Hanoi (VNA) – Food security has become moreurgent in Thailand as the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more people into povertyand a new urban farm model seems to be a good solution to this issue.
An urban farm developed on a former landfill site innorthern Thailand is not only improving food security and livelihoods of poorfamilies during the pandemic, but also expected to be a model for unused spacesin other cities.
The farm in Chiang Mai, about 700 km from Bangkok, tookshape during Thailand’s nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19last year, when many of the city’s residents lost their tourism-dependent jobs.
Supawut Boonmahathanakorn, the man behind the idea, is acommunity architect who works on housing solutions for Chiang Mai’s homelessand informal settlers.
He approached authorities with a plan to convert theunused landfill into an urban farm to support the poor. Shortly after hereceived approval, an appeal was launched on social media which resulted in donationsof plants, seedlings and manure from residents, according to him.
With diggers loaned by the city, Supawut and his teamcleared some 5,700 tonnes of rubbish on the 4,800 sqm plot that lies next to acanal and a cemetery.
The farm opened to the community in June, and now abouthalf a dozen homeless families, students from a public school and members ofthe public grow eggplant, corn, bananas, cassava, chilli, tomatoes, kale andherbs there, Supawut said.
Urban farms cannot feed an entire city, but they canimprove nutrition and build greater self-sufficiency especially amongvulnerable people during a pandemic, he added.
Urban agriculture can potentially produce as much as 180million tonnes of food a year - or about 10 percent of the global output ofpulses and vegetables, according to a 2018 study led by Arizona StateUniversity.
Rooftop farms, vertical gardens and allotments also helpincrease vegetation cover, which is key to limiting rising temperatures andlowering the risk of flooding in cities.
While land in cities is scarce and expensive, rooftopsand spaces below expressways and viaducts can be repurposed, said landscapearchitect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, who designed Asia’s largest urban rooftop farmin Bangkok./.
An urban farm developed on a former landfill site innorthern Thailand is not only improving food security and livelihoods of poorfamilies during the pandemic, but also expected to be a model for unused spacesin other cities.
The farm in Chiang Mai, about 700 km from Bangkok, tookshape during Thailand’s nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19last year, when many of the city’s residents lost their tourism-dependent jobs.
Supawut Boonmahathanakorn, the man behind the idea, is acommunity architect who works on housing solutions for Chiang Mai’s homelessand informal settlers.
He approached authorities with a plan to convert theunused landfill into an urban farm to support the poor. Shortly after hereceived approval, an appeal was launched on social media which resulted in donationsof plants, seedlings and manure from residents, according to him.
With diggers loaned by the city, Supawut and his teamcleared some 5,700 tonnes of rubbish on the 4,800 sqm plot that lies next to acanal and a cemetery.
The farm opened to the community in June, and now abouthalf a dozen homeless families, students from a public school and members ofthe public grow eggplant, corn, bananas, cassava, chilli, tomatoes, kale andherbs there, Supawut said.
Urban farms cannot feed an entire city, but they canimprove nutrition and build greater self-sufficiency especially amongvulnerable people during a pandemic, he added.
Urban agriculture can potentially produce as much as 180million tonnes of food a year - or about 10 percent of the global output ofpulses and vegetables, according to a 2018 study led by Arizona StateUniversity.
Rooftop farms, vertical gardens and allotments also helpincrease vegetation cover, which is key to limiting rising temperatures andlowering the risk of flooding in cities.
While land in cities is scarce and expensive, rooftopsand spaces below expressways and viaducts can be repurposed, said landscapearchitect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, who designed Asia’s largest urban rooftop farmin Bangkok./.
VNA
