On the tenth floor of the National Assembly members' residential building (NAM Bhaban), Aleya Azam, wife of textiles and jute state minister Mirza Azam, has taken up rooftop farming. She spends part of every day in her garden of fruit, flowers and vegetables, and in return enjoys fresh produce and time with nature.

The roof of the ten-storey building has become a courtyard full of plants: flowers, fruit, vegetables and medicinal herbs. She has built it over seven years, getting to know every plant and its properties, and learning plant care and technology.

She said she made flower gardens before marriage and has always gardened wherever she found space. She grows many kinds of lemon, including kagzi, elachi, China, "diabetic" and seedless varieties, as well as cherry and the medicinal plant gynura, which she believes helps with blood pressure and diabetes.

Her young daughter is delighted by the garden every day, wants to make one like it when she grows up, and says trees are among people's best friends.

Because of his wife's attachment to the garden, the state minister did not move to his official residence. Mirza Azam said that after taking oath he was allotted a government house, but his wife cared more for the garden, so they stayed. A connection with the soil can be kept from anywhere, and this rooftop farm can be an example for others.

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