More and more people are moving towards urban areas for various reasons. This has also increased the demand for food while putting pressure on scarce resources. Urban life styles and food preferences also influence the type of food grown and the way it is grown to meet the growing urban food demand. Rural urban linkages play a crucial role in influencing the minds of consumers about the importance of safe food and the methods that need to be adopted in producing the same. The consumer demand for safe food becomes the prime driver in farming moving towards agro ecological way. Majority of the examples presented in the magazine indicate that small farmers are shifting towards agro-ecological approaches, as the consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of healthy foods, creating a demand for it. Also, the experiences indicate that rural-urban linkages have a vast potential in preserving cultures, ecologies and economies of sustained urban and rural growth.
Akhil Kapoor
Sustainable regional food cycles in Nepal
Tulsi Giri
Creating city region food systems
Emily Mattheisen
From farm to plate: An initiative of Sahaja Organics
G Krishna Prasad and B Somesh
Community supported agriculture, thriving in China
Judith Hitchman
Connecting with the Urban: A case of poultry farming
Amandeep Singh and Pranav Kumar
From rarity to ubiquity: Entrepreneurship revives rare rice variety
Epsha Palikhey, Lakpa Sherpa and Sajal Sthapit
Sudhirendar Sharma
Linking markets: Students show the way
Yogranjan and Kamini Bisht
Farmily: A social media for farmer-consumer linkages
Threatened landscapes unite rural and urban communities in Japan
Pia Kieninger and Marianne Penker
