Urban and peri urban agriculture (UPA) contributes to food availability, particularly of fresh produce, provides employment and income and can contribute to the food security and nutrition of urban dwellers . It encompasses a complex and diverse mix of food production activities, including fisheries and forestry, in many cities in both developed and developing countries. It contributes to food availability (particularly of fresh produce), provides employment and income and can contribute to the food security and nutrition of urban dwellers.

FAO has established expertise and capacity in providing technical support and policy advice to municipalities in this area. Key issues include: the health and sanitary implications of UPA; the land use dynamics caused by the encroachment of urban areas into agricultural areas; the interdependencies between rural and UPA; the credit and other input constraints of poor urban and periurban farmers; integrated crop and animal production systems; the involvement of women in UPA; and the associated requirements for marketing and distribution.

Selected Documents

• Urban Agriculture Stakeholders Workshop proceedings, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), 21-22 February 2012
• FAO/WB - Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Poverty Alleviation and Food Security, Rome 2008
• FAO - Food into Cities collection. Proceedings of the FAO-CityNet-AFMA Subregional Seminar Feeding Asian Cities, Bangkok 2001
• FAO Urban and Peri Urban Agriculture- SPFS Briefing Guide, 2001 PDF 1,451 kb
• FAO Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (UPA) on the policy agenda: Virtual conference and information market, 2001
• The Urban Producers Resource Book, FAO 2007
• UA Magazine no. 17 - Strengthening Urban Producers' Organisations 
• Cities Farming for the Future - Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive Cities
• Urban Harvest - Makerere University, Healthy City Harvests: generating evidence to guide policy on urban agriculture, 2008
• Farming as a livelihood source for urban dwellers: Results from a research project in Nakuru, Kenya