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Urban gardening has an important role to play in improving the economy, environment and health of cities in Bangladesh, experts said at a seminar yesterday.
It reduces poverty and food insecurity resulting from urbanisation, improves the health of city residents and preserves the environment, they said.
Urban gardening allows low-income families to meet their needs for vitamins, minerals and plant protein by providing direct access to fresh, nutritious fruit and vegetables every day, the experts added.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) through its Dhaka Food System project has trained and provided resources to 440 community members across the capital to help them grow their own produce.
Almost all the trainees were women.
Brac, the Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA), Proshika and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), FAO co-hosted the seminar at the KIB Convention Hall in Dhaka on the role of urban gardening in reducing food and nutrition insecurity in urban areas.
“Urban gardening has been a big success in the communities we have supported with training and it has the potential to improve many more poor people’s lives throughout Dhaka, as well as other cities in Bangladesh,” said John Taylor, chief technical adviser to the FAO’s Dhaka Food System project.
“Not only can families from poor communities feed themselves with nutritious food, they can earn money from selling their produce. What’s more, urban gardening leads to health, therapeutic and environmental benefits, and can also strengthen community bonds.”
Although urban and peri-urban horticulture is a reality in most developing cities, it often goes unrecognised in agricultural policies and urban planning, FAO said in a statement.
The essential first step towards sustainable management of urban and peri-urban horticulture is the official recognition of its positive role in urban development, particularly in the nutrition and livelihoods of the urban poor.
A study carried out in 2019 by the Dhaka North Community Federation and FAO found that poor households were spending up to half of their income on food.
The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated problems and there are increasing rates of hunger in urban communities.
For many of the urban poor, growing their own food has been a lifeline.
Promotion of urban gardening by FAO and organisations including Brac, Proshika, POCAA, and Islamic Relief, has benefited hundreds of vulnerable families in Bangladesh.
Mustafizur Rahman, a deputy secretary of the Local Government Division and the Deputy Project Director of the Dhaka Food System project; Deepa Joshi, gender and inclusion lead at the International Water Management Institutes in India and the CGIAR Research Program on Water; Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, community architect and co-founder of Co Creation Architects and POCAA; and Rudaba Khondker, country representative of GAIN, also spoke.
(TDS)
