1

URBAN AND PERI-URBAN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

IN BANDUNG CITY, INDONESIA1
Witono Adiyoga

Research Institute for Vegetables, Jalan Tangkuban Perahu 517 Lembang,

Bandung - 40391, West Java, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Anticipating the future vegetable demand pressure which is expected to be especially high in
and around urban areas, greater attention has been increasingly put to the improvements of
urban and peri-urban production systems. In this context, a study was initiated to characterise
urban and peri-urban vegetable production in Bandung City, West Java, Indonesia.
Opportunities and constraints in growing vegetables in those two production systems are
highlighted. A concerted effort to promote large potentialities and advantages of the urban and
peri-urban production systems that can lead to a strong commitment of further developing a
sustainable vegetable production systems, is undoubtedly needed.

INTRODUCTION

In Indonesia, with a total vegetable production of 7.9 million t in 1996 (on an area of
928,000 ha), vegetable availability is approximately 38 kg/year per person. This per capita
availability is clearly insufficient to meet the FAO’s nutritional recommendation of 200 g of
vegetables per capita per day (65 kg/year). Indonesia is expected to face vegetable demands
which increasingly exceed supplies (Jansen, 1992). This deficit is likely to become more
serious due to a virtually stagnant supply and the estimated total population growth that
remains at an average of 1.9% per annum until the year of 2000. Hence, if there is no
changes in the supply growth patterns, per capita availability of vegetables in Indonesia may
continue to decrease.
As estimated by the World Bank, fruit and vegetable consumption in Indonesia will
increase by an average of 3.9% per year during the the period of 1995-2010 (Pasandaran &
Hadi, 1994). In general, it is obvious that vegetable production must be increased to remedy
present inadequate availability and to keep pace with the income and population growth. It
should be noted though that the future demand pressure is expected to be especially high in
and around urban areas. This expectation is actually supported by the some facts, such as (a)
urban communities will expand as rural population seeks higher incomes in the towns and
cities - World Bank’s projection indicates that in 2005, urban population will increase
approximately 37%., (b) high dependence of people in urban areas on market supplies for their
food consumption, (c) people in urban areas usually have higher incomes and faster income
growth than rural areas. Urban population growth in Indonesia is projected approximately 7.4%
per annum, while in rural areas is expected to decrease further at (-) 1.6% per annum.
Therefore, per capita vegetable consumption expenditure for urban population is expected four
times higher than that of the rural population (van Lieshout, 1992).

1 A paper presented in Sub-Regional Workshop on "Constraints and Opportunities for the Development of Urban
and Peri-urban Horticulture in South-east Asia", 16-19 October 1999, Kunming, Yunnan Province, P.R. China.
 2

A rapid increase in demand for vegetables within cities creates great demand for
adjacent production and supply systems with virtually assured markets. Urban and peri-urban
cultivation are not a new concept, rather they have become a permanent part of landscape in
many cities of the world (Sanyal, 1985) and are also considered as a food production strategy
to supplement food supply (Ninez, 1984). Dwellers in those areas, especially small-scale
commercial farmers, grow different types of vegetables to meet the increasing demand. Urban
and peri-urban vegetable production systems which are rapidly gaining more attention, supply
fresh perishable vegetables, generate jobs, allow economical use of even small pieces of land,
can adjust quickly to market needs, and can recycle urban waste. More importantly, these
production systems increase vegetable supply and income for the urban poor.
Because of the high pressure of demand and the high profitability of vegetable
cultivation, producers frequently take extraordinary efforts to grow vegetables under difficult
conditions (especially due to limited or small farm size). Unfortunately, this often leads to the
excessive use of both fertilizers and pesticides that are frequently perceived by most farmers
as risk-reducing inputs. Experience shows that dependency upon, and manipulation of, inputs
and natural resources by producers to maximize returns have led to inherently unstable
production systems. Back to the idea that developing urban and peri-urban vegetable
production systems may increase supply and farmers’ income, the concern with regard to the
system sustainability should always be kept in mind.
The Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (AARD) in Indonesia initiated
a research program on the improvement of urban and peri-urban food production systems in
1997. Under the direction of this program, Research Institute for Vegetables (RIV) puts
emphasis on urban and peri-urban vegetable production systems. Within this context, a study
was initiated to characterize the urban and peri-urban vegetable production systems for
Bandung City (capital city of West Java Province), which is considered as the second largest
city (after Jakarta) in Indonesia.

URBAN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEM

• In general, urban production system is characterized by: (a) non-commercially-oriented

vegetable growers, and (b) commercially-oriented vegetable growers.
• Non-commercial vegetable growers are those who basically cultivate vegetables to
improve family diet and intensify food production at the home level. Tomato, hot pepper,
pai-tsai, and lettuce are some of the common vegetables cultivated in urban gardening.
Some of the methods used in urban gardening are: (a) pot gardening, (b) box gardening,
(c) plastic bag gardening, and (d) front-yard and backyard gardening.
• Urban gardening is usually managed conventionally with a relatively simple technology.
Some gardeners are not even used to grow vegetables using inorganic fertilizers and
pesticides. Even though home gardening has been advocated in Indonesia for many
decades, field observations indicate that there is still a wide gap between home gardening
advocacy and actual practice by households. This gap is mainly attributed to lack of
garden space and time, especially among urban dwellers.
• Commercial vegetable growers are those who basically cultivate vegetables for the market
as a source of income. Tomato, hot pepper, yard-long bean, kidney bean, eggplant,
cucumber, kangkong, spinach, and lettuce are some of the common vegetables cultivated
 3

commercially in the urban areas. Farms are small (< 0.2 ha) and only one-tenths of which
are de facto owned. The other 80% of the cultivated land is either rented or sharecropped.
• Multiple-cropping is the most common system used in growing vegetables. Vegetables
are usually cultivated as one component in a rice-based cropping system. Some major
cropping patterns in urban areas are:

J F M A M J J A S O N D

fish rice tomatoes, cucumber, kidney bean fish

Kangkong rice fish

• Even though growing vegetables is more profitable than cultivating other crops, farmers
are still consistently following the existing dominant cropping pattern, since vegetables are
considered as high-cost and high-risk crops. Further observation indicates that the lack of
appropriate technology, especially the availability of quality seed, contributes significantly
to the slow development of urban vegetable production system.
• Land shortages because of the demand for land by other urban systems and uncertainties
caused by the present tenurial arrangements are clearly two important factors that should
be carefully considered in deciding the feasibility of further developing the urban
production system to increase vegetable supply.

PERI-URBAN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEM

• Peri-urban areas under study are basically highland areas. Land holding for about 70%
farmers ranges between 0.05 - 0.50 ha. The tenurial status in peri-urban areas is owned
(30%), rented (60%), and sharecropped (10%). The number of farmers who cultivates
his/her own land in peri-urban areas is higher than that in urban areas.
• A wide variety of vegetables are grown in peri-urban areas, such as tomato, hot pepper,
shallots, snap bean, kidney bean, yard-long bean, bunching onion, cabbage, chinese
cabbage, and cauliflower. Different cropping systems, namely, sequential, relay, row
intercropping and mixed cropping are practiced in producing those vegetables. Some
major cropping patterns in peri-urban areas are:

J F M A M J J A S O N D

fallow corn hot pepper

hot pepper & tomatoes fallow hot pepper & shallot

shallot

kemangi/peas/ yardlong bean/kidney carrot/tomato/yardlong cauliflower/tomato bunc.

eggplant bean/paria bean/corn onion
 4

• Returns to vegetable growing exceed those for food crops (rice, corn and soybean), but
risks and capital investments are also considerably higher. Revenue-cost ratios for some
vegetables varied from 1.25 to 2.35 per ha (yard-long bean=1.92, shallot=1.25, carrot=
2.35, cauliflower=1.84, hot pepper=1.79). These economic efficiency indicators, however,
should be interpreted carefully, since they are very sensitive to changes in output price.
Major input costs are related to seed, pesticides and fertilizers.
• A relatively sharp increase in input prices, especially fertilizers and pesticides, does not
affect the amount used by farmers. The risk of having a crop failure is perceived to be
higher than the lost of spending additional input costs.
• For the last three years, most farmers observe that there is an increase in demand for
vegetables. However, this increasing demand is perceived to be insufficient to offset the
income risk, mainly caused by output price fluctuation.
• Observation and further analysis do not suggest the occurrence of excessive fertilizer use.
However, the use of fertilizers is still considered inefficient as indicated by relatively wide
productivity differences among farms.
• Intensive observations confirm the excessive use of pesticides at the farmer’s level. This
is indicated by high frequency of spraying, high dosage and the use of mixed pesticides.
Residue analysis also detects pesticide residue on kangkong, hot pepper, cauliflower and
tomato that has passed the tolerance threshold.
• Both in urban and peri-urban areas, the three major production constraints emphasized by
farmers are capital/fund availability, output price fluctuation and pest and disease
incidence.

No Constraints or Problems Rank of Importance

Urban Peri-urban
1. Pest and disease incidence III III
2. Capital/funds availability II I
3. Land availability IV IV
4. Labor availability VIII VI
5. Fertilizer and pesticide availability V V
6. Water/irrigation availability VI VII
7. Soil erosion/fertility IX IX
8. Output price fluctuation I II
9 Technical information availability VII VIII

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

• Despite the existing constraints and challenges, there should be a concerted effort to
promote large potentialities and advantages of the urban and peri-urban production
systems in enhancing vegetable supply. This effort can improve knowledge of producers,
researchers and policy makers that may lead to a strong commitment, both at the policy
and operational levels, to further develop a sustainable vegetable production systems.
 5

• Current changes from centrally planned system to a decentralized system provide more
rooms for formulating policies and strategies in integrating urban and peri-urban
horticulture into the regional/urban planning process and regional/urban resources
management. Regionally based development program would be more appropriate to
accommodate special characteristics of urban and peri-urban production systems.
• Research program should be developed in tune with the natural, political and
socioeconomic environments that affect researchers, research clients, producers, and
consumers. Improved technologies must not only be able to push back the margins of
crop cultivation, but they also have to make useful sense to the people for which they are
intended. For instance, the goal for improving urban and peri-urban production systems is
to increase vegetable supply and enhance the well-being of all parties involved, not just
enhanced performance of crop and technologies.

References

Jansen, H. G. P. 1992. Supply and demand of AVRDC mandate crops in Asia: Implications of
past trends for future development. Working Paper no. 4 (revised version) . AVRDC,
Taiwan.
Ninez, V. 1984. Household gardens: Theoretical considerations as an old survival strategy.
Food System Research Series, no. 1, International Potato Center, Lima
Pasandaran, E. & Hadi, P. U. 1994. Prospek komoditi hortikultura di Indo-nesia dalam
kerangka pembangunan ekonomi. Makalah pada Penyusunan Prioritas dan Desain
Penelitian Hortikultura, Solok, 17-19 November 1994.
Sanyal, B. 1985. Urban agriculture: Who cultivates and why? A case study of Lusaka, Zambia.
A paper published in the Household Food Production. Comparative Perspectives, CIP.
van Lieshout, O. 1992. Consumption of fresh vegetables in Indonesia. Internal Communication
no. 48. Project ATA-395/LEHRI.