Asia has the world's most diverse, and the greatest number of, modern intensive farming systems. Urban farms in Asia provide vegetables, poultry, mushrooms, fish, seaweed, pigs, fruit, medicinal herbs and wood for furniture. Asian countries tend to have intense and widespread urbanization, a long tradition of urban agriculture and early recognition of the benefits of recycling waste for agricultural uses*.

Mixing farming and urban activity is typical of cities in Southeast Asia and the percentage of urban families engaged in city farming can go up to 80% in some urban and peri-urban areas in China, Indonesia and Philippines. Traditionally the main motivation for urban farming activities was to secure a constant and reliable supply of fresh food for home consumption. However as the demand for perishable high-value agricultural products like meat and vegetables rises in urban areas, urban farming is practiced increasingly for income generation as well as for home consumption. Major cities in China have achieved nutritional self-sufficiency in non-grain foods while making an important contribution to their cities' waste problem- without increasing pollution. As in several other countries all around the world, urban agricultural production in China is dominated by women*.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture in Southeast Asia has traditionally contributed to the urban environment through efficient use of organic waste in food production (food waste, for instance, has been used to feed pigs). It has been demonstrated, for example, that peri-urban vegetable production in Vietnam and Philippines can absorb significant quantities of city waste. However, despite these positive externalities generated by UPA production activities, it has often been ignored or overlooked by urban planning authorities in their urban development plans. Recently, however, more and more governments (such as the Philippines) are stimulating urban agriculture after having recognized the important role it can play in poverty alleviation and improved access by the poor and all residents to healthy, locally grown produce. In Manila, a non-governmental organization, the Urban Food Foundation, and the University of the Philippines, are promoting fruit, vegetable and livestock production, primarily by small farmers. In fact, small city growers even supply an international agribusiness exporting canned fruits and vegetables*.