Hydroponic gardens: undertaking malnutrition and poverty through vegetable production in the suburbs of Lima, Peru

Most of cities of Latin America are surrounded by slums where the population migrating from rural areas settles in search of wealth and better living conditions. In Peru, about 25% of the country population is concentrated in the suburbs of Lima, where people live in extreme poverty. In these contexts, expectations are unattended and the poorest have to struggle to satisfy their basic needs, and the matter of feeding the population becomes of great importance. Urban agriculture, and particularly the small scale production of fruit and vegetables may play a crucial role on the livelihood improvement, through the three steps of 1) improving nutrition, 2) generating income and 3) creating social networks. This as a consequence of both the high nutritional value and the high labour content (which translates into highest prices at the market) of fruits and vegetables. Moreover, through the creation of farming and/or marketing associations, new communitarian connections may be established. In this work we will present a preliminary study for the implementation of small scale hydroponic gardens in the Huachipa district, in the periurban area of the city of Lima, in Peru. The work combines the results of field visits, participatory meetings, farmers interviews, discussion with local university staff and researchers, and a market survey, thus allowing the description of many social, economic, agronomic and climatic parameters.