Agricultural heritage benefits today’s urban agrifood systems

To raise awareness of the importance of work to strengthen urban agrifood systems in the region of Europe and Central Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a webinar in early June focusing on the challenges and opportunities in urban food agrifood systems faced by countries in the region.

The continuous growth of cities creates pressure to increase food production from agricultural lands that are already impacted by changing climatic conditions and reducing water availability. Currently, around 70 percent of the region’s population are urban residents. To feed this large and growing demographic in the most sustainable way possible, urban agrifood sectors need to transform to be more environmentally sustainable, productive, and economically and social equitable.

Working directly with urban food systems actors and partners, including national and local governments, on urban food issues, and urban-rural linkages is key to achieving that goal. All the players in the food systems chains must be engaged and committed to the changes that are necessary for agrifood systems transformation.

Part of the process of food systems transformation is to collect and analyse data related to each phase of the agrifood systems, from production to consumption of food. The World Agriculture Watch (WAW) is a FAO initiative now working on this systematic observation and description of farms, as essential part of the food systems in Europe and Central Asia. The WAW is elaborating a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the different types of farms, with their various kinds of labour, structures, and outputs to have a better understanding of the reality and challenges of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the region.

In the first phase of the diagnosis, the methodology is tested against already existing data gathered as part of the FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) programme, which is part of the FAO workplan for the region since 2018 under the FAO Regional Initiative on managing natural resources sustainably and preserving biodiversity in a changing climate.

The GIAHS programme offers an ideal framework for the analysis, as it is a recognition of unique agricultural heritage systems that have contribute to the agricultural, economic, and social fabric of a location and which have been resilient for hundreds and even thousands of years but are currently under threat. Their dynamic conservation should be based on initial assessments and a timely adapted monitoring system. WAW is offering such a needed support.

Spain’s l’Horta de València received its GIAHS designation in 2019 for its unique canal irrigation system that dates back to the eighth century, and which still delivers the water  to 120 km² of small, cultivated plots that enable thriving agriculture in an arid, urbanized environment. The outflow of the irrigation network is to lake Albufera, which is Spain’s largest lake, and home to vital biodiversity and a site of artisanal fishing. Given the contribution of l’Horta to food security, the preservation of tradition practices, culture, and sustainable agriculture, World Agriculture Watch choose the site to apply its pilot case study approach to urban and peri-urban agriculture.

“This agricultural patrimony not only provides an access to fresh food for the urban area of València, but also environmental and cultural services, which improve the quality of life to its citizens,” said Marta Arnés Garcia, FAO expert on agricultural heritage and nature-based solutions. She adds that considering urbanization and other challenges, “its protection is more important than ever.”

In late June, Antoine Lemaitre from World Agriculture Watch and Marta Arnés Garcia and visited the Spanish site to meet local farmers and other relevant actors, to identify existing data sources.

“These meetings confirm that there is a necessity to assess specific needs and vulnerability at the farm level to strengthen the action plan of l’Horta de València” explains Lemaitre.

More broadly, this analysis will also serve to qualify the urban and peri-urban agriculture in different cities throughout the world, by confronting studies using this common methodology.

14 July 2023, Budapest, Hungary