Sometimes farming is a cottage craft: people with an artistic streak turn any space they find into a place for their dreams, and a roof can become a real cultivated field. Though the call is old, few people do it. One is Sufia Akhtar Jahan of the government officers' quarters in Eskaton.

She said her husband's government job took them to many places, Chandpur, Hajiganj and Cumilla, and wherever they had space, the couple made a garden. A single bottle gourd plant soon bore many gourds. They watered plants with water from washing rice and lentils, and she once won third prize in Cumilla for radishes.

In Lakshmipur, they turned an abandoned house plot into a mini pond for fish, grew every vegetable, and kept ducks and chickens.

Her garden, started seven years ago, has about fifty species, including vegetables, fruit and medicinal plants, and a small goose farm.

S A Jahan has received national recognition for her rooftop garden. She believes roof gardens can transform Dhaka, and such efforts help keep the city liveable.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush er Daak. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.