[Reader-list] request re organizations/ individuals working on urban food production

[Nagraj Adve]

Dear Dipu, Jeebesh, Shudda, Lalit, others,
We are planning a meeting on urban food production next Thursday
(please see the invite below). We are also trying to contact
organizations or individuals who may be working/ engaged with the
issue in any way. Would any of you or anyone on this list know of any
such, and contact details? If so, please email me urgently.
Hope to see you at the meeting.
warmly,
Naga


DELHI PLATFORM

invites you to a discussion on

FOOD SECURITY, PEAK OIL AND URBAN AGRICULTURE

Access of the poor in India to the most basic foods has deteriorated
in recent months. This is due to a sharp rise in the prices of dals,
rice and wheat, because of a combination of commodity speculation,
hoarding, rising crude oil prices, and climate change induced weather
disruptions. An extraordinarily high proportion of rural and urban
poor faces serious food insecurity.

Peak oil – the plateauing and then decline of crude oil production,
worldwide – will sharply worsen the situation, as even in India
agriculture is getting increasingly dependent on fossil fuels, used in
agricultural inputs, in diesel for pumps and in transporting food to
cities.

Some experts believe that production of conventional crude oils has
already peaked worldwide. It is becoming increasingly essential for
communities in urban areas to come together to engage in urban
agriculture, particularly urban food production. This is however
linked to a range of equity issues in urban areas, particularly
security of tenure and housing for the poor, and equitable access to
water.

To discuss the various facets of urban food production – what is
feasible, what needs to be done, the remarkable Cuban experience with
urban agriculture since the early 1990s, etc, Delhi Platform is
organizing this discussion with T. Vijayendra of Hyderabad Platform.
Vijayendra is also part of a small collective that has been practising
alternative agriculture in Nakre Village, in South Karnataka.


This meeting is part of a series of discussions that we have been
organizing on issues related to global warming. Past meetings have
been on Water; Energy; Coal and its social costs, and most recently on
Nuclear Energy and People’s Struggles. The key aims of these
discussion meetings are to promote deeper understanding of and
engagement with these issues and struggles around them.

We urge discussion at such meetings. Do attend and also tell other
interested people.

Date: 17 March (Thursday)
Venue: 196, SFS Hauz Khas, Aurobindo Marg (Focus office)
(nearest Metro: Green Park)
Time: 5.30-8 pm


Delhi Platform

For any further information, please contact us at the following
numbers: 9213763756 (Soumya Dutta), 9818065092 (Kiran Shaheen), or
9910476553 (Nagraj Adve)