Urban agriculture gaining popularity in Hyderabad India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Residents of Hyderabad have been turning up to urban agriculture, as the activity includes cultivation of vegetables in courtyard to get fresh and cheaper vegetables. The activity commonly known as kitchen gardening, has been gaining popularity, as land availability for cultivation of vegetables has become a major issue in the cities due to urbanisation. Meanwhile, authorities feel that it would help residents to grow their required vegetables at homes, as it also contributes to food security and food safety in cities. “Due to urbanization the availability of land for cultivation of vegetables is a big problem. So, to overcome this problem the cultivation of vegetables in the land available in their household is the solution. The process is called kitchen garden, in which the main advantage is that we can grow our needy vegetables in our premises or in our locality,” said Pulla Reddy, Director of Department of Horticulture. Most of the middle class families are adopting the urban agriculture, and they believe that by cultivating vegetables in their premises they can avail fresh and cheaper vegetables compared to the market. “The difference between the market vegetables and vegetables grown at household is that vegetables grown in household are better in taste and quality. All the houses in our colony grow vegetables at home, as it is cheaper than buying vegetables from the market,” said Udayasri, a homemaker who cultivates vegetables in her courtyard. “We have taken guidance from agricultural experts so we are getting satisfactory results even in the little spaces we have,” Udayasri added. Urban agriculture could also be used as a medium to tackle the less production of vegetables due to deficient rainfall in some parts of the country, which have also raised their prices.