Professor Abdus Salam, head of the aquaculture department at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), set up a bag garden on the roof of his university residence in 2010-11, a new initiative in Bangladesh at the time. For areas short of farmland or with saline land, the bag garden was a very effective farming technology, and through him it spread to various parts of the country. He also showed how a nutritious milk-like drink could be made from wheat sprouts, which drew attention too.

Always busy with new innovations, Professor Salam has spent several years building a successful integrated farm on his roof, almost an automatic farming system. Through long research he has created a food chain of fish, fruit and crops.

The roof is not large, but there is little chance of disease or pest attack because no soil is used, so soil pathogens cannot reach crops. Coco dust is used instead. No plant has dead, sun-scorched or fungus-infected leaves. Various steps have been taken to increase plant-friendly microbes in the media and water.

The fully chemical-free, biodiversity-friendly system ensures varied production, and surprisingly, pangas are successfully farmed in a drum in this small space. Producing food for soil and crops from water runs continuously, like a living factory of fish and plants.

Professor Salam explained further techniques for higher yields and discussed the risk of placing such loads on a roof. He shares rooftop vegetables with other residents of the building. Indoors, too, there are plants everywhere, tended by his wife, Bilkis Akter, so the family eats fresh vegetables, salad and greens at every meal.

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