# Promoting Urban Farming for Creating Sustainable Cities in Nepal
## 1 Introduction
Urban-farming produce is mostly for private consumption but can also be for commercial purposes. [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] (2011: 20) found that \"Urban agriculture helps meet local food needs while promoting environmental sustainability, health, nutrition, and social interaction; creating opportunities for locally controlled food enterprises and economic development; and enhancing community engagement and empowerment\". Urban agriculture provides city and community various benefits related to supplemental income or saving on food costs for families, helping to improve health from the consumption of fresh foods, preserving urban environments, improving community cohesion, reducing the transportation of food, and enhancing the overall sustainability of urban developments. Urban agriculture practices can offset carbon emissions and save households food-related expenses (see authors' example estimates for Nepal in this paper). There are also some risks and challenges associated with urban agriculture practices. Examples: Smell from compost, flies and worms from soil and plants, and space use conflicts with other uses. Neighbors' concerns with urban animal raising can be another area of conflict. However, on average, urban agriculture can positively contribute towards a healthy and resilient community when combined with good planning strategies. Urban agriculture attempts to advance sustainable agricultural methods, such as composting, the use of organic fertilizers, and water conservation. It involves a multidisciplinary approach, combining knowledge of soil science, plant physiology, sustainable agriculture, and technology. Crop rotation and companion planting are two other methods urban farmers can utilize to lessen the demand for pesticides and herbicides. The crops are managed using advanced technology involving sensor-based monitoring, automated irrigation systems, and data analysis to maximize crop output. Urban crop farming is regarded as an important agricultural activity for the modern and circular economy, as it can also improve the urban residents' income. Urban agriculture can also alleviate the pressure caused by the unending need to expand farmlands to feed the growing population. It will also help in reducing the prevalence of diseases that are often associated with the food that is industrially processed and transported over long distances. Furthermore, a public-private partnership in supporting the production and commercialization of urban agriculture production will help make the urban farming process more efficient and productive. Urban farming helps in efficiently bringing back atmospheric carbon into soils through phytotechnologies, which are \"plant-based technologies to clean water, soil, air and provide ecosystem services including energy from biomass\" [7] (p2). If urban farming can alleviate some of these problems, it will help urban planners if detail investigations are performed to find/explore whether Nepali urban dwellers are practicing urban farming and how such farming is possible. After the state restructuration in Nepal with the promulgation of constitution in 2015, the government classified 66% of Nepali population as urban. If such a large section of Nepali population practices urban farming, obviously, it may help sustain the food supply chain to some extent. The major objectives of urban farming are (a) to strengthen supply chain to ameliorate food insecurity for fresh and locally produced food to urban neighborhoods; (b) to disseminate the scientific knowledge of agronomy, horticulture, and ecology among local communities; (c) and to mitigate the effects of urban heat islands and carbon emission by lowering food-travel miles, minimizing soil contamination, and best managing of scarce resources such as water and sunlight. To achieve the above objectives, we organize the remainder of this article as follows. First, it explains what urban farming is. Second, it discusses the theory of urban farming.