Today there are around 47 home vegetable gardens in Auroville. They are distributed over 39 communities and make up a total cultivated area of about 11,627m2 (2.87 acres).

From the Aurovilians interviewed, the motivation for gardening varies between an interest in trying it out and learning new things, to the fact that they always did it and that it became a lifestyle choice. Many gardeners felt inspired to take up vegetable gardening by initiatives started in the past by some of Auroville’s organic farmers and other individuals.

Home gardeners expressed that they would like to see more Aurovilians starting vegetable gardens, having a support of people that can help in setting up gardens, a platform to exchange experience and growing techniques and to have an increased gift economy of sharing surplus, seeds, seedlings and other garden input materials.

At the end of this report urban agriculture case studies from around the world are presented as an attempt to start a conversation around opportunities and to provide multiple right answers for future urban farming initiatives in Auroville. The questions that we would like to ask include: Can we double thearea of home vegetable gardens by
2020 and have an area of 25,000m2 under cultivation? What do we need to put in place to achieve this?

Read the full report here