According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, peri-urban agriculture is the practice of agriculture around the cities competing for resources and satisfying the urban population’s requirements. The leading feature which differs between peri-urban and rural agriculture is that peri-urban agriculture integrates into the ecological and economic systems of urban areas. (Harmanjot Kaur et al., 2020)

To work on the theme of peri-urban agriculture (PUA), I visited the villages around Sarjapura including Bikkanahalli, Billapura, Burugunte, Sarjapura, and B Hosahalli.

Farmers are following the peri-urban agriculture method because of the droughts in the city and the market for fresh vegetables, flowers, and so many. Water availability is one of the primary reasons in this area as farmers cannot access the open channel flow irrigation method for the plantation. They depend on the borewells, and a large tank constructed and covered with black plastic to prevent water evaporation and supply the water to the crop through drip methods. These pipelines are joined to each other.

Farmers benefit from the PUA as the crops can be harvested in 4 to 6 months requiring less land and less water and sometimes less labor. Farmers can cultivate the crops throughout the year as there is a continuous demand for these crops.

During the field visit farmers shared that the growing real estate in the city is a threat to their farming as people ask them for their land for development (housing/offices) even after facing so many rejections from the farmers. Moreover, the climatic conditions around Bengaluru and Sarjapura are very unpredictable.  Farmers are unable to opt for crops such as paddy because of water scarcity as well as undesired rainfall. Labor costs are also very high. It ranges from 400 to 600, meals extra.

Farmers are cultivating different types of vegetables, fruits, and flowers along with the apiculture and sericulture in areas of Sarjapura. Fodder for animals as well as pulses like red gram and black gram and exotic fruits like dragon fruit are also being cultivated.

Kandukuri Neethika is a graduate of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Osmania University. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Development at Azim Premji University. She is interested in working on public health and the agriculture sector with special focus on nutrition.