Eat what you grow, and grow what you eat. Today many people are opting towards terrace gardening to grow vegetables in an organic way.
Health concious people want to eat home grown food ie vegetables and they are becoming city farmers in this concrete jungle. Compost/cocopeat has replaced the soil. Plastic ‘growbags’ have replaced mud pots. Compared to mud pots, the plastic sheets are cheaper and can withstand sunlight, will last for four years and are said to be easily recyclable.
For the past few years prominent residents of the city – Frank Coelho from Koramangala, Hariram from Lakkasandra, Vijay Satish from Jayanagar, Vinay M from Girinagar, Vittal Rao from ST Bed, to mention a few are growing scores of vegetables including the exotic varieties and meeting their daily consumption. Not only that they are sharing the produce with neighbours, relatives and friends. All of them are busy with their professional work yet they devote some time to grow vegetables and fruits too.
Today their tribe is increasing day-by-day. From a score now they are over few thousands.
Once in a while they meet at a designated place after announcing the date and time in their facebook group to exchange seeds and saplings. Recently they did at Lalbagh. The events like Oota from your Thoota attract many others to opt urban farming. At a recently held programme in J P Nagar, the Union Minister Ananth Kumar proposed of making terrace gardening a national mission.
But the neighbouring state – Tamil Nadu are one step ahead in this. The Tamil Nadu Government has introduced 50% subsidy for the people setting up terrace gardens. This scheme, known as ‘do-it-yourself’, was started in Chennai.
20 polythene bags containing manure of coconut fibre waste, 9 variety of seeds for different vegetables, 6 varieties of fertilizers, shovels, sprayers, plastic containers for spraying water, etc., and polythene spreadsheets are given under 50% subsidy. The cost of these items works out to be Rs 2630/- and these are sold at Rs. 1325/-. Each buyer is entitles to get the subsidy 5 times.
Why can’t the State government implement on similar lines, question urban farmers. Bengaluru city is haunted by garbage problem. After seggregating, if wet waste is made into compost by each resident and used for terrace gardening then a major problem of the garbage would be solved, they feel.
City Farmers grow vegetables on terrace; Follow the Chennai way
