Peri-Urban Agriculture – The Need of the Hour

Abstract

In the beginning, the planners of our country were concerned much about the planning of urban rather than rural landscapes. With the century turning, planners regulated to push cultivation away from settlements in order to reduce waste management issues caused by farming and to avoid zoonotic diseases. Job creation was considered important than resource management. Then came the issues of coexistence, resource mismanagement, municipal waste management and food security. In spite of the policies in the past which pushed the farms away from residential areas, the need arose to perform farming in the urban fringes, which is called peri-urban agriculture. Waste management, food supply, nutritional security all turned to be question mark. Peri-urban agriculture was found to be a better answer for all those questions.