The European Commission (EC), in collaboration with voluntary organisation JRP, is providing knowhow to grow vegetables on rooftops in cities and towns where people do not have enough space to grow vegetables in their
houses.
The JRP would organise training programmes through the EC’s ‘Planting City’ programme for production of organic vegetables on rooftops, said sources.
JRP Executive Director Manoranjan Mishra said that the EC is also mulling to utilise unused areas in cities and towns in collaboration with the State Government for plantation.
After its successful implementation in Bhubaneswar, the Planting City programme would be replicated in other urban areas of the State, Dr Mishra informed.
The programme would also include making use of vast unused areas in school campuses, he said, adding that vegetables grown in these unused areas in school premises would be used for midday meals for school students.
During the first phase of implementation of the programme, as many as 100 houses would be selected in cities and necessary training would be imparted to the landlords on the modern techniques used to produce organic vegetables even in small areas, said Dr Mishra.
House owners who would be provided all support right from sowing seeds to the production stage would soon be able to get fresh yet organic vegetables from their own rooftops without depending on the stuffs available in the market, he said.
The vegetables can also be utilsed effectively in Government-initiated prepared food programmes such as midday meals and Ahar, said Dr Mishra.