World Ark Magazine - January/February 2008 - (Page 37) that generates high-quality fertilizer, or Centro de Estudios de Producciones city schools that serve local produce for Agroecologicas in Rosario and a lunch all represent important deter- member of the PAU. “But also, after minants of just how much a city can years of feeling marginalized, they are making a genuine contribution to their support the surrounding country. In Rosario, Argentina, where farm- city and are finally being recognized ing in the city was initially a response for it.” From Piura in Peru to Dar es Salaam to the nation’s fi nancial crisis, offi cials are trying to establish it as an in Tanzania, city officials are also integral part of urban life. They taking inventories of available vacant created the Programa de Agricultura land. In a few cases, officials are markUrbana (PAU), a cooperative venture ing off certain areas to be permanently that unites urban farmers, municipal used for farming, which gives farmers officials, agricultural experts and the incentive to make long-term investrepresentatives of nongovernmental ments in the land. If the goal is to be more self-suffiorganizations. The PAU helped urban farmers secure and protect agricultural cient when it comes to food, city spaces, take advantage of value-added officials need to think creatively. agricultural products, and establish Perhaps the most cutting-edge design new markets and market systems. Soon, innovation for bringing food back into seven farmers’ markets and more than cities is also the most sublime—roof800 community gardens—supporting top gardens. Rooftop gardens are some 10,000 farmers and their fami- springing up everywhere. City Hall in lies—had sprouted up throughout the Chicago sports a green roof; in Tokyo, city. The cooperative also involved resi- a new ordinance requires all new dents of Molino Blanco, a low-income building plans with more than 3,280 housing project, in the design and square feet of floor space to cover 20 construction of a large garden park percent of their roofs with vegetation that includes walking paths, soccer as a way to reduce energy costs and fields and large designated areas where urban temperatures. In Mexico, the Institute for Simplified Hydroponics people can raise food. “Urban farmers tell me that they are has developed low-cost roof garden not only pleased to have the opportu- technologies that will help many nity to generate income and feed their more landless peasants in the world’s families,” said Raul Terille with the expanding cities feed themselves and earn a living from urban farming. And in Morocco, students and community groups have built garden beds from old tires filled with compost and vermiculite on rooftops and achieved yields dramatically greater than conventional gardening. They collected and recycled water that drained through the bottom of the beds, reducing water use by 90 percent over standard gardening techniques—a critical factor for countries susceptible to drought. One way to make it easier for cities to feed themselves is to slow the flow of people into them from the countryside. Policymakers in rural areas have to make living there a healthy, viable option for the world’s poor, so that they are not forced to move to cities. A lowcost option for growing food in cities might be even more important than ever before. The migrations of the past are minuscule compared with the changes under way in the Third World today. “On the longer term, urban agriculture will be sustainable especially if its potential for multifunctional land use is recognized and fully developed,” noted René van Veenhuizen, editor of Cities Farming for the Future. “The sustainability of urban agriculture is strongly related to its contributions to the development of a sustainable city: an inclusive, food-secure, productive and environmentally healthy city.” Women for a Better Future Port of Veracruz, Mexico This Heifer project in Las Bajadas, Mexico, is helping 31 women and their families improve the urban surroundings by growing gardens, raising chickens and enriching the soil with vermiculture. Growing Home Chicago, Illinois Heifer’s Growing Home Urban Farm is training 66 low-income and homeless Chicagoans to make money by raising healthy foods in an urban garden. www.heifer.org January/February 2008 | WORLD ARK 37 http://www.heifer.org
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