URBAN AGRICULTURE IN KERALA

INTRODUCTION

• Today’s current food system is considered unsustainable economically, environmentally and socially. The
world’s rural and centralized food production uses a great amount of resources—land, water, transportation
• At the same time, when these resources diminish, demand for local safe and fresh food will go up
• India, the country with the second largest population in the world, has been facing problems of food crisis
for a long time.
• Income has been shifting away from the great majority towards a wealthy minority and a considerable
segment of the population is being increasingly forced to eat less food and wear older clothes more than
before.
• Agricultural sector has the ability provide greater biodiversity than many other urban land uses. Its
contributions are greatest when conceived in partnership with other urban improvements that lead toward
more sustainable, “greener” cities.
AIM
The aim is to research the potentials & challenges in developing Urban Agriculture in Residential Buildings in
the Kerala Context.

OBJECTIVES

The Objective is to study:

 To understand the wider concept of Urban Agriculture in Global & Indian Context

 To understand the Spatial, Technical, Environment & Cultural Aspects of the same

 To Identify the present situations of Urban Agriculture within Residential Buildings in Kerala
 To identify the potential benefits & challenges of Urban Agriculture in Residential Buildings
SCOPE
 The Study will enhance the potential & possibility of sustainable, “greener” cities.
 The study will help to elevate the likelihood of Urban Agriculture in Residential Buildings.
 The study could result in a Residential Buildings design standard in which people have specified space for
farming, like they have a space for parking.
 This could create a generation which is more concerned and efficient in ways to attain food & alleviate the
issue of malnutrition in urban populations.

LIMITATIONS
 Due to the current pandemic situation, conducting the live case studies will be difficult.
 This study will be limited to farming of fruits, vegetables, and flowers in Residential Buildings.
 Empirical & numerical data of spaces will not be accessed in this study.
NEED OF THE STUDY

• Today, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. The economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP
is steadily declining with the country's broad-based economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically
the broadest economic sector.
• In last 15 years, over 2.5 million farmers have committed suicide and not one of them was practicing
organic farming. Taking away the land from farmers in the name of industrialization is not a good sign for the
future.
• Current agricultural practices are neither economically nor environmentally sustainable and India's yields for
many agricultural commodities are low.
• Urban Agriculture will help to unite the people in the urban space as well as the peri-urban space.
• Urban agriculture uses resources in cities that would otherwise go to waste.
• Urban agriculture provides the community with healthy and organic food.
METHODOLOGY
LITERATURE REVIEW

URBAN AGRICULTURE
• Urban agriculture can be defined shortly as, the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and
around cities.
• Urban agriculture is embedded in and interacting with the urban ecosystem including the use of urban
residents as labourers, use of typical urban resources (like organic waste as compost and urban waste water
for irrigation), direct links with urban consumers, direct impacts on urban ecology (positive and negative),
being part of the urban food system, competing for land with other urban functions, being influenced by
urban policies and plans, etc.

EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURE
• The invention of agriculture took less than 10,000 years ago, agriculture was our great revolution. It gave
birth to surpluses and gave birth to cities & civilizations.
• Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population laboured in agriculture. Pre-
industrial agriculture was typically subsistence agriculture/self-sufficiency in which farmers raised most of
their crops for their own consumption instead of cash crops for trade. A remarkable shift in agricultural
practices has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies, and the development of world
markets.
PRESENT STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE WORLD

• Industrial agriculture based on large-scale

monoculture has become the dominant system of
modern farming
• Agricultural food production and water management
are increasingly becoming global issue.
• Significant degradation of land and water resources,
including the depletion of aquifers, has been
observed in recent decades, and the effects of global
warming on agriculture and of agriculture on global
warming are still not fully understood.
• The reasons for the rise in food crisis are many, the
countries affected are mostly the under developed
and developing countries. The main impacts are the
decline in the value of currency, fluctuation in import
shares and change in the consumption amount.
• The poorer people in the urban area, people in peri-
urban and people in the rural areas are the most
affected.
PRESENT STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA

• As per the data’s of Centre for Economic Studies and

Planning, in 2011, India had a large and diverse agricultural
sector, accounting, on average, for about 16% of GDP and
10% of export earnings. India's arable land area of 159.7
million hectares (394.6 million acres) is the second largest in
the world. Its gross irrigated crop area of 82.6 million
hectares (215.6 million acres) is the largest in the world.
• India is among the top three global producers of many crops,
including wheat, rice, pulses, cotton, peanuts, fruits and
vegetables. Worldwide, as of 2011, India had the largest
herds of buffalo and cattle, is the largest producer of milk
and has one of the largest and fastest growing poultry
industries.
• The cultivation of main crops like wheat, rice, jowar and
bajra have gradually reduced over a period of 30 years.
PROBLEMS RELATED TO AGRICULTURE IN INDIA

• A population of just over 1.2 billion

• Preliminary estimates suggest that in 2009-10 the combined all India poverty rate was 32 % compared to
37 % in 2004-05
• It will be essential for India to build a productive, competitive, and diversified agricultural sector and
facilitate rural, non-farm entrepreneurship and employment.
1 LINK OF IRRIGATION SYSTEM AND AGRICULTURE
In country such as India, 64% of cultivated land is dependent on monsoons (Wikipedia, 2012). The
economic significance of irrigation in India is namely, to reduce over dependence on monsoons, advanced
agricultural productivity.
2 FARMER’S SUICIDE IN INDIA

Suicide rates among Indian farmers were a

chilling 47 per cent higher than they were
for the rest of the population in 2011.
The new Census 2011 data reveal a
shrinking farmer population.
 3 LACK OF PROPER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FARMERS & AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES
The relationship between farmers and agricultural companies are not in proper terms the farmers are not
getting proper price for the crops they cultivate. As for now there is no justice and equity between people
whose only tools are their hands and those who harvest their crops with a machine, as the former in most
cases have no subsidies, while later state better subsidies and support from the government.
4 INCREASE IN FOOD DEMAND

Due to the increase in urbanization the rate of food

demand will also increase. As per the projected rates, the
demand will increase in a rate that is so high.
AGRICULTURE IN KERALA
• Contribution of agriculture to GDP decreased drastically (from 30% to 14.5%)
during the last two decades.
• However, the population engaged in agriculture has not decreased in
commensuration with the decrease in rate of growth. Now also agriculture
provides employment to about 52% of the workforce as compared to 61%
during 1990-91
PROBLEMS RELATED TO AGRICULTURE IN KERALA
• The Agriculture in Kerala which is dominated by small and marginal farmers is
facing various challenges such as climate change, globalization of trade and
economy, etc.
• The average size of land holding is around 0.27 ha. More and more
agricultural lands are converted due to population pressure.
• High cost of production
• Acute labour shortage and high wage rate of labourers
• High rainfall, undulating topography and intensive agriculture leading to
depletion of soil organic matter.
EVOLUTION OF URBAN AGRICULTURE
Urban Agriculture Time Line of Kerala

• Reviewing the history of urban agriculture in United

States of America & changes within farming practices
over the past century, it was found that urban
agriculture surged in response to energy shortages.
Perhaps the current sustainability movement will
shape urban agriculture into a lasting food production
model
• Now most of the farming workforce involved are in
urban areas. Due to advancement in technology and
awareness to acquire healthy food, there are even
small community farms, institutional farms, etc.
Fig 2.9 : Urban Agriculture time line in Kerala (Source:
kissan kerala, Wikipedia)

EVOLUTION IN KERALA
• The agricultural lands in kerala also declined after the growth of urbanization, as for now the agricultural
farms are very few.
• Even in kerala there small scale farmers in urban areas also, they have developed their own techniques and
methods, as per their experience or as per the knowledge that was passed own from generations.
• Due to the adaptation of organic farming practices, the government have been giving more support to these
farmer and also attracting more others to it.
WHY DO WE NEED URBAN AGRICULTURE ?

• POPULATION GROWTH
Of the current population of 6.5 billion, nearly 1 billion are undernourished. According to the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization, the world needs to double its current level of food production to support a
population of 9 billion by 2050

•URBANIZATION
Over 80% of the 9 billion population in 2050 will live in urban centres.

•LIMITED RESOURCES
Nearly all of the world's arable land is already in use. Soil erosion and expanding urbanization contribute to
the continuous loss of cropland. Water scarcity is already an issue, affecting 1 in 3 people globally.
• CLIMATE CHANGE
Three recent floods alone cost the US billions of dollars in lost crops. Changes in rain patterns and
temperature could diminish India’s agricultural output by 30% by the end of the century.
• HEALTH ASPECT
Obesity remains a deadly epidemic that continues to spread, with 2/3 of the US considered overweight. In
comparison, over 1 billion people globally are undernourished.
DIMENSIONS OF URBAN AGRICULTURE IN CITIES

• TYPES OF ACTORS INVOLVED

• TYPES OF LOCATION
• TYPES OF PRODUCTS GROWN
• SCALES OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY USED
• TYPES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
• PRODUCT DESTINATION / DEGREE OF MARKET ORIENTATION

BENEFITS OF URBAN AGRICULTURE

• SOCIAL BENEFITS
• ECONOMICAL BENEFITS
• ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
URBAN AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES

• HYDROPONICS
Hydroponics is a subset of hydro culture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in
water, without soil. Solution culture or Medium culture.
• AEROPONICS
Aeroponics is a cutting-edge technology that grows plants in a mist. The aeroponic mist, most efficiently
provides roots with the nutrients, hydration and oxygen needed.
• AQUAPONICS
Aquaponics is a food production system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such
as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic
environment.
• POLY HOUSE/ GREEN HOUSE
A poly house (also known as a poly tunnel, hoop greenhouse or hoop house, or high tunnel) is a tunnel made
of polyethylene, usually semi-circular, square or elongated in shape. The interior heats up because incoming
solar radiation from the sun warms plants, soil, and other things inside the building, faster than heat can
escape the structure. Air warmed by the heat from hot interior surfaces is retained in the building by the roof
and wall. Temperature, humidity and ventilation can be controlled by equipment fixed in the poly house.
TYPES OF URBAN AGRICULTURE

• INSTITUTIONAL FARMS AND GARDENS

A farm or garden affiliated with an institution (such as hospitals, churches, prisons, schools, public housing)
whose primary mission is not food production, but which have goals that urban agriculture supports,
comes under Institutional farms and gardens.
• COMMERCIAL FARMS
In general, commercial farmers try to maximize crop performance in order to achieve profitability, however,
some share many of the health and ecological goals of the broader urban agriculture community.
• COMMUNITY GARDENS
Community gardens are mostly located on publicly-owned land or land trusts. Typically managed by local
resident volunteers. Most of these gardens provide space for several different activities, including growing
vegetables and flowers, as well as providing gathering space for socializing.
• COMMUNITY FARMS
Community farms are communal growing spaces operated by a non-profit organization that engages the
surrounding community in food production but also social and educational programming.
Case Studies

HELL’S KITCHEN FARM PROJECT

The Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project is a 1,000 sq.ft. farm located on the roof of the Metro Baptist Church, New York
whose mission is to provide a food secure neighbourhood for the residents of Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. It is an
Institutional Farm or Garden.
• METHOD OF FARMING:
The farm operates on the 4,000 square foot roof of Metro Baptist Church. They grow in 52 raised beds (plastic
kiddie pools), which provide 1,000 square feet of growing area. Holes were drilled into the bottom of each bed
to facilitate drainage. The Kiddie Pools are used to grow the vegetables. They are durable, affordable and
lightweight. This design is so simple it can be created anywhere.
• COMPOSTING METHOD
They use a combination of anaerobic and aerobic composting on the farm. Indoor (anaerobic): Food scraps are
mixed with Bokashi bran and sealed in 5 gallon buckets for at least 2 weeks. Outdoor (aerobic): Afterwards,
those food scraps, along with plant material from the farm, are put into 2 composting tumblers on the roof.
RIVERPARK COMMERCIAL FARM

Located on the future development site of the Alexandria Centre for Life Science in Manhattan,
Riverpark Farm supplies fresh, local produce to the adjacent Riverpark Restaurant and creates a
unique green space. It is one of the largest Urban Farming model in New York.
• DESIGN APPROACH
In planning Riverpark Farm, the design was done in collaboration with ORE Technology + Design to
create a concept that uses sustainable, economic, portable and flexible approaches to urban
farming. Their solution was to use recycled milk crates redesigned as planters that fit closely
together for the best use of space. Vegetables, herbs, and flowers grown at the Farm were specially
selected based on their ability to thrive when planted in double-stacked milk crates and grow in an
urban environment.
• COMPOSTING
Clean food waste from the kitchen was composted and used to fertilize the Farm throughout the
seasons. Other organic fertilization methods, such as compost team, mulching with cocoa husk to
maintain soil moisture and provide extra nitrogen to tomato plants, and planting winter rye (cover
crop) to sustain the Farm's soil until spring were used.
• RIVERPARK FARM STATISTICS
Riverpark farm has got 1 urban farmer, 2 farm locations, more than 100 types of growing plants,
has got more than 1000 visitors between April and September and for continuous 3 three seasons,
they provide fresh produce to Riverpark restaurant.
ESSEX GARDEN COMMUNITY

Established in 1996 by local gardeners, the centrepiece of the Essex Street Community Garden is a series of
large, raised planting beds enclosed by low stone walls that provide ample space for cultivating vegetables and
herbs. The size of garden is about 3,268 Sq. Ft. Community members use planter beds to grow everything from
peppers and tomatoes to eggplant and oregano, while additional beds located along the wall and fence
bordering the garden are used for ornamental plantings, including apple, pear & peach. Crushed gravel paths
weave around and between planting areas, which are sustained by a rainwater collection system that diverts
storm water runoff from the sewers of adjacent buildings.
PHOENIX COMMUNITY FARM

The 19,000 square foot Phoenix Community Garden is dedicated to urban agriculture
and is capable of producing (in season), nearly 2,000 pounds of beans, corn, collards,
cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini, herbs and callao (a Caribbean favourite). A section of the
garden grows food for Neighbours Together, a local organization that serves over 500
people each day at a soup kitchen across the street from the garden. The east part of
the garden features a grape arbour and a large gazebo, while a red tin shed, mural,
and a 2000gallon rainwater harvesting system at the western part.

• RAINWATER HARVESTING

Rainwater is collected from the roof of the adjacent 1,200 square foot 4 story building
and stored in 2 - 1000gallon green polyethylene tanks located on a 14 inch high
platform made of 4 X 4s placed on gravel bed adjacent to the building on the eastern
end of the garden. The system uses a 12gallon first flush system to filter the rainwater.
Overflow is piped under pathways in the garden.
URBAN AGRICULTURE COMMUNITIES, Rosario, Argentina

To confront the worst financial crisis in the history of the country, every Argentinean has been on the lookout
for a solution. In Rosario, the solutions took the form of cooperation. A sustainable ecological and social
project was launched, making it possible to provide forty thousand people with vegetables and herbs grown
without chemicals (RAUF, 2010). They adopted the following methods to incorporating urban agriculture.

METHODS ADOPTED FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE

• Strengthen production of crops

• Security Access to Land

• Construction of agro-industries (by rehabilitating old city infrastructure)

• Integration of urban agriculture policies in the city urban development

• and strategic plan

• Strengthen commercialization of Products

• Multifunctional use of open spaces

NORC FARM, NEW YORK, USA

A naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) is a unique housing model located at Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, USA
that allows older adults to live in the community rather than an institutional setting.

• Activate older new Yorkers and transform public housing with local agriculture

• Use urban agriculture to transform public places into socially, ecologically, economically productive space

• Activate older New Yorkers and transform public housing with local agriculture

• Plug into the existing social and institutional infrastructure achieve the city’s stated “age-friendly” goals:
• Improve social inclusion, civic participation, and employment opportunities for older adults
• Increase availability and affordability of safe, appropriate housing o provide age-friendly public spaces and safe means for
reaching them o ensure access to health and social services to support independent living

DESIGN STRATEGY

A core component has been the creative partnership established between teams of professionals and the NORCs
or local senior centres. A landscape architect, a regional farmer, and a community program director has worked
collaboratively to support, design and guide the NORC Farm process. Another core component has been the kit-
of-parts, which included container greenhouses, raised planter boxes, tool sheds that was made available to the
NORC Farm. The focus of the kit-of-parts was to create a universal and age-friendly design.
 SKY GREENS & PLANTAGON - SINGAPORE

Within Singapore the concept of Urban Agriculture has been growing over the last years, in which the 50
concepts of vertical farming have been increasingly established. With currently “more than 80 plots with
fruits, herbs and vegetables” it can be said that that Urban Agriculture in its broadest sense is booming
within Singapore (Wee,2015). Within Singapore, this variety of actors and projects is ranging from small-
scale rooftop and urban-gardening towards larger indoor vertical farms.
Sky Greens can be seen as one of the first commercial experimentation with Urban Agriculture in
Singapore and described itself as “a low carbon, hydraulic driven vertical farm for safe, fresh and delicious
vegetables” . The system of Sky Greens consists of an aluminium and steel structures of revolving tiers, in
which vegetables are grown in soil up to 9 meters high. In this way, Sky Greens provides a vertical system
that is ten times more productive per unit of land area .The 1000 vertical towers approximately produce
around 800 kg of leafy vegetables per day. The company brands itself based on a relatively low water and
energy use due to the natural sunlight, hydro-power, flooding-systems and the recycling of rainwater.
In 2014, Plantagon joined forces with Nanyang Technical University (NTU) to further develop Urban
Agriculture in Singapore and signed a Master Research Collaboration Agreement under a joint
development company named Plantagon Global Pte Ltd. Based on this agreement, NTU has provided and
assigned a space for Plantagon to experiment and develop a vertical-, controlled and resource-integrated-
UA in Singapore. NTU has furthermore devoted 10.000 of research hours to this project and emerging
niche. The UA-system will most likely grow leafy vegetables and be based on a cultivation method of
hydroponics, aeroponics or aquaponics, due to their resource-efficiency (mostly low water-use) and their
capacity to regulate nutrient solutions and root zones. Especially aeroponics can be valuable within
vertical farming, due to its resource-efficiency when used in multiple tiers and its lightweight when it
comes to construction material. These aspects all contribute to a more productive and cost-effectiveUrban
Agriculturesystem, according to prof. Lee Sing Kong from NTU. For the further development of a project,
Plantagon is currently in a phase securing the necessary financial partnerships to start the project.
• AVAILABILITY OF ARABLE LAND

Only 0.8% of Singapore’s in total 718 km2 of land is arable. As Singapore has rapidly evolved over the last 50 years, most of its farmland has been
phased out to facilitate roads, housing, transport and industries. These developments together with an already existing scarcity of land had led to
the fact that Singapore is mostly urbanised and importing around 90% of all its food.

• CLIMATE ZONE

Being situated near the equator, Singapore has a tropical climate with relatively warm temperatures and high rainfall patterns (Meteorological
Service Singapore, n.d.) These climate conditions enable most available crops to grow all-year-round on land, which positively affects the
availability of food when it comes to the region around Singapore

• LONG-TERM STRATEGIES

Urban Agriculture does play a role within the long-term strategies of the city of Singapore. The demand for water, energy and food will continue to
rise and Singapore is acknowledging the importance of dealing with these issues within the urban environment in order to sustain a liveable
environment for its citizens. Singapore is therefore increasingly prioritising resource efficiency, self-sufficiency and a greening of the city, aiming to
be an example of how a “densely populated city in the tropics can grow in an environmentally friendly manner” . In 2013 the Singaporean
government also drafted a ‘Food Security Roadmap’, together with other actors among which Plantagon was one. Within this roadmap, an increase
in local production has been formulated as one of the core strategies . The aim of Singapore to become more self-sufficient is already reflected in
the country its water policy and its target to in 2060 supply 80% of Singapore its water demand through the recycling and desalination of water.
Most actors see food as the next priority up on the agenda for Singapore. Overall, there exists no doubt that Singapore is aware of its challenges
and has formulated longterm strategies to tackle those.
ANALYSIS
It is found from the studies that; in the global context the urban agriculture was incorporated either to
promote a healthy life style (in developed countries) or to achieve economic stability & food security (in
developing countries). In the Indian context also, the urban agriculture is incorporated in most places to
promote a healthy life style within the space constrains. ). Policies at different levels can help to incorporate the
concepts of Urban Agriculture better. Better policies will help the citizens to adapt to the new changes easily.
The policies should be formulated with the help of architects, town planner, urban designers, Govt. agencies
and also the local people.
• SPATIAL ASPECTS
In the global examples it was found that, the urban agriculture in practiced not just in rooftops &
terraces, but in community farms, institutional centres, also along with community gardens & parks. This
wide spread of urban agriculture is due to the involvement of people from all walks of life from farmer,
senior citizens, health conscious people to government agencies, NGO’s, architects, urban planners etc.
In the India, it was found that, it’s mostly limited to terrace gardens & roof tops. ). There are only a
smaller number of projects that are related to urban agriculture in India and the main participation has
been seen from senior citizens, people from a farming background, some health-conscious people and
some environment conscious architects.
It was found from the studies that, the combination of the vegetable garden & flowering garden in
terraces, made the terrace spaces more aesthetical as well as productive. So, in times of need of food, the
users can look to terrace garden as a space that provides them self-satisfaction by providing the users
with healthy & organic food. But when the users are in a tensed state, they can also turn to the garden for
relief as it helps to calm & please the mind & body.
• TECHNICAL ASPECTS
In the global examples it was studied that, the systems are more technology dependent. In the global examples,
the planting is done also on kiddie pools, self-designed planter boxes to vertical window farms, stacked planted
boxes etc and the most common techniques include hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics etc. The methods
incorporated include simple & automated systems that has help to bring an order & aesthetics to the farms.
In the India, the planting is done on reused rubber box, plastic bag, coir bags, thermo coal boxes, Silipaulin
sheets to planter boxes (in apartment level). From the studies, it was found that hydroponics, aeroponics,
aquaponics & poly house technology is very much suitable for cases were farming in terraces is an afterthought.
Regarding the soil depth, it was found that an average depth of 30cm to 40cm is required for growing the
vegetables. While for growing the paddy a total depth of 40cm to 45cm is required. Also it was found from the
studies that, all the planter boxes are raised from the floor and drain holes are provided in the planter boxes. For
growing paddy two layers of Silpaulin Tarpaulin is used to waterproof the floor.
• ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
A 30cm think plant bed is equivalent to an insulation layer, which reduces the heat gain to a great
extent. Also it helps in, reduction of indoor temperature, improvement of air quality and reduction in
surface runoff (in farm lands). Methods of grey water reuse, using reed drum systems will provide
water to the plants. This helps to meet the need of irrigating of the plants and also helps to reduce the
environmental waste, by the use of eco san toilets to use urine and excreta as fertilizers.
• SOCIAL ASPECTS
In the global examples it was found that, the urban agriculture programs has helped to rebuild bonds
between communities, better interaction between people from different walks of life, from farmer,
senior citizens, health conscious people to government agencies, NGO’s, architects, urban planners etc.
In the Indian context, there is a need for a change in lifestyle, which demands for a community level
approach for urban agriculture at the household level. But there are also lots of Government programs