This project is focused on building resilient local food systems in an urban context and spreading awareness regarding creating a food-secure city. We developed a draft report through a secondary literature review, aligning it with the National Food Security Act (2013), National Education Policy (2020) and Sustainable Development Goals (2016).
Several meetings were held on urban agriculture with experts and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, including environmentalists, urban farmers, government members, urban planners, urban experts, farmer activists, gender experts and journalists. More recently, the team, including Sidhant Kumar and Priyadarshi Dixit, met with environmentalist Soumya Dutta, who focused on expanding urban fishing beyond rivers and addressing land management challenges.
We met Soma KP of Makaam, who highlighted that women serve as food providers by foraging and farming on their rooftops. We met Parul Thapa, Advisor at GIZ, to explore a structured roadmap for policy implementation and to tap into already existing networks on farming and food, such as CoFTI. We held another meeting with Dr. Mohd. Mukhtar of Janpahal and Rt. IAS Pavan Agarwal of Food Future Foundation. In the conversations, the need for a Municipal commission or a food policy council was emphasised.
