Supplying vegetables to Asian cities: is there a case for peri-urban production?

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the dynamic interplay between peri-urban vegetable producers and their changing production and marketing environments in Asia, using examples from urban conglomerates in South, Southeast and East Asia. We discuss income generation, labour use, management of land and water resources, use of urban and market waste materials and health and food safety aspects. We conclude that peri-urban vegetable production, even though currently economically viable, is unlikely to be able to compete in the long run for scarce land and labour resources, unless alternative production technologies become available and the positive externalities generated by peri-urban agriculture become internalised. There is thus an urgent need for interdisciplinary research aimed at developing such technologies as well as for integrated economic and environmental analyses that take explicit account of interactions between peri-urban producers, the urban waste management sector, municipal planners and consumers.