Organic methods are increasingly used in rooftop farming. Entrepreneurs are creating calm, peaceful roofs while growing toxin-free fruit and crops, and learning everything from pest and disease control onwards.

Rooftop farming was once only a hobby; over time it has earned the full attention of agriculture, and entrepreneurs are steadily widening the variety of their crops. Wherever there are crops, there are pests and diseases, and control often means poison; protecting fruit and crops from poisons and chemicals is the challenge of the time. Rooftop farmers are building skills in this and prefer organic methods.

Gulshan rooftop farmer A A Kamruzzaman said soil, water and everything else must be in fixed amounts on a roof, because everything is grown in a limited space with limited inputs, which needs scientific understanding. From the start he has taken advice from a horticulture expert, and it has paid off.

In retirement, Kamruzzaman seeks a calm, cool environment, and the roof is now his main place. He has arranged it on fully organic lines, aiming to produce toxin-free fruit and vegetables. Every season it yields seasonal fruit and vegetables that meet the family's needs. Discarded bathtubs serve as growing beds for aubergine, onion, bitter gourd and broccoli.

The roof can meet much of a family's nutritional needs and nourish the mind as well, as Kamruzzaman and many other rooftop farmers have shown.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Chhad Krishi. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.