Urban Agriculture and Food Security: A Narrative Review

Ameneh Marzban; Mohsen Dowlati; Fateme Sadeghi Nodoushan

doi:10.18502/jnfs.v9i1.14850

Ameneh Marzban Department of Health in Disasters and Emergencies, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohsen Dowlati Department of Health in Disasters and Emergencies, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Fateme Sadeghi Nodoushan Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jnfs.v9i1.14850

Keywords: Population growth; Food security; Sustainable development; Urban agriculture; Food system

Abstract

Background Today, the world is facing the problems of population growth, urbanization, increasing need for food, depletion of water resources, and environmental degradation. Therefore, the present study investigates the impact of urban agriculture on food security. Methods: Search engines including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Science Direct, Google scholar, Magiran, and scientific information database (SID) were applied with keywords such as population growth, food security, sustainable development, urban agriculture, food system to find related articles published up to 2022. Results: The impact of urban agriculture on food security can be seen through several factors such as nutritional stability, food availability, affordable food supply, and revenue generation through sales. Conclusion: Urban agriculture refers to production of food products in urban environment, where food is produced on rooftops, backyards, gardens, or in public open spaces. This work proposes new opportunities for sustainable development and urban management to make significant changes in living environment, health and land management. Furthermore, this research provides the poor in the city a chance to achieve food security by reducing household food costs.