Abstract
Urban farms provide a large diversity of ecosystem services, which collectively have a positive effect on different constituents of human wellbeing. However, urban farms are facing increasing pressure due to accelerated urbanization and socioeconomic transformation, especially in rapidly developing countries such as Myanmar. There is an increasing call to harness the multiple benefits that urban farms offer in order to foster urban green economic transitions and increase the wellbeing of urban residents. This study examines how different types of urban farms provide ecosystem services, focusing on Pyin Oo Lwin, one of the secondary cities of Myanmar. We conduct household surveys with urban farmers representing the three main types of urban farms encountered in the city, namely seasonal crop farms (N = 101), coffee farms (N = 20), and nurseries (N = 20). The results suggest that all types of urban farms in our sample provide multiple provisioning, cultural, regulating, and supporting ecosystem services, which collectively contribute directly to different constituents of human wellbeing such as (a) food security, (b) livelihoods and economic growth, and (c) public health and social cohesion. Food crops and commercial crops (e.g., coffee) are the major provisioning ecosystem services provided by our studied urban farms, with some farms also producing medicinal plants. These ecosystem services contribute primarily to farmer livelihoods and economic growth, and secondarily to household food security (through self-consumption) and health (through nutritious diets and medicinal products). Food sharing is a common practice between respondents for building social cohesion, and is practiced to some extent by most seasonal crop farmers. Almost all surveyed urban farms in our sample provide diverse cultural services to their owners, ensuring the delivery of intangible benefits that have a further positive effect on human wellbeing. It is argued that efforts should be made to ensure the continuous supply of these ecosystem services in order to contribute to urban green economic transitions in Pyin Oo Lwin and other similar secondary cities.
Highlights
Urban farming is the practice of cultivating food crops and, to a lesser extent, commercial crops in urban environments
100,000–500,000 per month (USD 80–400/month), while only 8% earned less than Myanmar Kyat (MMK) 50,000 per month (USD 40 per month) and 6% earned more than MMK 1,000,000 per month (USD 800 per month)
Our analysis suggests that the studied urban farms in Pyin Oo Lwin provide multiple and very diverse ecosystem services (Section 3), which collectively contribute directly to various constituents of human wellbeing such as (1) food security, (2) local livelihoods and urban economic growth, and (3)
Summary
Urban farming is the practice of cultivating food crops and, to a lesser extent, commercial crops in urban environments. Urban farming is undertaken through various production systems including neighborhood allotment gardens, family farms, community farms, rooftop gardens, and even intensive and commercial production units integrated within the urban fabric [1]. Agriculture 2020, 10, 140 fabric, with this approach being common for communal farming areas in neighborhoods/allotments, farming in vacant lots and roofs, and recreational farming [1]. Urban farming is performed in practically all parts of the world, but the actual status of production systems and the underlying drivers vary widely between regions, countries, and even cities [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
