Urban agriculture: Stepping for waste utilisation in making greener cities

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• By Rafia Hassan Karobi

Rapid population growth is a cause for environmental concern as it leads to resource depletion as well as toxic pollutants generated from waste. Another issue is the increase in carbon emissions which drives climate change. Hence, creating green cities and promoting sustainability is an important challenge that needs to be addressed. Urban agriculture is one of the methods being considered to tackle resource depletion and increased carbon emissions. This can be achieved by utilising household organic wastes, food industry wastes, wastewater, etc. These elements can be used as they are the best sources of organic fertilisers to grow plants in an urban setting. Coco peat, obtained from coconut husk fibres is another very popular organic material that is used instead of soil for horticultural plant growth in urban areas nowadays. Coco peat is an ideal medium for urban gardeners as it is lighter, consumes less water and can hold moisture for a longer period of time when compared to soil. Urban agriculture can be practiced as rooftop gardens, apartment balcony gardens as well as school or community gardens. It helps in reducing the pressure on food supply chains, recycling waste and lowering carbon emissions. Hence, it is important to create awareness about urban agriculture as it is a step towards creating sustainable cities and improving the quality of life in urban areas.

Keywords: Green cities, Urban agriculture, Sustainability, Organic wastes, Coco peat

Image source:
Image by Cocoparisienne, available under Pixabay License at https://pixabay.com/photos/roof-terrace-roof-garden-1423897/

Citation:
Rafia Hassan Karobi. Urban agriculture: Stepping for waste utilisation in making greener cities. The Torch. 2021. 2 (25).
Available from: https://www.styvalley.com/pub/magazines/torch/read/urban-agriculture-stepping-for-waste-utilisation-in-making-greener-cities/.

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