A group of volunteers and organic vegetable farming enthusiasts have brought out a design to establish 600-sq.ft. organic vegetable gardens on terraces of homes or in backyards. “Each garden will be capable of producing 350 kg to 500 kg of vegetables a year, which are sufficient for a family of five,” said J. Prashant, chairman of Organic Kerala Charitable Trust and principal of Sacred Heart College, Thevara.
Mr. Prashant presented the design and advantages of the 1.5-cent vegetable gardens at a function organised at the college to familiarise students with the potential of vegetable cultivation in houses with space constraints.
Meanwhile, a seminar will be organised on August 2 at the college to mark the International Year of Pluses. There will also be an exhibition of pulses, apart from discussions on the role of pulses in ensuring food security as part of the day-long seminar.
No more growbags
If gardens are set up in backyards, growbags may not be required. The soil in backyards or growbags that can be used on terraces can be made fertile with the help of organic household waste.
“The 600-sq.ft. garden is meant to accommodate beans, vegetable cowpea, cucumber, little gourd, leafy vegetables, chilli, tomato, okra, brinjal, and root crops like elephant foot yam and cassava. Root crops can be cultivated during lean season,” said M.M. Abbas, general secretary of the trust, which works in cooperation with the Thrikkakara Municipal Cooperative Hospital.
Details of the design are available onhttp:// www. organickeralacharitabletrust
.in/, Mr. Abbas said, adding that space constraints could be overcome to make every family in urban areas self-sufficient in vegetable production. According to him, there are around 60 lakh households in the State with approximately 600 sq.ft. each of terrace area.
