{"id":36826,"date":"2017-06-08T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T10:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=36826"},"modified":"2017-06-14T12:46:31","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T15:46:31","slug":"urban-and-peri-urban-agriculture-and-the-growth-of-community-gardens-in-rio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=36826","title":{"rendered":"Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture, and the Growth of Community Gardens in Rio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A majority of the world\u2019s population now lives in urban centers. As we have distanced ourselves from rural life, many people have lost direct contact with agriculture and the process of growing<\/a> food<\/a>. Open spaces are becoming more and more scarce in our urbanizing world.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of Rio de Janeiro, even while living in a tropical country blessed with lush vegetation, few have the ability to enjoy the nature around them<\/a>. We buy unknown goods that are already packaged, often contaminated with toxic chemicals. Organic goods are still inaccessible from a logistical and financial standpoint for a\u00a0large part of the population, especially favela residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, health<\/a> begins with good eating habits. It is essential to know more about nutrition and the process of food cultivation and industrialization. The lack of access to information about nutrition, both in schools and at home, makes it difficult to develop healthy eating habits. Therefore, home and community garden<\/a> initiatives have grown to meet the rising demand for access to information and food.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Urban agriculture<\/a> is the process of cultivating and distributing food products, using human resources and local materials from the urban area where the gardening takes place, and is split into two categories: intra-urban, which describes gardens found within urban areas, and peri-urban<\/a>, which are gardens that occur on the periphery of metropolitan centers. Urban agriculture is generally executed in small areas like backyards, terraces, or patios, with the purpose of subsistence or small-scale sale in local markets. There are, however, more ambitious urban farming initiatives<\/a> in community\u00a0lots and undeveloped\u00a0public spaces. Urban agriculture offers the potential\u00a0of producing high-quality food at an affordable cost, especially for populations with low access to these resources. The practice also promotes socio-economic development and food security, as well as improving environmental<\/a> resilience<\/a> by conserving biodiversity<\/a> and decreasing pollution<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Often, favela architecture is extremely dense and appears to lack the necessary space for recreation or urban gardens. However, space can be improvised from any sunny surface to fit the needs for a planting area, for example the typical favela rooftop terrace, or\u00a0laje<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0that is flat and receives sun. Where this possibility doesn’t exist, vertical gardens can be established\u00a0on walls with supports for the cultivation of seedlings. A basic home composting<\/a> system can be set up\u00a0with dirt and organic food scraps from family meals, which also conveniently decreases the amount of trash<\/a> generated by the community. There are many simple\u00a0techniques to facilitate the practice. The Vale Encantado’s\u00a0sustainable sanitation<\/a> serves as an example of how much a community can do even in the absence of public services<\/a> from the city. <\/span><\/p>\n

Talking to neighbors about the advantages of having a farm and producing food within the community is just the beginning. Beyond this, individuals can take personal initiative to try cultivating herbs on a small scale, and afterwards expand to grow a wide variety of plants and learn more about each species. If the experiment works, individuals can recruit other community members using\u00a0this experience, since sharing\u00a0experiences is important for reaching out past\u00a0the individual level.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The project Favela Org\u00e2nica<\/a>, located in the communities of Babil\u00f4nia<\/a> and Chap\u00e9u Mangueira<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s South Zone<\/a>, was started in 2011 with a small budget and the objective of teaching the public\u00a0to enjoy all parts\u00a0of their vegetables and fruits. Beyond hosting classes on conscious consumption, alternative gastronomy, and homemade composting, Favela Org\u00e2nica promotes home garden initiatives within favelas to show that everyone is capable of growing food at home, if they nature and the seasonal cycle. The project has already carried out workshops in other Brazilian states.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gardens at the community level reinforce community solidarity<\/a> and a sense of collectivity: children and older people can equally participate in every process, and thus learn from and teach others about the importance of knowing and cultivating one\u2019s own food. In this way, everyone can enjoy the harvest while learning more about nature, which species can grow during different seasons, and which species promote health.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2012 documentary Favela as a Sustainable Model<\/a>\u00a0highlights the strong sustainability principles which already exist in favelas. Many of these are still relatively unknown. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can go to organic markets<\/a> in various parts of the city to get information about organizations that teach gardening and agriculture techniques, distribute seeds and seedlings, and organize\u00a0collective planting<\/a> efforts and workshops.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The project Hortas Cariocas<\/a>, created by the City of Rio de Janeiro, invests in urban agriculture and already administers over 30 gardens implemented in public spaces (17 of which are located in schools) in various favelas across the city. The urban farms distribute half of their crops to neighborhood schools and to low-income families identified by the local Residents’ Association<\/a>. The other half is sold and the profits divided amongst the workers, who are exclusively former prison inmates. The city provides seeds, uniforms, individual protective gear<\/span>, farming equipment, and organic fertilizers. Each collaborator and coordinator of Hortas Cariocas receives a monthly stipend\u00a0for taking care of administrative tasks. The project aims to promote agriculture in the short-term, while planning for the project\u2019s long-term profitability and self-sufficiency from municipal financial support. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Manguinhos<\/a>, located in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s North Zone<\/a>, a large public infrastructure project has been launched<\/a> with a focus on roads, trash collection, water<\/a>, and sewerage<\/a>. In this process, workers removed a layer of contaminated soil that was used to prevent weeds and mud. Removing the gravel from this layer cleared the area to accommodate soil, seedlings, compost, and a water drainage system. Today the site is home to the largest community garden in Latin America<\/a>. The environment hosts 300 flower beds, with 160 more in progress. Twenty-seven gardeners are responsible for the project, none of whom had prior experience in gardening before the project started.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas A majority of the world\u2019s population now lives in urban centers. As we have distanced ourselves from rural life, many people have lost direct contact with agriculture and the process of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":36828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1271,329,452],"tags":[244,525,2405,258,1570,474,223,291,386,1569,1298,107,709,637,197,218,37,241,2400,520,287],"writer":[2440],"translator":[2402],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-solutions","10":"category-rio20","11":"tag-agroecology","12":"tag-chapeu-mangueira","13":"tag-community-garden","14":"tag-community-solution","15":"tag-composting","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-favela-as-a-model","18":"tag-food","19":"tag-trash","20":"tag-green-roof","21":"tag-green-space","22":"tag-health","23":"tag-laje-rooftopterrace","24":"tag-manguinhos","25":"tag-morro-da-babilonia","26":"tag-mutirao","27":"tag-north-zone","28":"tag-organic","29":"tag-resilience","30":"tag-solidarity","31":"tag-urban-agriculture","32":"writer-juliana-torres","33":"translator-suzanne-caflisch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36826"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=36826"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=36826"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=36826"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=36826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}