At present, urban agriculture is rising all over the world. Agricultural industry observation believes that urban agriculture is a new way of premium in the agricultural industry chain, which not only changes agriculture, but also changes people’s lifestyle. With the development of science and technology, the core value of urban agriculture will be further highlighted.
Urban agriculture in Singapore
In terms of natural conditions, Singapore is “poor in talent”. Only 1% of the 724 square kilometers of land is used for agriculture, the production cost is higher than that of any other country in Southeast Asia, and more than 90% of food depends on imports. Nevertheless, its urban modern high-tech agriculture is still in a leading position in the world. Urban agriculture plays an important role in ensuring food supply, especially vegetable supply, improving urban ecology and providing sightseeing tourism.
Singapore’s “urban farm” is different from the modern and mechanized large family farms in Europe and America, but a small and sophisticated modern agricultural science and technology park. There are six agricultural science and Technology Parks in Singapore, with a total area of 1465 hectares, accounting for 2.3% of the land area. A large number of scientific and technological professionals, including zoologists, microbiologists, genetic experts, insect experts, agricultural experts and silkworm scientists, participated in its establishment and management.
Singapore aims to achieve 30% self-sufficiency in agricultural products by 2030 by increasing the supply of local fruits, vegetables, meat and fish protein. Recently, the Singapore government announced new measures to speed up local food production, including a plan to transform the roof of parking lot in public residential areas into urban farms.
Urban agriculture in Japan
A quarter of the farmers in Japan are urban farmers. The international metropolis of Tokyo has reserved more than 500000 mu of farmland. In this island country with very limited land resources, 2% of urban agricultural land provides 8% of the total agricultural output value.
Japan’s urban agriculture is divided into several types, including land that can be rented by citizens, which is operated by lessees and charged by agricultural owners; There is a “silver haired farm” specially opened for the elderly over 65 years old, where the elderly can experience the fun of farming and harvest; There are agricultural parks that combine the production and consumption of agricultural products with leisure tourism, in which there are landscape areas, fruit areas, flower areas, etc; There are also farm accommodation for urban people on vacation, as well as sightseeing and experience agriculture, which are distributed in cities or suburbs.
The urban farm building of a Japanese human resources company stands on the busy street of Tokyo station. In the nine storey commercial office building, crops grow vigorously, and the fruits are used for cooking in the staff restaurant. Staff work in the vibrant natural ecology and can walk into the vegetable and fruit room at any time.
Malaysian urban agriculture
Urban agriculture is not a new concept in Malaysia. Local urban residents have long begun to use the space around their houses for farming. At present, Malaysia has about 11000 urban agricultural communities and strives to create 20000 urban agricultural communities by 2020.
Urban agriculture is also known as “home gardening”. Products can be consumed by themselves or sold on the market. Sharing the harvest with neighbors is also one of the typical characteristics of this form of agriculture.
In order to promote urban agriculture, the Malaysian government has promulgated a number of relevant policies. Among them, The national agricultural video policy (2011-2020) issued in 2011 emphasizes the use of modern technology to make the agricultural food industry flexibly applicable to the limited space such as urban and suburban environment. The national green technology policy (2009) and the green earth plan (2005) It emphasizes improving the quality of life and the level of economic development through technology, minimizing the impact of urban agriculture on the environment, and encouraging urban residents to participate in agricultural practice.
At the same time, the Malaysian government supports the development of vertical agricultural method, hydroponic culture and other related technologies. The University of botra in Malaysia has designed and developed several economical vertical farming methods, which are suitable for limited and unsuitable urban space.
British urban agriculture
Set farms, zoos, research and learning in one. Mudhute Park and farm is the largest urban farm in Europe. It is located on Isle of dogs in East London. It covers an area of about 32 acres and is open to the public free of charge throughout the year. It is a complex integrating farm, zoo, outdoor nature classroom and community exchange center.
The farm raises many rare animals and poultry, with more than 200 kinds of farm animals, including sheep, cattle, horses, alpacas, rabbits, turkeys, birds and so on. Large animals are kept in outdoor grasslands and fields, and small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and Dutch pigs are the protagonists of the indoor “pet corner”. There are canaries, diamond pigeons, parrots, mandarin ducks and other birds in the large bird house on one side.
Because it is only one step away from the urban residential area, the farm also rents space for citizens to hold birthday parties, Christmas dances, company group meetings and other activities. Of course, public donations are also an important source of income for farms.
Post time: Dec-29-2021