Urban farming is poised to take a big leap with the launch of a forum that will encourage the practice. From just a few, scattered individuals practising terrace gardening, to communities, housing societies and corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan region setting up terrace farms, going green is gaining mass appeal.
The movement got a big push last week with the inauguration of the Urban Farming Forum, an initiative undertaken by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) under the guidance of State Urban Development Department, and in collaboration with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
Dr .Anjali Parasnis, associate director, TERI, said, “We will put together courses, knowledge series, awareness programmes and policy initiatives. A Grow Green competition has been scheduled for early next year to encourage urban farming on a large scale.”
A panel of urban planners, government officials, architects, students and hobbyists attended the inauguration. Citizens across generations shared their success stories and suggestions with the NMMC to promote urban farming.
Matunga resident Anagha Gaikwad, a student of the Green House Management Course, Ruia College, said, “As part of our course, we grow everything from vegetables to herbs. But I wish more of the younger generation was aware that you can actually grow food in the city. May be it should be added as an elective in school curriculums.”
During the launch, Dr. Parasnis presented the carbon baseline survey of Navi Mumbai. She also shared vital statistics on the high pesticide and heavy metal content in commercially-grown fruits and vegetables. She shared the results of a survey by the University of Baroda, showing how commercially-grown fruits and vegetables contain pesticides like Aldrin, Chlordane, Dichlorvos much beyond the when permissible levels were 0.1 mg/kg.
She spoke about how urban farming could help decrease the urban-heat-island effect plaguing the city. Most of the land in the city is either made of concrete or covered with tar, which traps heat onto the land surface. Buildings and school compounds, too, which were earlier grounds of raw earth, are now covered with paver blocks and astroturfs, trapping that much more heat. Urban farming, especially terrace farming, can create green roofs, thereby decreasing the urban-heat-island effect, she said.
A panel discussion chaired by Jayant Kumar Banthia, former State Chief Secretary and chancellor, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), presented several ideas to incorporate urban farming into the city’s plans. “We spend so much in landscaping road dividers. Instead, we could grow vegetables there,” suggested G.S Gill, former managing director of CIDCO and an advisor to TERI.
The launch highlighted the role that educational institutions can play. Dr. Pramod Pabrekar, Principal ICLES’ Motilal Jhunjhunwala College, said, “We have sown the seed, and provided the knowledge. The millennial generation has the power to propel this idea .”
The forum is expected to provide impetus to the urban farming movement growing gradually in Mumbai. Those who do not have space for terrace farming can also volunteer at many of the urban community farms across the city, from Green Souls in Kharghar, Urban Leaves in Matunga and Andheri, to Pixie Dust Farm in Bandra.
The writer is a freelance journalist
