Urban Roofs Turning into Green Nutrition Hubs

 

Who doesn't want safe, fresh and nutritious food? There is no alternative to nutritious food to maintain good health. For this, safe and poison-free fresh vegetables and fruits are needed. Rooftop farming can become one of the suppliers of this safe, fresh and nutritious food. Roof gardens can be seen on the roofs of almost all those living in urban areas. This number is increasing day by day. As a result, it is turning from roof gardens to green nutrition hubs.

The importance of roof gardens is immense in obtaining safe and fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers, keeping the environment free from pollution, conserving biodiversity, keeping the home environment cool and peaceful, spending leisure time and leisure time, and creating opportunities for work. Roof gardens can provide urban residents with a source of fresh produce, improved food and significant family budget savings.

Green roofs help reduce noise from buildings. They can contribute to food security by creating employment and economic benefits through backward and forward linkages and increasing food supply. Roof gardens have considerable potential as a small-scale business that can be a source of additional income by meeting family nutritional needs. In addition, these rooftop gardens contribute to environmental improvement, including spending leisure time for garden owners, creating aesthetic values, increasing social status.

In 2015, the Department of Agricultural Extension, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly launched a project titled "Increasing Urban Horticultural Crop Production for Improving Food and Nutrition Security". The project aimed to establish, expand and promote rooftop gardens in urban areas to increase the production of fresh, nutritious vegetables and fruits and to have a positive impact on the environment.

I had the opportunity to work at FAO as a National Consultant on the project. A survey of the project showed that about 25 types of vegetables and 20 types of fruits, as well as many species of flowers and medicinal plants, are grown on rooftop gardens in urban areas in Dhaka and Chittagong. The value of green spaces is increasingly recognized by people living and working in cities. Green surfaces absorb heat and reduce the temperature through evaporation. In addition to producing safe food, green urbanization can be one of the ways to combat the effects of climate change. Green roofs can retain 70-80% of rainfall during summer.

The recently published UN climate report has warned that we are moving towards global warming and the negative effects of climate change, such as severe droughts and  floods. To get rid of these negative effects of warming, developed countries have started making major changes in agriculture and food production systems. One of them is urban agriculture planning.

According to various international development organizations, 67% of the world's population will move to urban areas by 2050. Therefore, they are thinking more about urban agriculture. Let's take the example of Sanqiao Urban Farming in Shanghai, China where a modern agricultural city is being built on 100 hectares of land.

In our country, a major change in rooftop farming is also being observed. Modern rooftop farming will require a clear urban agriculture plan. The expansion of urban agriculture will be upward. There is an opportunity for fresh crops to be cultivated in controlled light and air inside tall buildings in the country. In the Netherlands, a six-story building that was demolished by Telecommunications Company Philips has become one of the largest urban agriculture areas in Europe.

In Japan, 25 percent of urban households are involved in agriculture. In Tokyo, about 700,000 citizens get their vegetables from urban agriculture. In New York, about 100 acres of land are being used for urban agriculture. In Nairobi, Kenya, roof-top farming, or urban agriculture, is in full swing due to food shortages.

According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 800 million people around the world are involved in urban agriculture. They produce 15-20 percent of the total food produced. The Netherlands, despite being a small country, has been able to expand its food trade worldwide by meeting its own needs. In Hong Kong, about 1,400 people are involved in urban agriculture. In addition, a group called 'Rooftop Republic' has been formed in Hong Kong, which is managing 33 farms. This is a unique example for the world. While efforts are being made to provide safe and fresh food by bringing agriculture to the cities, many countries around the world, including Bangladesh, are also making efforts to keep the world green to control the temperature of the atmosphere.

If future rooftop agriculture is planned keeping in mind the agricultural plan, safe crop production will be sustainable. Pigeons can be reared scientifically in a small area of the roof. Fish can be cultivated scientifically by placing drums on the roof. There is an opportunity to cultivate mushrooms in a dark place in one corner of the roof. To implement these, free skill-building training for the people of the city can be done as well as awareness programs can be promoted through the media.

It is difficult to consider rooftop gardening profitable or make it profitable. This is also a relative matter. But here, in addition to the production value, aesthetic or psychological value, social benefits and environmental benefits are much higher which are quite difficult to calculate financially. However, if some things are followed, if the initial cost of equipment can be reduced, and if the yield can be increased by taking proper care of the seedlings, there is no doubt that rooftop gardening can also emerge as a profitable profession.

Just as the rooftop gardener has a responsibility or role to make rooftop gardening profitable, the service providers such as the Agricultural Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Marketing, and the related private organizations or city corporations also have a role. As part of the green urbanization program, the concerned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and city corporations can take various incentive programs for rooftop gardeners, such as helping in designing houses suitable for rooftop gardens, reducing or waiving holding tax, etc.

The Marketing Department can provide assistance in marketing the additional products produced by rooftop gardeners. To make rooftop gardens profitable, emphasis should be placed on increasing the productivity of the existing gardens, i.e., the yield of each crop. And if the yield is excessive, selling them also becomes a challenge. In that case, there is an opportunity to create an entrepreneurial class. If vegetables and fruits produced on rooftops can be supplied to various super shops or online or in vans in the city along with packaging and labeling, it will be profitable and rooftop gardens will gradually transform into nutrition hubs.


Dr. M. Jamal Uddin is Principal Scientific
Officer at Bangladesh Agricultural 
Research Institute (BARI).