Prospects of Urban Agriculture in Dhaka City

Prepared for:
Syed Morshed Jahan
Associate Professor
Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka

Prepared by:
Zyma Thaseen
Roll-54 Section-A
Batch 19
BBA Program

April 7,2013

Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a village, town, or city.The most striking feature of urban agriculture, which distinguishes it from rural agriculture, is that it is integrated into the urban economic and ecological system. Such linkages include the use of urban residents as labourers, use of typical urban resources (like organic waste as compost and urban wastewater 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.
Potential of Urban Agriculture in Dhaka:
Dhaka is the 8th largest city in the world, with a population of over 15 million. Population influx to Dhaka is very high. Frequent natural disasters -- flood, drought, cyclones, river-bank erosion -- destroy agricultural crops every year and force farmers go to the cities. People are pushed to the cities because of the absence of job opportunities in rural areas.
Most of the urban poor are concentrated in informal settlements, where there is no infrastructure or services to address environmental problems. They are mostly engaged in urban agriculture. One of the biggest policy challenges today is the inclusion of environmental policy into urban policy. Urban agricultural policy can be an integral part of a set of policies for sustainable urban environmental management. It can play an especially vital role in waste management by transforming waste into food and fuel.
The main objectives of urban agriculture, which include food