Impacts of Urban Agriculture Annual Report.p65 - International ...

Getting agriculture on themunicipal agenda in Lima34In 2003, as part of its research themes on urbanlivelihoods and markets and stakeholder andpolicy dialogue, Urban Harvest conducted diagnosticresearch on the contribution of agriculture tohousehold livelihoods in the district and on the other,sought to generate better understanding amongdecision-makers about the significance of local foodproduction with the aim eventually of incorporatingthe phenomenon of urban agriculture into localgovernment organization and planning.Agriculture is widespread in Lurigancho-Chosica, oneof the largest and less urbanised city districts on theeastern fringe of Lima. Despite the significant contributionthat urban and peri-urban agriculture can make togenerating income and food security, this was untilrecently a little known or understood sector of the districteconomy despite the numbers of local people involved.Farming was absent from municipal organization orplanning and the voices of local producers were unheard.Lurigancho-Chosica is home to around thirty thousandfamilies with around 20% involved full-time or part-timein agriculture. Crop production is mainly located on theirrigated valley floor, which makes up nearly 45% of thedistrict area. Producers there grow and supply about 25%of metropolitan Lima’s vegetables, and also raise birds,guinea pigs, rabbits, pigs, cattle and goats. Almost 30% oflandless families living on the poor hillside settlementsin the heart of the district also keep small animals foroccasional sales or home consumption. With almost athird of children under 6 affected by chronic malnutritionin Peru, this additional source of food and income is oftenvital for these families.Working with local producers and municipalmanagers and decision-makers, Urban Harvestfacilitated workshops, co-ordinated informationsharingand organised public events, such as fairs andvisits to model farms where ecological urbanagriculture is practiced. The first of three internationalworkshop meetings was held in October 2003. Invitedrepresentatives, including those from Havana (Cuba)and Cuenca (Ecuador), made presentations to localadministrators about how the incorporation of urbanagriculture within policy-making in their countries hadencouraged the development of greater food security,income and a greener urban environment for localpeople living there.The result of this first international workshop was thatdecision-makers were given solid evidence for thepotential of urban agriculture to enhance thelivelihoods of local people. As a consequence, themayors of metropolitan Lima publicly declared theirsupport for the development of urban agriculture. Thisled to a decision by the local district administration in2004 to create an Urban Agriculture Unit (Sub-Gerencia de Agricultura Urbana) within theDepartment of Economic Development.A second international workshop was held inDecember 2004. Representatives from the cities ofRosario (Argentina) and Azcapotzalco (Mexico), were