Nationwide lock-down due to COVID -19 has locked so many people in their houses to keep themselves safe from the risk of COVID -19. However, “Stay-Home, Stay-Safe” left everyone wondering how they can get food on their table if the lock-down period continues?
Farmers are working in their field and growing crops following the lock-down measures. People having no land for farming are facing serious problem related to food. They have no options left beside buying expensive vegetables and other essentials from the market for daily household use, in times of rare supply. This is the common problem in Kathmandu valley. Most of the valley is all covered with houses where there is not enough land for farming and growing crops even for themselves. So, Kitchen Garden has emerged as one of the best alternatives to get some fresh vegetables and herbs for daily consumption.
Getting fresh vegetable is becoming uncertain and difficult. Kitchen Garden can help ease this difficulty where you can grow your own vegetables, fruits and herbs are grown in-house for household use. A small space within or nearby a house can be used for growing a variety of vegetables according to the season. Kitchen Garden is one of the best gardening tools to grow healthy and fresh vegetables for daily consumption. For this, we do not need a large area of land, extra space like terrace, backyard can be used for this purpose. This is the best season and time to start kitchen garden.
In this time of global pandemic, people are facing lots of difficulties while maintaining sufficient food for daily consumption. News reports cite poor people that for them ‘there are higher chances to face acute food shortages which could lead them to death before this viral disease’.
To fight the prospective food crisis in post corona scenario government could provide farmers an easy access to land to do farming in areas where land is available, while in urban areas urban dwellers shall start up with doing Kitchen Gardening to ensure both food security & food sovereignty. Kitchen Gardening not only provides fresh, healthy and organic vegetables and fruits for daily uses but also reduces the mental stress in this time of global pandemic. In addition to that, the waste materials from the house can be also used as manure.
Kitchen Gardening is not so expensive. The empty space in the terrace and backyard can be utilized. Styrofoam boxes from local fishermen, old plastic buckets and sacks can be used for growing vegetables and fruits. So it also promotes recycling and reuse of household materials. The lock-down time can be best utilized by starting such a creative new initiation to grow food for yourself. Besides, this may also help to counter the food issue that is now prevailing in the country.
In this difficult times, most of the people in the rural areas have access to agricultural land and can eat and breath fresh; for others, Kitchen Garden can make the urban living more self- satisfying supplying fresh vegetables. This can be one of the small steps forward maintaining food security in current urban realities, in the face of growing population and decreasing land mostly in urban areas where people are more dependent on the market for their daily meals. Local government needs to come up with sound policies putting the urban dwellers at the center to promote this important effort and maintain urban food security which will also be instrumental to discourage import of unhealthy vegetables and fruits.
Published On: Friday, May 1st, 2020
