Impacto socioeconómico y ambiental de los huertos urbanos ecológicos de Urarte, Abetxuko, Vitoria-Gasteiz

The continuous growth of the world population, particularly in urban areas, exerts important social, economic and environmental impacts. Therefore, it is crucial to design sustainable development strategies aiming to decrease the negative impacts, especially regarding food security. As a result, there is an increasing interest in urban agriculture as a tool to advance within the framework of the urban food strategies implemented throughout the world. The municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) has devoted certain areas for organic agriculture, such as the horticultural gardens of Urarte. To assess the socioeconomic impact of this area, a sample of 117 users was surveyed regarding their motivations, practices, habits and their impact on the food self-sufficiency of their families and economies. Moreover, the environmental impact of these practices on the soil quality was assessed through quantitative (chemical analysis) and qualitative methods (chromatograms). According to the results achieved, most of the users were men over 65 years-old, therefore already retired from work, and who were born in a rural area of any region of Spain, so they had already expertise in agriculture. They are married and have a family of 2-3 members. Their main motivations for having a vegetable garden are related with the occupation of leisure time and hobby. There is also a group of younger beneficiaries, mainly women, from an urban origin and with high academic education (technical or university), for whom this was the first approach to horticulture. Finally, there is also a minority of users from foreign nationalities, mainly China and Morocco. On the one hand, the vegetable garden offers the users an area to occupy their leisure time actively, socializing with other people, sharing interests and creating interpersonal linkages. In the other, the beneficiaries acknowledge the economic benefit obtained by the production of vegetables for self-consumption, which allows meeting a significant proportion of the total weekly requirements of the family group, especially during summer and autumn. According to the estimations of the users, the economic saves range from 10 to 100 per cent of the expenditure in food, depending on the season: during summer and autumn, users can consume their vegetables daily or 2-4 times per week, whereas during winter this frequency decreases to 1-3 times per week. Therefore, the contribution of the vegetable gardens to food security is important. In addition, a significant number of the people interviewed claimed that they have increased their consumption of organic and seasonal vegetables, legumes and fruits since they started managing their plots. Regarding the environmental impact of organic agriculture, the soil quality features were improved, particularly in terms of the content in organic matter and phosphorus, especially when the soil had not been ploughed in 5 years. A total of 84 crop varieties were identified, so the contribution of this area to the protection and conservation of agricultural biodiversity may be important. As a consequence, the organic vegetable gardens of Urarte are an interesting tool to advance towards sustainable development, beyond education purposes of urban population regarding environmental or healthy food related issues.