Urban agriculturel in the Valdivia city, Chile: A settlement process

The agricultural issue currently involves not only rural areas, but also the urban sector, due to rural / urban migration and the characteristics of the development of cities.The study was focused s on inhabitants of Valdivia city engaged in urban agriculture, with the following characteristics: urban farmers whose products are totally or partially sold permanently and occurring in the city within no more than three miles around. The sample consisted of 28 urban farmers identified by probing "Snowball". The method used was the social survey, and the data were systematized and then processed through descriptive statistics. The factor that has the greatest impact with respect to settlement process of urban agricultural enterprises is embracing these sectors once considered rural and is now within the city limits (3,57% of the sample). The main results indicate that the average age of urban farmers is 54 years and that 61% of them are women, 57,14% of urban farmers have completed basic education.