# Promoting Urban Farming for Creating Sustainable Cities in Nepal
## 4 Food and Human Health
Urban farming is a response to the increase in population, shortages of food and agricultural land [27], and increasingly complex relationships between the surrounding environment with sociocultural activities--the bionomics [28]. It is also an antidote to minimizing the losses of food grains from the time of harvest up to the end uses and to mitigating various environmental problems [29]. The shortage of food in local markets was highlighted with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when the food supply chain broke down. The pandemic not only created shortages of materials required to producefood, but it also led to a decrease in food production by around 3% [30]. All of these factors seriously disrupted the global supply chains [31]. In these types of situations, urban farming can provide a cushion between commercial agriculture and urban communities. Urban farming can help reduce food importation and reduce food supply chains by growing a wide variety of food all year round, using both soils and soilless media such as aeroponics or hydroponics. Since each agricultural crop is tended personally and manually, the food production per unit area of land also remains high [31]. As the production is at the doorstep, fresh food can be served within a few hours of harvest. For example, in Singapore, urban tillers deliver food within eight hours of harvesting. Likewise, in Indonesia, farmers have developed an e-grocery platform named Sayurbox, where customers can buy groceries directly from the farmers that are delivered quickly [31]. Using the 21 st century technology, urban farming could act as an antidote to various obstacles such as the transportation problems emanating from the shortages of fossil fuels [32]. Urban farming can help to minimize 21 and 37% of anthropogenic gases emitted from transportation of agricultural products [33]. Urban farming also helps in minimizing the levels of soil and water pollution resulting from excessive uses of fertilizers in commercial farming. Such an approach could be critical in mitigating the impacts of climate, while financially protecting farmers. Agricultural produce is consumed in the household or locally, rather than being taken away for marketing. This will improve the efficiency of the whole food operation. Urban farming can enhance food security [34] at local, regional, and national levels, while reducing food wastes and making the community prosperous through the enhancement and preservation of cultural traditions. It also involves family members in the food production process and supplying food to the needy populations [35]. Because of the targeted use, urban farming generally uses less water per unit of production than conventional farming, and it follows the notion of the circular economy. In a circular economy, almost all the activities are monetized, wastes are fully recycled and utilized, and food becomes completely organic. For example, all the stems of the salads and the peels of the cucumber, potato, orange, and sweet potato are fed to plants, and the by-products have monetary value. Algae can be used to convert it into fertilizer. Using modern technology, emission from vehicles is tapped and mixed with algae at the drainage point of sewage pipes. As emission is fed to the sewage water, algae consume emitted gases tapped from vehicles and industries. This emission is utilized by algae, and algae grow profusely and can be used to make fertilizer. In the Kathmandu Valley, recently, algae have been converted into synthetic leather by students at the Institute of Engineering at Pulchowk, Lalitpur. Additionally, algae can be used as mulch to retain soil moisture, which helps improve crop production. For example, it has been reported that potato yield with algae mulching was 10 times more than from the traditional farming methods in open areas [36].