Urban (or peri-urban) agriculture is the practice of agriculture (include crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry activities) within or surrounding the bounderies of cities.

The land used may be private residential land (use of private pieces of land, balconies, walls or building roofs), public roadside land or river banks.

Urban farming is practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities. It contributes to food security and food safety in two ways : first it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and second it allows fresh vegetables and fruits to be made available to urban consumers.

See also

• local food
• urban gardening

A New Definition of Urban Agriculture Urban agriculture is an industry located within (intra-urban) or on the fringe (peri-urban) of a town, a city or a metropolis, which grows and raises, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products, (re-) using largely human and natural resources*, products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human and material resources, products and services largely to that urban area. (* Natural resources refer to soil, water, genetics, air and solar energy.)

(This definition has been created by the Luc Mougeot of the International Development Research Centre and used in technical and training publications by UN-HABITAT’s Urban Management Programme , FAO’ s Special Programme for Food Security , and international agricultural research centres, such as CIRAD.