper argues that the disproportionate attention that policy solutions to the food price crisis give to rural dwellers is probably misplaced. Although in developing countries rural poverty is often deeper and more widespread than urban poverty, rural dwellers are often net producers of food, frequently of the very staples whose prices are rising.

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