Is agriculture a rural activity? Not any more. A new breed of urban farmers are exploring unimaginable spaces to practise agriculture. Roof-top farms, window-box herb gardens and parkland vegetable patches are taking root in major cities. This may be the way to go in the next few years, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
A rooftop in United Kingdom (UK) is probably the last place, Director Africa Region, Cassava Adding to Africa(CAVA), Dr Kola Adebayo expected to see a farm. He saw a building burst forth with a burgeoning roof top crop of fruits and vegetables. The farm boasts of a diverse crop of vegetables. Tomatoes, cucumbers, egg plant, green beans and other vegetables hang from dozens of plants set in rows of tubing.
For Adebayo, people don’t need to live in the countryside to grow vegetables. Plants can flourish in the middle of the city, everywhere from community gardens to the roof-tops and balconies of homes.
Urban farming is becoming a serious business in many cities around the world. It is interesting to see how roof top farms have extended its influence from a ‘vacant-lots-only’ phenomenon to a ‘rest-of-the-city’ phenomenon.
Widely travelled , Adebayo said roof -top farms provide an example of a systematic approach to rethinking urban landscapes for more productive means.
UK and major cities such as Havana, Tokyo, Montreal, Rotterdam, New York, Washington, Netherland, Seoul, Mainland China, Denmark, Belgium, Canada,The Netherlands, Ireland,New York City to Chicago, Venezuela to Lima, Hong Kong and Cape Town have become exemplary models of this new self-provisioning, a precedent that demonstrates opportunities for the transforming urban agriculture. Roof top gardens and farms now appear atop restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, senior housing, rental housing, condo towers, old industrial buildings, schools, university buildings, community centers and office towers.
For instance, in Hong Kong, a growing number of organic fruit and vegetable plots are being created on top of skyscrapers and other spare rooftop spaces.
Practically speaking, Adebayo said rooftops would provide space for food production in places such as Lagos and other cities when no ground-level landscape is available.
Considering space challenges, Adebayo said urban growers in Lagos can take roof top farming seriously, and transformed underused top spaces into exceptionally productive spaces.
According to him, organic agriculture is a growing trend in big cities.Not only because people want organic food, but also because it shortens distances and generates income.
The beauty of urban farming, according to him, is that it not only produces an abundance of organic, locally grown food, but also has a social, economic and communal impact.
Roof top farming, he noted has the potential to become a national green evolution, improving the economy, sustainability and health of urban communities.
As with ground urban agriculture, he said food grown on roofs is as fresh as it comes. Produce is generally grown using chemical-free or even organic practices, which is great news because avoiding exposure to chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers further contribute to a healthy body.
Since farms are valuable in densely occupied cities where space is at a premium, the experts noted that ongoing building construction designs were going to support roof top agriculture.
This is because owners of residential buildings will benefit economically, by converting underutilised roof space into garden plots.
A former chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Mrs Bimbo Ajayi said green roof gardens can deliver locally sourced foods that help protect the environment by minimising the use of pesticides, fossil fuels, and other resources to grow and transport food to market from larger commercial farms. In addition,she said green roofs can also improve the urban environment by insulating buildings against energy loss, managing storm, improving air quality, and providing places for recreation.
For these good reasons, she said roof tops farms are steadily gaining attention for its commercial and social opportunities.
This, however has had a major influence on the development of architecture as a tool in urban food security, community development and climate change adaptation.
According to Mrs Ajayi, architects can work with building owners and developers to unlock value in their sunlit roofs by developing a model for roof top farms to enable them supply local markets and consumers with fresh produce.
For her, anyone with some flat roof space and an interest in growing food without garden space on the ground—could use the roof top to plant vegetables.
According to her, any competent architect can design a system that can be adapted easily on top of nearly any type of roof.
Mrs Ajayi said roof top farms would thrive in Nigeria as the architecture is generic; it is not difficult to be designed by any architect. In other words, it is a generic building for a specific need: to to grow food on top of a building.
According to her, the common, large, flat, homogeneous and unused industrial roof tops offer great possibilities to install urban farms and provide food within the city.
Besides the obvious benefits of providing local and healthy eating options, roof top gardens have tremendous environmental benefits as they can lower building temperatures, which in turn reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
When there are many green roofs in urban areas, she said they can reduce air pollution and heat stress. Another benefit of green roofs is reducing rain run-off which helps prevent sewage over-flow events and flooding.
A lecturer in Fine Arts Department ,University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Dr Anselem Nyah said roof top farms must be designed in such a way that empowers vegetables to grow organically on generic flat roofs.
He said builders have to design unused roof tops to ensure the load capacity of the roof can support the average weight of farms tank.
According to Nyah, buildings hosting roof top gardens should have a structure with a base system and growing medium.
The farm utilises a mixture of compost and rock particulates, which is lifted onto the roof following engineer approval. The combined materials are light weight, allowing for proper air circulation and water retention. The system also cools the lower part of the building.
He said roof tops can be structurally built to handle the soil, water, and plant loads expected during farming seasons.
Nyah said the owner has to bring soil up to the roof and install it on top of several layers of roof protection before they can start planting anything.
Urban roof top farming is thriving in cities such as Brooklyn and Montreal, but it is not yet popular in Nigeria. But experts say this will change in no distant future.
Nigeria’s agric sector is fast becoming the toast of global investors fewer than 3000 of them are planning to invest in the sector.
The businesses, industries and other investors would be joining Nigerian and international policy makers, agribusiness leaders, farmers, technologists and investors in Lagos in November for Agra Innovate, a ground-breaking exhibition and conference being organised by the convener of the largest agric exhibition in Brazil, Informa.
Managing Director, Afrocet Nigeria Ltd, Bryan Pearson, said the investors, most of whom have signified interest in participating at Agra Innovate, would be coming with an array of solutions and innovation in agriculture that could jump start the sector to a much higher level.
He said the introduction of roof top farms is one of the solutions that experts will address at the forum.
Spurred by consumer demand for fresh, local produce, and aided by new technology, he said entrepreneurs are leasing rooftop space for commercial agricultural operations in the heart of bustling cities.
Pearson, said city-based rooftop farms harness the potential of food crops and fulfill a vital role in enhancing the delivery of sustainable food stocks and agriculture.
This is critical for a nation struggling to overcome food shortages and rising food costs.
He believes roof top agriculture enables and empowers people to make their communities healthier, more enjoyable places to live.
According to Pearson, taking roof top farming model to the next level will profit the economy. That is why it has to be discussed extensively by national and international agricultural policy makers, agribusiness leaders, farmers, technologists and investors during the exhibition and conference.
Similarly, FarmBiz Africa.com, a website dedicated to Kenyan Agric news, said Africans are buying into the idea. Kenya is an example for Nigerian farmers. Behind overlapping shanties and over crowded streets, is a novel roof gardening project in the Mathare slums of Nairobi that has been feeding over 109 households. It also provides income to slum women struggling to make ends meet.
The gardens are mounted on top of small structures, some measuring 10 by 10 metres, which are the standard structures in the area, accommodating on average about five family members.
Kwa Karioki is a small village in Mathare slum which residents have extended their farming gardens to roofing of their shanties in a bid to reap extra cash and fresh nutrients for their families.
Planted in assorted jerry cans, vegetables cultivated by farmers in this area are enough to feed the village and even get consumed in the neighbouring leafy suburbs of Muthaiga.
Elizabeth Nyaberi 42, who pioneered this form of farming, is optimistic that if people would turn their roofs into gardens, food security can be realised.
Practised by 109 households within the informal settlement, this form of farming has saved families a burden of spending at least Sh20 on vegetables every day, an amount hard to come by.
