Image by Sapariah Saturi/Mongabay Indonesia. A rooftop garden in Medan, the biggest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Some is as an additional source of livelihood,” she said. “What do we do with it? For now it’s for the 30 families managing it. In all, they grow 450 different types of plants. There’s an area dedicated to forestry, others for aquaculture, rice growing, seed storage, animal husbandry, single-season food plants, and long-term planting. Nissa’s boarding school has a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) zone that’s split up for various purposes. The Ath-Thariq ecological boarding school applies a learning system in ecology-based agriculture with a focus on food sovereignty. When citizens apply the principles of polyculture farming, then the needs in a given community can be met with households sharing the responsibility for growing different types of vegetables. There can be variety although on a small scale with polyculture farming, not monoculture, as is the norm with commercial farming. Nissa said family farming is a pillar of food necessity in Indonesia as it can meet household needs. But humans can move it for their sustenance,” said Nissa, founder of the Ath-Thaariq ecological Islamic boarding school in Garut and recipient of an award for ecofriendly farming in 2018. Her efforts have also inspired her neighbors, who have followed suit.Īn island away, in Garut district, West Java province, Nissa Wargadipura said the move toward urban farming can also be a “revolutionary movement” in family farming. She said she’s concerned about the environment and is into planting organic vegetables at home. “Chili peppers, tomatoes, cauliflowers and other leafy vegetables we plant by rotation to avoid a pest explosion,” said Sakiah, who also battles strong winds and hard rain on her rooftop garden. Image by Sri Wahyuni/ Mongabay Indonesia. Sakiah, a lecturer in agriculture at a local university and mother of three, said urban farming became part of the healing process at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The stability is partly due to Indonesia producing surplus rice over the past three years, an achievement for which the head of the International Rice Research Institute presented President Joko Widodo with a plaque in Jakarta on Aug. Prices of rice, the main staple for many Indonesians, have been stable over the past year, at about 165,000 rupiah ($11.20) for a 10-kg (22-lb) sack of quality rice. Along with shallots and garlic, chilis are a perennial ingredient in Indonesian cooking, but their prices can shoot up when there’s a supply shortage or a bad harvest. In Medan, chili peppers rose to as much as 60,000 rupiah per kilo ($1.82/lb). The price only returned to the lower level in August. It now sells at grocery stores in Jakarta for 3,200 rupiah (21 cents), a 33% increase.Ĭhili peppers, a local staple, normally sell for 40,000 rupiah per kilogram ($1.22 per pound) in Jakarta, but the price tripled to 120,000 rupiah in April, prior to the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The war in Ukraine, one of the world’s leading grain exporters, has fueled rising food prices globally, including in Indonesia, a major grain importer, giving people like Sakiah extra incentive to cultivate food crops on her rooftop.īefore the start of the war in February, a pack of Indomie instant noodles cost 2,400 rupiah (16 U.S. Some of the greens I don’t even have to buy at the market anymore,” she said.
“The silver lining from COVID is that urban farming became part of the healing process at home,” said Sakiah, a lecturer in agriculture at a local university and mother of three.
It lowers her monthly food bill and gives her a chance to commune with nature. In her open-air garden, measuring 2 by 3 meters (7 by 10 feet), she grows chili peppers, cauliflowers, Brazilian spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, Japanese mustard greens, cucumbers, honey chayotes, turmeric and ginger, all without pesticides. They were planted by Sakiah Nasution, who took up urban farming about a year ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic. MEDAN, Indonesia - Food plants intermingle on the second-floor rooftop of a house in Medan, the biggest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They also tout its ecological benefits, including lower emissions and healthier soil than with commercial farming.Proponents say this is a great way to diversify food variety and cushion the impact of rising food and commodity prices.Grassroots initiatives in several Indonesian cities have sprung up aimed at achieving food security through urban and family farming.