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Recently, Egypt has embarked on a project to increase greenery on rooftops that also provides a good opportunity for housewives to use their time fruitfully.


Rooftops of buildings are usually large areas over-crowded with junk and useless objects. With a little effort and money, these rooftops can be transformed to mini-gardens that produce vegetables and fruits, free from pesticides.


Recently, Egypt has embarked on a project to increase the amount of greenery on rooftops. This provided a good opportunity for housewives and youth to use their time fruitfully and increase oxygen production in a choking environment.


Due to the rapid expansion of the Egyptian population and building on cultivated land, there are limited resources for many families living in the major cities. This situation has a negative impact on the general well-being of the families living in poor urban or suburban neighbourhoods. Similar conditions can be found in much of the developing world. Increasing awareness of this problem has encouraged the Egyptian government to take certain measures, although only on a small scale. A project has been developed by the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Laboratory of Agricultural Climate (CLAC) in Egypt to increase the availability of fresh vegetables, encourage a more efficient use of water and create a source of income for housewives. It depends principally on planting fruits and vegetables without wasting excess water or using soil.


Dr. Ayman Farid Abu Hadid, director of CLAC, says the idea began 15 years ago at the Agricultural Unit in Egypt’s Ain Shams University. The Egyptian scientists at Ain Shams University had been designing new methods of agriculture to suit Egypt’s densely populated cities for exhibitional purposes. Then, two years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) adopted the idea and carried it out in many developing countries such as Kenya, Senegal and Columbia and suggested it be applied in Egypt.


This technique aims at using water efficiently in a “closed-system” using simple substrates. A “closed-system,” as opposed to traditional open field production and conventional irrigation, collects the water for irrigation in plastic buckets where it can later be re-used. More importantly, the use of pesticides is avoided, ensuring the production of healthier vegetables.


For people interested in starting one of these projects on their roofs, CLAC helps them to choose the correct type of alternative soil. Two alternative types of soil are peat moss (a form of algae) or perlite, a type of volcanic eruption that is treated at a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius to form granules suitable for use in agriculture.


This easy-to-do project can be carried out by anyone. All the materials and professional advice needed are found at the Central Laboratory of Agricultural Climate (CLAC). Dr. Usama Al Baheiri, president of CLAC, states that a vast area is not required to carry out the project. However, it is important that all sorts of garbage be removed from the rooftop so that no sunlight is blocked from the plants. The area to be used should have sunlight for at least four to five hours daily to allow enough exposure for the fruits and vegetables to flourish.


Expenses vary depending on the system used. The manual system consists of wooden containers (barrels) with plastic sheets filled with peat moss or perlite used as substrates. The drainage is driven through small plastic hoses to a bucket. This system is suitable for leafy crops such as parsley, radish and carrots.


The beauty of this project is that it is easy to maintain, inexpensive, and requires only enough hours of sunlight to get the project underway. Another advantage is that it allows diversity- meaning you can grow vegetables, fruits and other types of plants in the same area.


The objective is to provide a suitable source of income for housewives without the need for them to leave their homes. All in all, this could be an important environmental step for developing countries. For more details, e-mail at gfgr@yahoo.com.


(The writer is a journalist with Egypt’s daily Al-Akhbar). (islamonline.net) (Translated by Lamya Hamad)