The practice of urban agriculture in Indian cities
Despite the limitations posed by urban farming, promoting it as a critical urban function will prove to useful in the long run.
By Ramanath Jha
ORF
Mar 22, 2022
Excerpt:
We also have examples of such agricultural pursuits in many cities in India. However, in the context of India, it is worthwhile understanding the limitations that this activity would get subjected to. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) estimated that in 2012-13, around 95 million hectares of land were used for agricultural production in India. The Government of India’s Ministry of Agriculture also carried out a separate agriculture survey (2010-11) and came up with a much higher figure of 159.6 million hectares.
In percentage terms, the World Bank data puts the country’s agricultural area at 60.4 percent of the country’s physical geography. India’s total urban area has been estimated at around 222,688 square kilometres which is about 6.77 percent of India’s geographical area. This small area packs around 35 percent of the country’s population.
