Project summary
The overall objective of the SEARUSYN project
is to contribute to the synergy between urban growth and agricultural
development in the urban fringe of Hanoi (Vietnam) and Nanjing (China)
in order to improve the welfare of rural and urban communities.
To achieve this objective, systems research will be undertaken on
the design of solutions to problems arising from the interactions
between urban growth and changing horticultural production systems
on the city outskirts. Stakeholder platforms will be set-up as a
basis for considering possible scenarios concerning peri-urban land
use planning and resource management that arise from the research.
On the basis of this work, the platforms should promote the synergistic
development of sustainable peri-urban agricultural systems together
with city growth.
The project has the following objectives:
- Create an institutional basis for constructive policy dialogue
and planning between key stakeholders concerned with the interaction
between land allocation and the environmentally sustainable agricultural
production in the peri-urban fringes of Hanoi and Nanjing.
- Identify and analyse the dynamics and tradeoffs with respect
to peri-urban land allocation between urban and agricultural uses.
- Assess changing livelihood strategies of peri-urban farmers
and the associated changes in the local economy
- Determine the key technical and economic constraints and opportunities
for environmentally sustainable agriculture in the peri-urban
fringe.
- Design and propose in a participative manner approaches to peri-urban
land allocation that integrate urban growth and an environmentally
sustainable agricultural sector.
Project rationale
The highest urban growth rates in the world are found in East and
Southeast Asia, the regions on which this project focuses. This
growth is often faster than what governments and city planners can
manage. Housing, roads, market places, water, sewage and power systems
are run down by overuse in the city centres and are practically
non-existent in the urban fringe. Trying to face these problems
local authorities often neglect another important problem, the problem
of supply of sufficient, safe and affordable food. Affordable food
is especially important for the fast growing number of undernourished
poor in urban areas. Food safety should also become an important
issue as the little available evidence shows that food contamination
with pathogens and pesticide residues is widespread and threatens
human health. A well managed (peri-) urban agricultural sector could
deliver many benefits such as a large share of the required food,
as well as providing income, a market for the use of urban organic
waste, and green zones which improves the meso-climate and the value
of city life.
An important obstacle for the creation of synergy between city
growth and agriculture is the heavy pressure on farmland from other
forms of land use, such as building construction, expansion of commercial
areas or infrastructure works. At present spatial and agro-ecological
motivations hardly play a role in decision making about the form
and direction of urban expansion. Therefore most of the growth of
the urban fringe is uncontrolled, resulting in chaotic patterns
of land use. As a consequence, fertile agricultural lands are allocated
for urban functions such as housing and infrastructure. Not only
these farms, but also the involved local expertise on for example
horticulture production and marketing are lost, which is an enormous
waste of human capital in a knowledge intensive sector such as vegetable
production. What happens with the farmers who lose their land in
the urban fringe is not clear. How do they subsequently make their
living? Are they be able to obtain land further away? Such a process
is, to a certain extent, inevitable but without a systematic evaluation
of options, the overall result is a sub-optimal allocation of land
to various functions. Operating in such an insecure environment
is a disincentive for peri-urban farmers to invest in, for example,
soil improvement, irrigation equipment or knowledge. To improve
this situation an integrated approach is needed which brings researchers,
policymakers and other stakeholders in city planning, waste management,
food production, food safety and marketing together.
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