Produced by
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel
via The Horticultural Channel
Oct 20, 2011

The UK may be the heartland of allotments but throughout the world people are coming together and creating their own allotment site, or community gardens as they are often called.

Five years ago, the plot of land on the grounds of the Natural History Museum in Jerusalem was barren and unused. Today it has become the city’s largest community garden.

Designed as a space to grow organic crops, the garden — located just a stone’s throw from a busy street – is also an educational institution and an urban refuge for the people of Jerusalem.

Labib’s private rooftop in Mohandessin is going to serve as a pilot location for one of Cairo’s first permaculture – self-sustaining environmental systems.

By Steven Viney
Valentina Cattane
Al-Masry Al-Youm
04/07/2011

Excerpt:

In Cairo, urban agriculture is growing in popularity as more and more people strive to adopt more eco-friendly approaches to the environment and encourage the decentralization of the community’s reliance on farming corporations.

Many academics and supporters are championing methodologies by hosting workshops in which attendees can learn how to set up small urban gardens and make use of their personal spaces – rooftops, balconies and private gardens.

One of the biggest difficulties, however, is the lack of facilities for supporters and practitioners to communicate with each other on a continual basis.

In an attempt to bridge this gap, the Food Sovereignty Project website has recently been launched to offer a platform where users can blog about their experiences and meet others involved in urban agriculture in the community.

Read the complete article here.

To address food security for Beirut planners, policy makers, and municipal officials need to reevaluate the potential of urban agriculture.

By Sandra Rishani
Spatially Just Environments Beirut
June 25, 2011
Sandra is a Beirut-based practicing architect.

Excerpt:

Past present and Future

The case shows how the lack of government initiatives and problems with land tenure and market land prices make urban agriculture rarer in cities like Beirut. Moreover hardly controlled imported crops and competition with them also make the agriculture sector in Lebanon weak. Several steps can be taken to encourage urban agriculture. These may include protection and promotion of urban agriculture by the government.

In addition planners may also encourage that all empty plots including all municipal and ‘wakf’ land become productive fields. Crops planted in the city and sold in the city should also be subsidized which will increase demand and encourage other plot owners to plant crops. Finally, plant some parsley, mint, and tomatoes on your balcony. I just did. I’ll post a picture of my tomatoes plant next time.

Read the complete article here.

Bio of author: Sandra is a Beirut-based practicing architect who graduated with a BArch from AUB and joined its faculty after completing a masters degree in design from Princeton University, where she was a Fullbright scholar, and a masters in urban development and planning from University College of London (UCL) courtesy of the British Chevening scholarship. Sandra’s research interests vary in scale and understanding low income markets to large urban projects that tackle questions of infrastructure and the environment.

With so many flat roofs across the Middle East, surely the region is ripe for a bit of rooftop gardening?

By Arwa Aburawa
Green Prophet
December 15th, 2010

Excerpt:

Neveen Metwally, a researcher at the Central Laboratory for Agriculture Climate in Cairo, Egypt spoke to IRIN about urban gardening in the region. She explained that city dwellers must be convinced of the benefits of urban horticulture by focusing on the needs of ordinary people and the benefits that urban agriculture brings to them. “I can say to someone, ‘A rooftop garden will help the environment’, and they’ll say, ‘No, thank you – I just want to feed my family’. So I must identify and communicate benefits that are of interest to that person.”

Metwallly added that in Egypt the numerous benefits of rooftop gardens include decreasing air pollution which has been a huge concerns for many living in the highly polluted city. Cairo along with other Middle Eastern cities such as Tehran, are known for their dangerously high air pollution. In fact, it was recently reported that 27 people die every day in Tehran due to air pollution-related disease and the Egyptian capital’s air pollution is aggravated by the annual rice burning season which turns the city dark with black smoke.

Read the complete article here.

What started as a project from fascination has developed into a relatively lucrative means of contributing to his family’s needs.

By Eva Bartlett
Uruknet.info
2 December 2010

Excerpt:

On the flat, square, cement roof of another Beit Hanoun home, Ahed Shabat, 42, looks after the plants and vegetables growing in tubs and cement planters amidst hung laundry and water tanks.

“We grow things we can use year round, like garlic and onions,” he says. “But also seasonal plants like spinach, parsley, radishes, eggplant, corn, okra and chili peppers.

“We also grow flowers and herbs to use in tea, like mint, mirimiyya and zaatar,” he adds. The latter two herbs, that commonly grow wild in the hills of the occupied West Bank, are a staple for most Palestinians’ tea, and have medicinal uses.

The rooftop helps support his family of six, and is a tranquil island. “This garden is mostly for our family’s consumption, and at the same time saves us money,” Ahed Shabat explains. “My family enjoys sitting up here amongst the plants, because most of Beit Hanoun’s plant life has been destroyed.”

Home-grown food projects like rooftop gardens, and raising rabbits and chickens on the roof help combat the severe poverty of Gaza’s 80 percent food-aid dependent population. Those living in tightly-packed refugee camps or overcrowded towns but with access to a roof can potentially stave off malnutrition and at the same time generate a small income.

“I love raising birds,” says Abu Jihad, 17, at his rooftop coop of roughly 100 chickens and a score of pigeons in central Gaza. “In the beginning I learned about chickens watching how my friend worked with his coop. The only place I had to keep chickens was our roof.”

Read the complete article here.

Growing fruit and vegetables in and around cities increases the supply of fresh, nutritious produce and improves the urban poor’s economic access to food

FAO urban projects in: Plurinational State of Bolivia, Burundi, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Namibia, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Senegal, Venezuela. Details here.

Excerpt:

Fruit and vegetables are the richest natural sources of micronutrients. But in developing countries, daily fruit and vegetable consumption is just 20-50 percent of FAO/World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Urban meals rich in low-cost fats and sugars are also responsible for rising levels of obesity and overweight. In India, diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes, are a growing health problem, and mainly in urban areas.

Urban and peri-urban horticulture helps developing cities meet all those challenges. First, it boosts the physical supply of fresh, nutritious produce, available year round. Second, it improves the urban poor’s economic access to food when their household production of fruit and vegetables reduces their food bills, and when growers earn a living from sales.

Urban food security

Intensive horticulture production on urban peripheries makes sense. But as cities grow, valuable agricultural land is lost to housing, industry and infrastructure (Accra eats up an estimated 2 600 hectares of farm land every year). Result: production of fresh food is being pushed further into rural areas. The cost of transport, packing and refrigeration, the poor state of rural roads, and heavy losses in transit add to the scarcity and cost of fruit and vegetables in urban markets.

That is why China has integrated food production into urban development since the 1960s. Today, more than half of Beijing’s vegetable supply comes from the city’s own market gardens, and it costs less than produce trucked from more distant areas. Horticulture in and around Hanoi produces more than 150 000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables a year. In Cuba, which has promoted intensive UPH since the early 1990s, the sector accounts for 60 percent of horticultural production – and Cubans’ per capita intake of fruit and vegetables exceeds the FAO/WHO recommended minimum.

See FAO Greener Cities – Urban and Peri-urban Horticulture here.

FAO projects help governments and city administrations to optimize policies, institutional frameworks and support services for Urban Horticulture, and to improve horticultural production and marketing systems. See projects here.

Film by Dr. Shadi Hamadeh

American University of Beirut
In Arabic with English subtitles
2004
(Very interesting! Mike)

Animal husbandry remains the livelihoods of many communities, even in urban areas. This documentary film is a live witness of Arab Khaldeh families raising sheep in the suburbs of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, an integration of rural communities in urban areas.

Watch the film here.

Visit the Regional Website of Urban Agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region here.

By Amwl Al-Ariqi
Source: Yemen Times (YCPMI)
Date: 28 Dec 2009

Yemen has suffered greatly during the world food crisis, since early 2008, which increased the number of people in poverty. About two million people are depending on the aids given by the World Food Program in Yemen.

The country imports as much as 75 per cent of its food requirements, and hence is vulnerable to shortages in world stocks. Yemen’s poorest households may have no mechanism to cope with astronomical prices, warned international aids agencies in Yemen.

The WFP says that higher prices have already forced six percent of the population of 20 millions according to 2004, below the poverty line.

The rabid increase of population, high price of food, depletion of groundwater, and degradation of soil resources, and the unknown consequences of climate change, all contribute to aggravate the situation of food security in Yemen.

The concept of “Urban agriculture” emerges as a salutation for food security issue in developing countries, including Yemen.

Urban agriculture can reduce poverty, improve nutrition in the capital city, said a report launched last week. The technique consists of growing plants and raising animals within and around cities.

The report, which was conducted by a Yemeni agricultural team, under the supervision of the Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Food security Foundation, said that urban agriculture has not just contributed to beautify the urban environment of the city, but it can reduce poverty, promote the food security , ease the demand for waste disposal (through composting) in Sana’a.

According to the Central Establishment for Census, the percentage families who below the minimum poverty line in Sana’a are forming 11 percent of its three million inhabitants’ population.

Sana’a, which is situated on a plateau 2,200 meters above sea level, ranked forth in the national survey of poverty in Yemen, after Taiz, Ibb, and Hudidah.

The team, which conducted the report, argued that the urban agriculture can be integrated into the urban economic and ecological system.

Urban agriculture plays an important role in enhancing urban food security since the costs of supplying and distributing food to urban areas based on rural production and imports continue to increase, and does not satisfy the demand, especially of the poorer sectors of the population.

Sana’a Gardens. Photo by eugenciuperca

Urban agriculture also contributes to local economic development, poverty alleviation and social inclusion of the urban poor and women in particular as they formed 27 per cent of urban agricultural permanent workers worker, adds green spaces in the city and facilitates the productive reuse of urban waste.

Why Sana’a?

The report mentioned that there are about 10,000 of Sana’a citizens still work on some 9,300 hectares of agricultural land in the city. The report, based on a census of 2007, said that on 7,700 hectares more than 37,500 tons of vegetables (leek, coriander, radish, onions and tomatoes), forage (alfalfa, maize, and barley), fruits (grapes, berries, nuts, peaches and apricots) qat and other seasonal grain crops were produced. Around 4,500 cows and 110,000sheep and goat in addition to camels, donkeys, poultry and bees populate the city as well.

The older part of the historic city, which is now a UNESCO world heritage site, still contains 21 hectares of orchards and vegetable farms (like the Almaqashim or the mosque gardens) which supply the population with part of the local food needs. The size of land holdings range between 0.25 and 7 hectares; most of which are private properties (85%), the rest is public and Waqf (religious community) properties.

The main source of irrigation is ground water (less than 55 per cent), which is used mainly for horticulture and qat production, while forage and grain production is rain-fed. Another water source specific for Sana’a is water from the mosques or ablution water, which is used to irrigate the mosque gardens.

The report indicates that these agricultural activities constitute an essential part of urban livelihoods to supply food for consumption and income. The whole family is involved: women usually keep the animals and work in planting, harvesting and post-harvesting activities as well as marketing. This means that they directly sell their crops from the field or in nearby public markets.

Challenges should be overcome

Despite these encouraging initiatives, many obstacles remain. The lack of arable land , scarcity of water, periodic droughts, and difficult terrain hinders efforts to retain and harvest quality crops.

Moreover, qat depletes scarce water resources and replaces essential food crops and agricultural exports, the report claims. However, even though it consumes scarce resources, the narcotic plant does provide employment for one in every seven working Yemeni.

The plant is ubiquitous: Some 72 percent of Yemeni males reported that they chew qat, compared to 33 percent of females. Because of its importance in Yemeni society, the poor willingly forego food in favor of buying qat. Commercial farming of fruits and vegetables provides a level of production to nearly satisfy domestic demand, noted the report.

However, the team is betting that such obstacles can be overmastered, and Sana’a won’t be the only city where get benefits from the urban agriculture, as these concept can be replicated in many other cities in Yemen.

Since 2008, there have been humble activities carried out by number of agriculture originations which declared a the Multi-Stakeholder Forum to promote Urban Agriculture in Sana’a.

Urban farmers have been encouraged to organize themselves and share their thoughts and experiences, laws and regulations related to urban agriculture have been analyzed and suggestions for change have been made in coordination with the municipal and legislative institutions concerned.

The main recommendation was the preservation of the remaining agriculture land and the need for spatial urban development towards the arid plateaus surrounding the city rather than on prime agricultural lands as it has been the case so far.

The Municipality of Sana’a has provided for a public space, which will be used as a demonstration plot for teachers and school children to learn how to implement small school gardens at their premises and encouraging their parents to grow crops at home.

Moreover, the forum has prepared a Sana’a City Strategic Agenda on Urban Agriculture, which elaborated on issues as water availability and more efficient use of irrigation water; agriculture extension and development services; empowering women agriculture and different institutions; the reformulation of laws and regulations in order to preserve agricultural activities and enhance access to land and more specifically access to land for grazing.

The forum contains representatives from nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, producer organizations and various municipal and ministerial departments including the departments of agriculture, public gardens and public works. The Sana’a Watershed Management Project, funded by the World Bank, the National Council for Urban Planning, individual urban farmers, the Association for the Conservation of Gardens in Old Sana’a, the Agricultural University of Sana’a and the Agriculture Cooperatives Union also contributed to the report’s findings.

See article in Yemen Times here.

Un hectare à Beyrouth – “Planete reporter” Le Monde.fr et Youtube

Une évocation de l’exploitation de Rahmé, agricultrice à Beyrouth. Les atouts de l’agriculture urbaine sont-ils une réponse aux enjeux environnementaux contemporains?

Un reportage destiné au concours “Planete reporter” organisé par Le Monde.fr et Youtube

by Zubeida Mustafa
August 13, 2008

Many enterprising women have risen to meet the challenge by encouraging the poor to acquire self-sufficiency in food by growing their own vegetables in their backyards. Parveen Rahman, director of Orangi Pilot Project’s Research and Training Institute, comments on her organization’s aborted attempt to launch a program encouraging a kitchen garden in every home in the low-income Orangi Township. “This was many years ago and we could not get the women to take an interest in horticulture. So we cultivated OPP’s own little plot of land and grew vegetables there which the staff would purchase.” But now Parveen is hopeful that there will be more interest when she revives the kitchen garden program.

Another activist, Najma Sadeque, associated with Shirkatgah’s Green Economics Initiative, is already working on a plan to get women to grow vegetables at home. She is preparing a video to use for her training program.

See article here. Pakistan – Defeating Food Price Inflation: A Kitchen Garden in Every Home.

Orangi Pilot Project’s Research and Training Institute website here.

Shirkat Gah’s website. Green Economics Initiative.

“Agriculture activities have been receding for many years now in most of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) cities thus its main functions are being hindered. Despite the negative pressures, crop cultivation and animal husbandry remain common throughout the region’s cities. Fertile agricultural areas are still considerable and are expected to remain productive for years to come. Urban agriculture in the MENA countries is at present a highly diverse and widespread activity, yet it still suffers from lack of recognition form the planners, agriculturists, policy-makers, researchers and even by its practitioners.”

Link to ‘Urban Agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa’ Web Site here.

These three young men are part of an international program organized by the YMCA. Sheryl showed them the major features of our Demonstration Garden and they shared with us some of their urban farming world far from Vancouver.

Video in Hebrew shows the community garden’s beginnings in 2005.

Bustan Brody today by Michael Green in
Green Prophet – Forecasts on Israel’s Environment April 17, 2008

“The centre-piece for the Bustan, which translates to ‘orchard’ in both Hebrew and Arabic, are its many fruit trees, which Zavidov says are the ‘backbone’ of the garden’s ecosystem. Priority is given to native species including pomegranate, fig, almond and arava (willow) which, along with the sights and smells of the vegetable patch and herb bushes, owe much of their fertility to the steaming heaps of compost in the far corner, which turn kitchen waste and garden clippings into soil (with the help of bacteria, heat and a few worms).

Link to “How Does Your (Community) Garden Grow?”

Getting Back to the Soil: Composting in Jerusalem’s Community Gardens by Michael Green.

Link to list of Jerusalem community gardens in Hebrew.

Urban Open Spaces in Israel includes history of Bustan Brody Garden.

Community Gardening and Greening in Jerusalem by MARION FISCHEL, IJ Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 23, 2005