Organic city farming

Experience in Cuba has shown that an average production of 20 kg/ m2/ year is reached in organic city farming. Input of high quality materials and salaries take up around fifty percent of the sold product. Depending on the amount of products sold, salaries paid and the prices more profit can be reached. An average of five years is taken to recover the initial starting up costs including the training.
An extra spin-off is the production of biofertilizers and pesticides needed for the farms. On an average farm (200m2 raised beds) 10 persons can be employed full time and a hundred families will profit from the products.
Depending on the size, an average city farm can provide all fresh products needed in a healthy diet for over a hundred families.
Based on the participatory research in the slums, an average adult person consumes a minimum of 8 kgs. of vegetables on a monthly basis. Hence a projected demand for six months of 100 persons is 4,800 kgs. That can easily be met by the gardens’harvest. The current volume of harvest within six months of 11,025 kgs can easily be increased as the production of biofertilizer, garden soil, assorted vegetable seeds also increases.
Most of the urban poor are rural migrants, hence they already have agricultural skills (although these are utilizing chemical-based farming methods as practiced in the rural areas). Organic food production techniques and innovations in the urban setting proved to be not so strange to them, although they need further technical trainings to develop their skills.
A typical household involved in the project utilizes 75% of their produce for household food needs, while 25% of their produce are usually sold to the local market or given to their neighbors. Through word of mouth and actual “to see is to believeâ€?, many community members were encouraged to undertake their own backyard and container gardens in their household, some also participated in demonstration/community gardens.

Urban agriculture is practised all over the world; in fact urban agriculture provides 15% of the world’s food. These production systems are mainly low input, low value crops and require little agricultural skills. The production fields are within highly populated areas so using chemicals is hazardous. Organic city farming is based on high input and high output and requires good planning and agricultural skills from the people involved.. For the people involved, organic city farming is a fulltime job where they will earn their salaries from. Profit can be made and used to recover start-up costs like training and materials and to extend the area. Another new aspect is that raised beds are used so organic city farming can be done anywhere where there is some space. My experience in Manila, The Philippines, showed that even in the most impoverished squatter areas, space can be found to make raised beds.

Sibat and the Parish are the partners in this project. Input materials such as seeds, organic matter and cloth will be retrieved from local businesses. Training will be done by me and my husband. Contacts with organized groups are made to have them to start and run the business.

The products are sold on the spot, within the slums. Slums are densely populated and therefore have enough customers and due to a lack of fresh and healthy products people are willing to pay for these products. The people running the business are from the same area, mouth to mouth advertising guarantees that people know what and where the products are sold.. The decision can be made to sell to a regular market, since the produce is of higher quality and organic, whilst asking a market price, it makes a very interesting product to sell and buy. The high quality and healthy products can also be sold to restaurants or hotels to get a higher price or to sell the products on a contract basis. Depending on the size, an average city farm can provide all fresh products needed in a healthy diet for over a hundred families.

Alongside the problem of food supply is that of malnutrition in terms of insufficient energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. Approximately 20% of the population in less developed countries do not have enough food to satisfy their basic nutritional requirements. Urban poor communities in the Philippines are usually located in congested, unsanitary, environmentally hazardous conditions where malnutrition, sicknesses and hunger are prevalent. Food insufficiency and hunger is commonly felt. This is further exacerbated by the lack of safe and nutritious food. Rural agricultural produce which reaches the urban poor communities are mainly produced through chemically intensive agricultural production, considered as potentially hazardous and with chemical residues which haven’t been regularly monitored.
The high quality products of the urban city farming project are sold in the slums and therefore achieves that the nutrients intake of the people is more balanced. The business will provide a good salary for the people running it and so create jobs in the slums with a high unemployment ratio.This supplements the household income. People get training on agricultural skills and the use of biofertilizers and pesticides and are stimulated to make profit and extend the business. The business contributes to a better environment by making use of organic waste and not using any chemicals. Also increasing peoples knowledges on organic farming will make them aware of the use of chemicals in ordinary farming.