Metropolitan areas the world over are experiencing urban sprawl that cause the  loss of open space, loss of the natural environment and loss of agricultural lands.  This is a global trend where one hundred years a go approximately 15 percent of the world population lived in urban areas[1]. Today that percentage lays around 50 percent. In Latin America and the Caribbean between 1972 and 2000, the urban population rose from 176.4 million to 390.8 million mainly due to population growth and rural-urban migration[2].  Metropolitan Lima does not escaped this fate considering that in the last 60 years it has gone through dramatic demographic and physical changes. According to studies carried out by Urban Harvest, using GIS and Ikonos imaginary, in 1940 Lima had an area of 27,000 ha and a population of 562,000 people, while in 2002, Lima’s area increased to 66,000 ha with a population of 7.7 million people. This expansion has caused Metropolitan Lima to sprawl further into the Rimac watershed and consume traditional agricultural lands, which was one dominated by forage and vegetable production prior to the 1970’s. Between 1972 and 2002 the Rimac watershed had lost 36 percent of its agricultural land and since 1977 Lima has lost 17,700 ha of agricultural land, although acquiring 14,000 ha of land. Furthermore, forage production decreased by 96 percent since the 1970s, as well as a decrease in its vegetable production by 68 percent between 1972 and 1994. 

To the east of downtown Lima, in the district of Lurigancho-Chosica, were haciendas once existed forty years ago, agricultural lands continue to by encroached upon by urbanization and its forthcomings. In the last three years alone 15 percent of agricultural land has been lost in Lurigancho-Chosica. The sale of agricultural land provides an example of how urban agricultural families respond to economic pressures and how their decisions in favour of short-term financial opportunities are changing the future of urban farmland.

Urban sprawl in eastern Lima has mainly contributed to the loss farmland, where 1,460 ha were converted to residential construction in 2002 while rising 13 percent to 1,691 ha in 2005. Those urban agriculturalists that have not sold their lands have developed unique livelihood strategies to face economic strains. In two sub sectors of Lurigancho-Chosica, Nieveria and Huachipa, land owning agriculturalist have converted their lands into multi- functional land use systems for the production of bricks, grass and vegetables.  In the larger of the two sub sectors, Huachipa, 1,232 ha are mainly divided between agricultural land (42%), urban areas (40%) and brick production areas (10%), while Nieveria is divided between agricultural lands (35%), urban areas (44%) and brick production areas (6%), respectively. The rotation of land from agricultural to brick production has created a mulit-functional land use system that diversifies the livelihood of many people in the area, however, brick production exhausts fertile land, hence risking the sustainability of either livelihood strategy. In many areas of Huachipa and Nieveria, there exist discrepancies in land level, where in particular parts large openings reach down to 30 meters in depth, creating an extremely uniformed valley floor. Urban Harvest and strategic partners, like the municipality of Lurigancho-Chosica, are working together to find solutions to the threats to these prime agricultural lands, while working closely with urban agriculturalists. For example, they are executing projects that include workshops or participatory learning programs that focus on sustainable agricultural as a healthy and stable livelihood.