Supply Chain --- Accessing Markets of the Urban Farmer - Dissertation Example

Urban agriculture is totally different from peri-urban agriculture in the sense that urban agriculture is more focused on the use of gardens, vacant lots, balconies and small containers in growing vegetables and crops (FAO, n.d.). On the other hand, peri-urban agriculture is relying on farms that are situated close to a town or city (FAO, n.d.). One of the similarities between urban and peri-urban agriculture is that both types of agricultural activity produces homogenous products. In the study of economics, market structure of an industry is classified as either the market has monopolistic competition, oligopolistic, or a perfect competition (Tucker, 2011, pp.

136 – 180; Arnold, 2010, p. 458). Barrier to entry in urban and peri-urban agriculture is low since anybody can make it a practice to plant and harvest their own food supply. Because of the presence of so many buyers and sellers that sells homogenous products in the market, the market structure of urban and peri-urban farming is classified as a perfect competition (Arnold, 2010, p. 458). 2.1.1 Mumbai, India Mumbai is one of the largest cities around the world that practice urban agriculture (Krause, 2010).

Specifically the progress of urban farming in Mumbai was inspired by Dr. Doshi who conducted an experiment on food production in his own house (Vazhacharickal and Buerkert, 2011). Without requiring huge capital investment, Dr. Doshi converted his 1,200 sq. ft. terrace in Bandra for urban farming activities which allowed him to yield at least 5 kg of fruits and vegetables each day (Vazhacharickal and Buerkert, 2011; City Farmer, 2006). Up to the present time, there is no available statistics that can show how far urban farming is progressing in Mumbai, India.

However, there are quite a lot of online videos and other written reviews showing that Mumbai is active in terms of promoting urban farming in this city. The number of Indian people who are actively supporting the practice of urban farming is increasing. For instance, to compost kitchen waste and sell vegetables, fruits, and herbs, Levenston (n.d.) publicly announced that they are using 5,000 sq. ft. of unused rooftop for urban farming. To compost kitchen waste after feeding more than 30,000 employees, a 3,000 sq. ft. terrace in Mumbai Port Trust was converted into a kitchen garden (Pendharkar, 2008).

Last December 2011, Rajesh decided to take advantage of urban farming as a form of business (gtsindia, 2012, 0:27; Levenston, n.d.). To sell urban farming produce to the market, Rajesh’s business partner mentioned that they have been talking to people including their prospective customers such as relatives and friends to support urban farming (1:25). Rajesh and his colleagues tried to convince 25 to 50 people to practice urban farming in their own balconies and terraces. However, one of the main problems that Rajesh have noticed is that a lot of people in Mumbai are still very reluctant whether or not urban farming is a reliable way of growing fruits and vegetables.

To convince people to practic