Urban agriculture in As-Suwayda..An opportunity to invest rooftops and balconies

As-Suwayda-Sana

A number of residents of As-Suwayda Governorate resort to applying the concept of urban agriculture, believing in its importance in achieving self-sufficiency in vegetables by investing the available spaces within city homes for very small agricultural activities.

According to the agricultural engineer Mazen Abu Ismail, urban agriculture consists in investing all the available spaces in homes, including roofs, balconies, walls, and others, for agriculture using soilless systems such as hydroponic and aerobic agriculture, while relying on nutrient solutions in order to reduce the loads on the roofs and reduce the pathogens that are usually found in the soil.

Abu Ismail, a trainer in the field of urban agriculture, indicated in a statement to SANA reporter, the importance of going to this type of agriculture in order to increase the cultivated area and production and reduce the costs of transporting vegetables through production in the same place of consumption. The product can also be clean without using pesticides, in addition to its contribution to providing water consumption. As well as investing roofs and transforming them into productive or at least green areas that help purify the air and give an aesthetic appearance to the building.

He pointed out the importance of this agriculture in obtaining healthy food, reducing emissions, achieving self-sufficiency and providing a source of income, as it was well received by a number of citizens in light of the scarcity of water sources. The Syndicate of Agricultural Engineers in As-Suwayda is one of the private institutes for implementing training courses to spread the culture of this modern agriculture.

Assistant Director of As-Suwayda Agriculture, Eng. Alaa Shehayeb, pointed out that the directorate encourages this cultivation to achieve self-sufficiency, and is ready to cooperate with farmers in answering questions related to it.

According to farmer Yahya Abu Fakher from the village of Kafr Al-Lahf, he applied the “pot planting” technique 3 years ago through a greenhouse project in his village to grow tomatoes. Then, this year, he transferred this idea to the roof of his house in the city of As-Suwayda to reduce transportation costs, where he planted cucumbers, beans and zucchini.

The farmer Osama Al-Jabai also invested a small area on the roof of his house in the city of As-Suwayda to produce vegetables and summer crops, out of his desire to expand and circulate them to benefit the largest possible number of citizens, especially within the city, where there are no large areas for agriculture compared to the countryside, expressing his willingness to support those who wish to go to this agriculture within his initiative that he launched It has the name "Hayat".

As for the farmer, Tala’ Shuja, he explained how he implemented the idea of ​​pipe cultivation as a mini-project last year on part of the roof of his house to produce cucumbers. After being convinced of it, the project expanded to cover the entire roof this year.

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