Abstract

The paper examined and brought to the fore the typical characteristic of urban and peri-urban farmers in Gujarat which serves as major source of supply of agricultural products into the cities’ markets. The social aspect and perception of producers involved in urban and peri-urban agriculture was examined. Descriptive analysis is present in this article. Various groups were verbally analyzed in Gujarat and the results indicate that 56.34% never went to formal school, showing that farming became the alternative means of livelihood support for those groups. Crops grown are purely influenced by market orientation—demand and cost. Potato were commonly used in almost all areas, reason being that it serves as common/major vegetable cooked in every household in Gujarat. Maize and rice were featured in many farms. Findings also revealed that majority of the farmers are resource poor, judging from calculation about their monthly income earning and available household assets and amenities. About 70.4% of the lands the farmers grow their crops on is leased for production. Even though some of these farmers are engaged in organization, many have limited access to micro financial organization that would probably loan them money to upscale production.