Abstract
Recently, the roof-top vegetable gardens for rent have been drawing public attentions, particularly urbanites. We focused on the agricultural production and promotion functions of these gardens, and conducted interviews and participatory investigations to evaluate these functions. We selected 4 sample gardens in Osaka-Kobe region according to types of management agencies, and interviewed managers on the issues about opening processes and management policies. Through the interviews, we identified that one of the 4 sample gardens managed by NPO had higher attentions to the agricultural functions. Hence we had participated in this garden as a user, and made in-depth interviews with managers and users. We also measured vegetable volumes produced by users in round number. We found a mismatch between the manager’s policy to enhance agriculture itself and the users’ wills to enjoy a harvest only. Nevertheless, we estimated good production potential that could be competitive to the national average in the ordinary ground farmland.
