President Sindh Chamber of Agriculture Karachi Chapter, Abdullah Rafi has advised people in the cities to start cultivation of vegetables on the rooftop of their houses. He said rooftop gardens, as a specific urban agriculture niche set within a broader system of city gardens, enjoy their own set of distinctive benefits rooftops plantings can save the money spent on cooling buildings, as well as improving urban air quality.
These can also help reduce energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. There are 30 different verities of vegetables and herds, which can be grown on the roof eg tomato, lettuce, broccoli, pepper and others, which are consumed daily.
Talking to Business Recorder, Rafi hoped that this will inspire those living in houses, flats and have roof, terraces to think about roof, terrace and growing vegetables in containers. He said if these ideas succeed, their efforts may change the future of urban farming and how the urban gets its food.
There is an urgent need for more sensible food systems and true breakthrough in the way of life to do healthy, think healthy, produce healthy being healthy. He apprised that rooftop, terrace farming is as old as the days of Babylon, but today it has a new meaning. He noted that when city developers started cutting trees for roads and buildings and so on.
This resulted in an increase in temperature. That's the price we paid for development, he added. Due to the development, we started losing agricultural lands and urban areas, which increased food mileage for vegetables and this increased the prices.
With the pressure building on land and its cost in the urban areas, there is hardly any space to have a garden. So if one wants to grow vegetables domestically, the only alternative is rooftop or terrace which provides the ideal space. Open roof, terrace are getting heated up adding to the temperature increase in city and also adding to global warming, he added.
The expert said that about 15 percent of the world's food is grown in cities, the average piece of food may travel 1300 to 1500 miles from farm to plate, it is often neither fresh nor good. Pesticides and preservatives may also diminish the health value of produce. He said when anyone grows his own vegetables on roof, terrace, this not only gives some space back to agriculture, but it also helps the grower to get chemical-free fresh vegetables.
This will not only save money, but also time and energy spent on several trips to the vegetable market on polluted roads. Then it cools the house, it is also good exercise while tending and watering plants. Moreover, microclimates will change, as there is an increased production of oxygen and a reduction of carbon dioxide etc. Above all, the biggest gain would be eating healthy, chemical-free vegetables, he concluded.
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