scholarly journals Rooftop gardening to improve food security in Dhaka city: A review of the present practices

Author(s):  
Mohammad Hasan Chowdhury ◽  
Md. Fahim Sharker Eashat ◽  
Chinmoy Sarkar ◽  
Nafisa Habib Purba ◽  
Mohammad Asadul Habib ◽  
...  

In recent years, the trend of growing vegetables on green roofs has gained momentum as a way of promoting agricultural sustainability in Dhaka City. Rooftop gardens become an important part of urban agriculture's recent rejuvenation and offer alternative spaces for urban markets to grow vegetable products. Green roofs create spaces for vegetable crop production, thereby creating opportunities for agricultural incorporation into urban communities. At present, however, vegetable production activities on rooftops are limited due to multiple challenges that need to be addressed before widespread implementation takes place. Rooftop agriculture can improve various ecosystem services, enhance the biodiversity of urban areas and reduce food insecurity. Food production from green roofs will help support and sustain food for urban communities and provide a rare opportunity to grow food efficiently in typically unused spaces. As human populations become more urbanized and urban consumers become more interested in local food for their families, the use of alternative agricultural production systems, such as green roof technologies, will increase in importance. While cultivating food on buildings is a key component of making cities more sustainable and habitable, green roofs are not the total solution for providing cities with food security. They should be viewed more as a supplement to other sources of food production in urban areas.

Agriculture ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Walters ◽  
Karen Stoelzle Midden

The practice of producing vegetables on green roofs has been gaining momentum in recent years as a method to facilitate agricultural sustainability in urban areas. Rooftop gardens are becoming an important part of the recent rejuvenation of urban agriculture, and offers alternative spaces to grow vegetable products for urban markets. Green roofs create spaces for the production of vegetable crops, which then generate opportunities for integrating agriculture into urban communities. However, vegetable production activities on rooftops are currently minimal due to multiple challenges that must be overcome before widespread implementation will occur, and these are presented and discussed herein in great detail. Although intensive green roof systems (>15 cm medium depths) are thought to be most suited for vegetable production, the greatest potential for sustained productivity is probably through extensive systems (<15 cm depths) due to weight load restrictions for most buildings. Thus, shallow-rooted vegetables that include important salad greens crops are thought to be the most suited for extensive systems as they can have high productivity with minimal inputs. Research presented herein agree that crops such as lettuce, kale and radish can be produced effectively in an extensive green roof medium with sufficient nutrient and moisture inputs. Other research has indicated that deeper-root crops like tomato can be produced but they will require constant monitoring of fertility and moisture levels. Vegetable production is a definite possibility in urban areas on retrofitted green roofs using minimal growing substrate depths with intensive seasonal maintenance. Rooftop agriculture can improve various ecosystem services, enrich urban biodiversity and reduce food insecurity. Food production provided by green roofs can help support and sustain food for urban communities, as well as provide a unique opportunity to effectively grow food in spaces that are typically unused. The utilization of alternative agricultural production systems, such as green roof technologies, will increase in importance as human populations become more urbanized and urban consumers become more interested in local foods for their families. Although cultivation of food on buildings is a key component to making cities more sustainable and habitable, green roofs are not the total solution to provide food security to cities. They should be viewed more as a supplement to other sources of food production in urban areas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Roberts

Since its early rudimentary forms, phosphate fertilizer has developed in step with our understanding of successful food production systems. Recognized as essential to life, the responsible use P in agriculture remains key to food security.


Author(s):  
Mohamed Nasser Baco

Previous studies suggested that maize is set to become a cash crop while ensuring food security better than any other crop. However, climate change has become one of the key production constraints that are now hampering and threatening the sustainability of maize production systems. We conducted a study to better understand changes here defined as adaptations made by smallholder farmers to ensure food security and improve income through maize production in a climate change context. Our results show that maize farmers in northern Benin mainly rely on traditional seeds. Drought as abiotic stress is perceived by farmers in many agro-ecological zones as a disruptive factor for crop production, including maize. When drought is associated with pest damages, both the quantity (i.e. yield) and the quality (i.e. attributes) of products/harvests are negatively affected. The adverse effects of drought continue to reduce production in different agro-ecological zones of the country, because of the lack of widespread adoption of tolerant varieties. The study suggests actions towards the production of drought-tolerant maize seeds, a promotion of seed companies, the organization of actors and value chains. Apart from climate change, the promotion of value chains is also emerging as one of the important aspects to take into account to sustain maize production in Benin.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
Ramon Felipe Bicudo da Silva ◽  
Mateus Batistella ◽  
James D. A. Millington ◽  
Emilio Moran ◽  
Luiz A. Martinelli ◽  
...  

Agricultural systems are heterogeneous across temporal and spatial scales. Although much research has investigated farm size and economic output, the synergies and trade-offs across various agricultural and socioeconomic variables are unclear. This study applies a GIS-based approach to official Brazilian census data (Agricultural Censuses of 1995, 2006, and 2017) and surveys at the municipality level to (i) evaluate changes in the average soybean farm size across the country and (ii) compare agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., soybean yield, agricultural production value, crop production diversity, and rural labor employment) relative to the average soybean farm size. Statistical tests (e.g., Kruskal–Wallis tests and Spearman’s correlation) were used to analyze variable outcomes in different classes of farm sizes and respective Agricultural Censuses. We found that agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes are spatially correlated with soybean farm size class. Therefore, based on the concepts of trade-offs and synergies, we show that municipalities with large soybean farm sizes had larger trade-offs (e.g., larger farm size was associated with lower crop diversity), while small and medium ones manifest greater synergies. These patterns are particularly strong for analysis using the Agricultural Census of 2017. Trade-off/synergy analysis across space and time is key for supporting long-term strategies aiming at alleviating unemployment and providing sustainable food production, essential to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 71-87
Author(s):  
Tomás Palmisano

An analysis of the semiotic and productive transformation of food crops under Argentina’s agribusiness model through a study of the diffusion of the term “commodity” in the discourse produced/reproduced by the rural sections of the hegemonic media, combined with statistical data that allow a dialogue between discourse and measurable quantities, concludes that defining the Argentine countryside as a place for commodity production is linked with increasing crop production for export that leads to the erosion of food sovereignty and food security. Un análisis de las transformaciones semióticas y productivas de los frutos de la tierra bajo el modelo argentino de los agronegocios que examina la extensión del término commodity en los discursos producidos/reproducidos por las secciones rurales de los medios gráficos de comunicación hegemónicos, entrecruzado con datos estadísticos para poner en diálogo el nivel del discurso con el de las cantidades medibles, concluye que la consigna que define al campo argentino como un lugar de producción de commodities se imbrica con una tendencia a la intensificación de los cultivos orientados exclusivamente a la exportación y la erosión de la soberanía y seguridad alimentaria.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Savita Ahlawat ◽  
Dhian Kaur

At present, climate change is one of the most challenging environmental issues as it poses potential threat to different sectors of economy at global level. Agriculture being an open activity is primarily dependent on climatic factors and change in climatic conditions affects the production, quality and quantity of crop production in an area. This paper attempts to study effects of only two parameters of climate i.e. temperature and rainfall on agricultural production in northwest region of India. Northwest region comprising of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir states is the greatest food bowl of India contributing to its food security. The analysis of mean monthly rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures (1901-2006) shows no significant change in temperature and rainfall conditions from 1901 to 1960; but afterward the change is more pronounced. On the whole any significant change in climatic conditions will not only challenge the food production of the region but also challenge the country’s food security situation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 149 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. R. CRUTE ◽  
J. F. MUIR

SUMMARYTo meet the increasing global demand for food that is predicted over the coming decades it will be necessary to increase productivity and to do this in a way that is sustainable and efficient in its use of resources. Productivity is currently determined by the intrinsic genetic potential of the domestic plants and animals on which mankind is dependent as well as by components of the biophysical environment (temperature, water availability and quality, soil fertility, parasites, pathogens, weeds) from which terrestrial or aquatic food production is derived. Within certain limits, it is possible to manipulate plant and animal genotypes, the production environment, and the inevitable interaction between these factors, to relax constraints on productivity and potential output. Looking to the future, increased scientific understanding will undoubtedly permit this manipulation to be achieved more effectively, thus enabling the scale of production to be elevated predictably while reducing reliance on non-renewable inputs and limiting the use of more forest, grassland, wetland or coastal margin. The present paper introduces a collection of reviews that were commissioned as part of the UK's Government Office of Science Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures which reports early in 2011. The reviews explore opportunities for advances in science and technology to impact in coming decades on the sustainable productivity of terrestrial and aquatic food production systems. Collectively, they describe many of the approaches currently being considered to define, remove or relax the different genetic or environmental constraints limiting sustainable food production. These include: potential impacts of climate change on aquatic systems, the application of biotechnology, genetics and the development of systems to improve livestock, fish and crop production; approaches to the management of parasites and pathogens; weed control in crops; management of soil fertility; approaches to countering problems of water shortage; reducing post-harvest wastage; the role of advanced engineering and the potential for increasing food production in urban environments.


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