Amid the disputes over ownership, it is the tenant farmers who have been at the receiving end. Nane, a farmer in Madanpur Khadar situated on the Yamuna floodplains, mentioned, “We have to pay annual rent to the landowner. The rent increases every year. Otherwise, the landowner will not let us farm here. Still, the DDA officials come occasionally and destroy our crops. They try to evict us from here.”

Urban farming in Delhi has been a source of income for many migrant families who have come to the capital for a better livelihood. Most farmers, like Nane, who farm on the Yamuna floodplains, have migrated from different Indian states and usually have some previous experience in farming.1

....

Though the Draft Delhi Master Plan 2041, which appeared in the public domain in June 2021, mentions urban farming, it does not recognise agricultural activities happening at many places in the Yamuna floodplains. As per the plan, there will be a ‘Green Belt’ where agriculture and other activities like forestation will be permitted. But it excludes several sites along the Yamuna floodplains where farming is currently happening.

A land-use map in the Master Plan 2041 designates the Yamuna floodplain as Zone O, subdividing it into Zone O-I and O-II. Most of the current areas where farming is ongoing fall in a zone where agricultural activities will not be permitted. The farmers here, hence live in uncertainty as they could be evicted anytime.

....

  • 1. “We came to Delhi from Budaun, a village in Uttar Pradesh, looking for a better livelihood, as we could not earn much from farming back home. Here we found farming very suitable for us, and many farmers from Budaun are involved in agricultural activities here,” narrates Bhole, a tenant farmer who has been farming in Chilla Khadar since 2013. He further states that they live in jhuggis, temporary shelters on farms, without any electricity connections.
  • Conflict over land ownership, between authorities and urban farmers in Delhi, has led to land contestations and displacement of farmers, particularly along the Yamuna River.
  • The draft Delhi Master Plan 2041 charts out a green belt and area for urban farming, but it misses many areas in the Yamuna floodplains where farming is currently happening.
  • Other issues that these urban farmers face are poor quality of water for irrigation, rapid urbanisation eating into their farming land and lack of policy support.