Much of urban farming in Delhi either a livelihood strategy or means of self-supply of organic vegetables
Urban agriculture can address many challenges the cities are facing today. But its characteristics in Delhi are varied, leading to different outcomes for sections of the society.
Much of the urban farming in the national capital is on the opposite sides of a spectrum. Either it is a livelihood strategy for the economically weaker section or a means to self-supply organic vegetables for the rich.
We explore a few ideas to help make urban agriculture an inclusive practice to make Delhi an ‘edible city’, while improving the urban ecology.
Read more: Creating foraging-friendly cities can strengthen people-biodiversity connections
Agriculture in Delhi was not recognised; hence, farming on the floodplain was traditionally regarded as a nuisance.
The farmers engaged in Yamuna floodplain agriculture are invisible and vulnerable. They do not own the lands and have to pay rent. They are deemed as encroachers and live in constant fear of eviction from the authorities.
Heavy rains or the release of water from barrages flood their entire lands and damages their yield. Since they are mostly invisible from government policies for urban areas, they rarely have any advantages.
At present, there is no support system for farmers’ welfare and farming activities, according to a report by People’s Resource Center in 2022. People’s Resource Center is a forum to create community resources for social transformation and to build perspectives and alternatives.
The climate and ecological crisis have brought forth the need for policies to support urban agriculture.
Agriculture on the Yamuna floodplain was acknowledged in the Master Plan for Delhi-2041. It provides plans for the green-blue assets in Delhi’s Zone O, the river Yamuna and its floodplain.
Some schemes utilise the area near the river for urban agriculture rather than just keeping it as an area for leisure activities. It also involves local communities in understanding the importance of river-people connection, a clean environment, disposal of untreated sewage and waste and building flood-resilient housing.
The master plan is also creating public awareness regarding the river Yamuna and its floodplain to initiate the restoration of the ecosystem, according to Delhi Development Authority, 2021.
The proper implementation of policies would give the farmers recognition to avail license, access and own lands, access to consumers and better management of natural and social resources.
The financial constraints to hiring external labour need to be addressed, so their children do not need to skip school to meet the labour shortage. Setting up farmers’ organisations will help them raise their concerns to higher authorities and avail benefits.
Instead of a top-down decision-making approach, the government needs to understand the problems of the floodplain farmers and incorporate their concerns into the planning. Also, cleaning the polluted Yamuna is crucial for fear-free farming along its floodplain.
The highly dense character of Delhi creates a huge land demand, making owning or renting expensive and inaccessible to most of the population.
Due to high rents, limited accessibility to land, and high input costs, farming on privately allotted land remains an exclusive practice. Few individuals or private organisations can manage the overall process’s high expenditure.
The nature of production also remains restricted for personal consumption or exclusive consumers. It creates social inequalities and inaccessibility, moving away from supporting livelihoods, food security and self-sustainability.
There is a potential field for intervention to fill in the gaps for inclusive progress of farming practices in the city.
The appropriate approach for inclusive farming practices in the city lies at the intersection of accessibility to land resources, inclusive policymaking and increasing government-community interactions and participation.
All resources need to be brought in for equitable progress, creating easier accessibility and awareness to forward the acceptance and engagement of these practices.
The vacant spaces in the built environment become a potential resource for urban farming practices with a focus on making ways to make it equally accessible to all practitioners.
Enhanced interaction between the authorities and community about farming initiatives should be the way forward. The objective is to promote more participation from the people with regular awareness campaigns about best practices and the benefits of engagement.
The city’s land use and planning policies should also incorporate farming practices and focus on reclaiming extra land around public spaces, pathways, parking lots and vacant plots for better utilisation as cultivable green spaces.
These initiatives also reduce the burden of limited access to expensive land and rentals in the city, promoting further participation from people and allowing sustainable revitalisation of vacant land.
Home food gardening has primarily remained an elitist practice in Delhi and only a section of the society has the resources and support system to set up these gardens. The high costs for establishment and maintenance limit the scope for its wide adoption.
Urban home gardening has recently received policy attention in Delhi through a ‘smart urban farming’ campaign proposal in the latest budget. The campaign looks promising, though there are some concerns to address.
Special efforts are needed to make such campaigns inclusive, affordable, and accessible for all.
Especially when the number of beneficiaries is negligible (around 10,000) for a tier-1 city like the national capital, there should not be any stringent criteria to select the beneficiaries so that people from lower economic classes can also reap it.
The technologies and practices being disseminated should be affordable for all and adaptable to all types of residential areas of Delhi. The cost incurred to the beneficiaries should be lower after deducting the subsidy amount.
There are examples from other states where ready-to-start gardening units (25 grow-bags planted with vegetable seedlings) are distributed at Rs 500, after a 75% subsidy.
Support from the research institutes in Delhi is also vital for developing space-and resource-saving technologies. Strong engagement of residence associations is also essential to ensure strong coordination of urban home gardening practices.
At present, building-integrated gardening on commercial buildings is limited to ornamental plants. To make an ‘edible city’, such spaces can also be used for food production.
Although rooftops are private spaces, some examples in India show the establishment of community gardens on the rooftops of commercial buildings.
Enabling self-help groups to take up rooftop cultivation on government and private-owned buildings would help bring otherwise unused spaces under food production. It will also facilitate socio-economic development and improve urban ecology.
Formulation of effective government guidelines is crucial in lending out public and private roof spaces to set up such community gardening practices.
Institutional-level changes are the crux of making urban agriculture an inclusive and affordable practice in Delhi.
The multifunctionality of urban agriculture that provides social, ecological and economic functions needs to be recognised. It will help make such agriculture an integral part of the urban fabric and help build an edible city.
Urban agriculture should be supported with an annual budget, strengthening of agriculture extension services, and active engagement of various stakeholders in community-based decentralised urban agriculture practices.
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