City dwellers are ecological parasites, consuming more that 75 per cent of the world’s resources. redress the balance through cultivating city gardens!

Benefits

• Enhances food security, increasing the availability and affordability of food, especially perishables. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), it can yield 20-50 kg per sq m every year.
• Provides employment in gardening, composting, input supplies, marketing and distribution of food; also food processing and preservation. FAO estimates that globally 800 million urban residents are involved in such activities.
• Enhances nutritional value, since most of the food is organic and fresher.
• Offers cost and energy savings (in the packing, storage, refrigeration, and transportation of food) by diminishing ‘food miles’. Pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.
• Replenishes soil nutrients through composting of organic wastes, reducing the costs of present municipal waste management, which contaminates soil and water bodies. Significant ecological, economic and health benefits thus accrue.
• Enhances biological diversity of vegetation, birds, and other fauna.
• Aids soil and water conservation, increasing groundwater recharge, augmenting the quantity and quality of fresh water available.
• Sequestrates greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in vegetation and the soil, ameliorating global warming, and potentially earning significant revenue in the emerging global economy of carbon trading. • Greens and beautifies cities, moderating the microclimate, making it more comfortable for living; it also enhances the potential for tourism.
• Empowers urban people, increasing community participation, checking social unrest. The enhanced women’s control over food cultivation improves household nutrition.
• Offers meaningful opportunities for nature study and environmental learning, reaching all sections, including the young.