“It has really helped us because we bring home food to our families and we also have a source of income out of vegetables harvested,” said Mr. Flores. “For every harvest, the lowest net income per family is P500,” he said noting income depends on the yield and frequency of harvest of crops planted. He cited that eggplant has an estimated minimum harvest of 10 kilograms a week. “We sell eggplant at P18/kg,” said Mr. Flores. “In the market, eggplant sells at P20/kg.”

Article originally published January 9, 2008 in the Manila based newspaper BusinessWorld. Link to JPEG image of the article here.

Dr. Thilak T. Ranasinghe, Director of Agriculture (Western Province), Colombo, Sri Lanka, has written a 4000 word paper on Family Business Gardens.

“In Sri Lanka, according to the resent studies, it is stated that the urban population will increase from 4,430,000 in 2000 to 9,090,000 by the year 2025. The increasing trends in greater urbanization, an ageing population and increasing female workforce in developing countries pave the way for new forms of demand structures in ready-to-eat foods, functional foods (less fat, less cholesterol, less energy and vitamins added), organic products and time saving products in housekeeping. In other words, increasing urbanization accelerates the process of switching from commodity to diverse banded consumption patterns. Thus, sustainable and economically viable resource utilization will become key aspects in promoting entrepreneurship skills in the urban agricultural production process.”

“The use of cultivation structures at convenient standards for low/no-space cultivation methods helped to reduce pollution levels low and clean the environment while contributing direct impact to city dwellers in reducing public health costs (e.g., rooftop gardens of Perera’s family in Pamankada, Sunil’s family in Battaramulla & Jayawickarama’s family in Galawilawatta - Figure 4). Urban dust, smog, dirt and sound can be absorbed by using appropriate crops cultivated in homesteads of city limits even as micro level entrepreneurships. In future micro-level agro-enterprises could be promoted with modern scientific applications such as aeroponics, acquaponics, omega-gardens and the like.”

Read Dr. Ranasinghe’s paper here. (4121 words .DOC)