Global urbanization
For most part of our history, we, the humans, have led rural lifestyle but the scenario has changed rapidly in the twentieth century with things becoming urbanized due to the massive migration of people to cities to live an urban life. Presently, majority of the population of the world live in cities, and this has led to the rapid growth of cities in the developing world. In its Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects published in 2005, the UN had described the phenomena of the rapid urbanization in great detail. The report showed that the number of people living in cities has jumped from 13 percent or 220 million in 1900, to 29 percent or 732 million in 1950, to 49 percent or 3.2 billion in 2005. The same report added that it is likely that by 2030 this figure will increase to as much as 60 percent or 4.9 billion. Urbanization is increasing rapidly in Africa and according to the UN report, this will be one of the most critical issue of the twenty-first century.
Food insecurity
The growing urbanization has increased the number of poor people living in cities. It is believed that over 900 million people living in cities face the issue of hunger and the hardships related to it and it is projected that the number of poor people dwelling in cities would continue to increase in future. The rising prices of food items across the globe has once again raised the issue of food insecurity and famine at a time when the global community is already finding it tough to battle issues of economic crisis, population growth and climate change. Presently, there are 21 mega-cities across the world. The urban areas with 10 million or more people are called mega-cities and it includes New York, Tokyo, Mumbai, Mexico City and Dhaka.
It is expected that by 2025, the number of mega-cities would increase to 26, out of which at least 10 will be in Asia alone, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review. The food supplies are also facing stiff challenge from the ongoing competition between food and energy crops for land. We need to increase our food production by as much as 70 percent if we want to feed the total 9.3 billion people of the world by 2050. According to a FAO estimate, over 925 million people across the globe are under-nourished and 1.3 billion tons of food goes down the drain, means it is wasted or lost.
The need for urban agriculture
One effective way to reduce poverty in urban areas and solve the problem of food security is following the strategy of urban agriculture. The other benefit of the urban agriculture is that it enhances the urban environmental management. Urban agriculture can enhance food security of people in urban areas because the amount of money spent on supply and distribution of food produced in rural areas in urban area is quite high and by following urban agriculture we can reduce this cost. The urban agriculture can also play an important role in the development of local economy and can lead to reduction of poverty and social inclusion of the poor people living in cities.