The health conscious urbanites are moving towards growing their own food. Starting as a hobby, urban farming is evolving as a necessary means to address issues of food security, physical and emotional well being. This calls for improved access to information and intensive knowledge exchange through diverse and emerging media.

Urbanisation is no longer a buzzword. According to the World Bank Report, about 56.15 per cent (4.35 billion) of the people live in urban areas  globally in 2020. It is projected to increase by 60% in 2030. Urbanisation is a positive force for change as it creates education, employment and livelihood opportunities. However, the rapid urban growth poses increased challenges in terms of a congested space, pollution, declining supply of good drinking water, urban heat island effect, occurrence of new diseases, increased poverty, malnutrition, high cost of living, raising crimes, rise in environmental crisis, etc. Of all the major challenges, food insecurity is becoming a major concern in urban areas, particularly to the urban poor. Transporting required food items from rural areas to feed the urbanites is becoming another challenge due to declining farm areas, increasing population, increasing risks of climate change, marketing, increased price of essential food items including perishables. Urban agriculture is proven to contribute to minimising the above challenges. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the urbanites to grow their own food to develop sustainable and responsive cities with enhanced livelihoods.

Retired people in urban areas start growing vegetables as a hobby

Nearly 100–200 million urban farmers worldwide provide the city markets with fresh horticultural goods (Orsini et al. 2013). Particularly, growing own food will help in overcoming food supply chain challenges during the situation like lockdown resulting from a pandemic (COVID-19). There is a growing interest among the researchers, academics, policymakers, etc., to explore the information sources that serve as a fulcrum for urbanites to acquire knowledge on urban farming and best urban agricultural practices.

Against this background, a study was conducted to find out the information sources for urbanites to grow their own food crops by the Centre for Agricultural Extension Innovations, Reforms, and Agripreneurship (CAEIRA), National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE). The study has surveyed 25 urban practitioners both in Hyderabad and Secunderabad.