Urban farming in Indonesia addresses food needs and climate crisis
In addition, people should try to identify the wild food plants near where they live, such as purslane (Portulaca oleracea), woodnettle (Laportea aestuans), fireweed (Crassocephalum crepidioides), and amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri).
By Sri Wahyuni
Mongabay
24 August 2022
Excerpt:
An island away, in Garut district, West Java province, Nissa Wargadipura said the move toward urban farming can also be a “revolutionary movement” in family farming.
“Land is immovable. But humans can move it for their sustenance,” said Nissa, founder of the Ath-Thaariq ecological Islamic boarding school in Garut and recipient of an award for ecofriendly farming in 2018.
Nissa said family farming is a pillar of food necessity in Indonesia as it can meet household needs. There can be variety although on a small scale with polyculture farming, not monoculture, as is the norm with commercial farming.
When citizens apply the principles of polyculture farming, then the needs in a given community can be met with households sharing the responsibility for growing different types of vegetables.
The Ath-Thariq ecological boarding school applies a learning system in ecology-based agriculture with a focus on food sovereignty.
Nissa’s boarding school has a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) zone that’s split up for various purposes. There’s an area dedicated to forestry, others for aquaculture, rice growing, seed storage, animal husbandry, single-season food plants, and long-term planting. In all, they grow 450 different types of plants.
