Urban Agroecosystems in Dynamic Yamuna River Sandbars in Delhi, Capital City of India

Abstract

Present paper studies urban agroecosystems on Yamuna River sandbars (islands) in Delhi using GIS. These sandbars formally come under local administration and are used by people for different activities like agriculture, fishing, collection of various types of grasses, and grazing of livestock. Cheap laborers from different states of India migrate to the sandbars for seasonal employment. The crops grown by farmers include tomatoes, pumpkins, bottle gourds, ridge gourds, and bitter gourds. Tomatoes are grown on the maximum area of land on the sandbars. The products are sold at different nearby markets according to requirements. These small and fragile agroecosystems have inputs like seeds, human labor/hours, fertilizers, water, fuels, etc., and outputs like crops, grasses, fish, milk, etc. For a long time, people have been interested in these landscapes because; i) the deposits along the Yamuna are fertile and therefore appropriate for farming, (ii) the growth of natural vegetation/fodder species (which includes many types of grasses) makes them good pastures, (iii) the river banks along the attached sandbars provide space for the washermen, (_dhobi-ghat)_, (iv) even if the government officials abandon the slums/activities on these sandbars, the people involved in them could re-build it in no time, and (v) none of the sandbar dwellers were paying any rent/lease for the activities they are carrying out on the sandbars. The pastoralists (_gujjar)_ do not seem to have to pay anything to the claimant. On the other hand, the farmers do have to pay for cultivating on the sandbars.