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Towering
Success
Creating a vertical vegetable garden, in which
leafy vegetables are grown in a poly sack, is simple and
inexpensive, costing no more than about US$ 10. Photo:
IWMI.
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People displaced by war in Sri Lanka
enrich their diets by planting vertical vegetable gardens that are
resource efficient, cheap to establish and even
portable.
For farmers in the north and east of Sri Lanka,
achieving food and livelihood security seemed impossible in the
midst of war and unrest in that region. By the time the war finally
ended in May 2009, many of these farmers had become internally
displaced persons (IDPs) residing in camps far from the lands they
once cultivated. The government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations
World Food Programme were prompt in providing food for the
displaced persons, but most of it was in the form of dry rations.
Fresh vegetables were lacking because they were logistically
difficult to supply. Working in Vavuniya District in the northeast,
the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has provided a
solution to this challenge.
Planting vertical vegetable gardens, or vegetable
towers, is an innovation promoted by the International Network of
Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food security (RUAF
Foundation, www.ruaf.org), of which IWMI is a member and also
regional coordinator of the RUAF-Cities Farming for the Future
Programme in South Asia (http://ruaf-asia.iwmi.org/). These
centers provide training, technical support and policy advice to
local and national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and
other local stakeholders.
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As a resource center, IWMI coordinates activities in
sub-Saharan Africa through its office in Ghana and in South and
Southeast Asia through its office in Hyderabad. When IDPs' need
for vegetables arose after the war, IWMI saw an opportunity to
extend a technology that it had successfully implemented with
partners in western Sri Lanka. IWMI worked on this project with the
departments of agriculture of Gampaha and Vavuniya districts.
Setting up a vertical vegetable garden is simple and quick. A
recycled poly sack is filled with a mixture of earth, sand and cow
dung. A pipe with spirally placed holes or a plastic bottle with
little holes in it is inserted into the middle of the sack. Bigger
holes are made on the sack at intervals, where leafy vegetables,
tuber crops or others vegetables are planted. Several types of
vegetables can be grown on one sack. Generally, creepers and root
vegetables are planted on top of the sack, and others grow from the
sides. Okra, aubergine (eggplant), tomato, radish, carrot, long
bean, snake gourd, bitter gourd, capsicum and chili have been
successfully grown.
The vertical garden is irrigated by simply pouring water into
the pipe or plastic bottle, from which it gradually seeps into the
soil in the sack. The technique saves water because it is
administered in trickles. Kitchen wastewater can be used, as it is
already rich in nutrients. The sacks occupy very little space. If a
person shifts to another location, as do many IDPs, the garden can
come along. Labor for maintenance is minimal compared with a
traditional vegetable garden. The cost of setting up a vertical
vegetable garden measuring 48 centimeters in diameter and 168
centimeters tall is US$10.
Having received permission for implementation from the Sri
Lankan government, IWMI and the Department of Agriculture trained
agricultural extension staff and schoolchildren and set up several
demonstration plots. The technology was enthusiastically received
by trainees, and 200 of the 300,000 IDPs were selected for initial
implementation. As IWMI is a strong advocate of gender equality and
many of its projects have a gender component, the Institute is
especially pleased that many women have shown interest in vertical
gardens. Women in Sri Lanka, especially in rural areas, play a key
role in procuring food and water for households, and IWMI assists
in identifying and evaluating water saving technologies and best
practices (more information on women and water is available at
www.iwmi.org/Topics/Gender).
IWMI has provided humanitarian assistance that applies its
research on many occasions in its 25-year history. Following the
2004 tsunami, IWMI used remote sensing to map affected areas,
tested water quality, cleaned wells, and rapidly assessed the
tsunami's impact on livelihoods and the environment. With its
headquarters in Sri Lanka, IWMI is well positioned to help
strengthen food and livelihood security in the post-war period. The
vertical vegetable garden project is a first step in this
direction.
Vertical gardens are appropriate in any developing country with
limited land or water resources and have potential also in
developed countries where people prefer to grow their own
vegetables.
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