There is a breath of fresh air at Airgate Centre in Embakasi, Nairobi.
All the spaces that ordinarily host flowers and the patios around the six-storey building, formerly known as Taj Mall, are flourishing vegetable gardens.
Brinjals, cow peas, collard greens (sukuma wiki), spinach, and tomatoes stand on the beds that initially held neatly trimmed bougainvillea hedges, among other flowers.
The vegetables are one of the projects by an environment lobby group, Embakasi Food for Children.
“In our estimation, we have grown an assortment of vegetables in lawns totalling about quarter acre,” says Simon Maneti, the chairman.
The group of 20 youth, which had partnered with the mall before on landscaping projects, says their main task is to keep the compound around the mall tidy as they make some money.
Maneti says the project has created employment to several youths and provides food to residents in informal settlements, where they sell some of the vegetables.
Maneti, a guard at Redroof Academy in Embakasi, says they sell the vegetables at local eateries and through a supermarket at the mall, where they have a contract.
“On average, we harvest 600 bunches of sukuma wiki every day. We sell some of the produce through Rams Supermarket located at the mall, where we have a stand,” says Maneti, adding that each bunch goes at Sh20.
The gardens are different from ordinary ones, according to Maneti.
“There is minimal farming space in the gardens compared to conventional farms. They are linear, measuring some 2 metres wide and are sandwiched between two busy walkways.
“We first grow the seeds that we buy from Amiran outlet in the neighborhood in beds before transferring them to main garden. We use animal manure to grow the plants,” says Maneti.
The challenges the group has to grapple with include theft by passersby as the mall is a public place.
“We have divided ourselves into teams to guard the plots. This has helped to reduce theft but it has not eliminated,” says Maneti, noting they are seeking for space at other buildings to increase the number of their gardens.
“When the idea struck us in October last year, we reached out to the owner of the mall, Ramesh Gorasia. We talked to him about it and he agreed to surrender to us his flower beds, which then were teeming with various kinds of flowers.”
“Then, their idea seemed impractical but I allowed them to give it a shot. But I have now come to realise that flower beds can be a huge source of fresh vegetables for hundreds of people,” says Gorasia, noting that unlike flowers, vegetables beautify spaces and at the same time produce food.
“Those who may not be interested in the food can donate the same to other people,” says Gorasia, noting malls, schools, government institutions and even homes should adopt this mode of urban farming.
“Flower beds play various roles around homes, estates and malls besides beautification. They provide food and form habitants for insects. To convert a flower garden to a vegetable garden, it is important to consider the factors of growth of the various vegetables.,” he offers.
Maneti harvests vegetables from one of the plots his group runs at the Airgate Centre in Embakasi. On average, they harvest 600 bunches of sukuma wiki every day. PHOTO | PIUS MAUNDU | NMG
While there are a variety of sun loving and shade loving flowers, most vegetables require more sunlight for photosynthesis and other biochemical plant processes.
“These are important things to consider. Besides, with home pests roaming the gardens, it is not hard for them to eat the vegetable especially salad vegetables,” he offers.
School replaces flowers with sack gardens, harvesting 30kg of sukuma wiki every week
The young boys dressed in sports kits meticulously pick weeds from the sack vegetable gardens lined up on the walkway from the entrance of Brookfield High School in Nyeri County.
The boys are members of the Agribusiness Club, which runs farming projects in the school. And as they pick the weeds, their colleagues at another section of the school are perusing a file that contains invoices and receipts to reconcile financial records.
The sack gardens are lined up on the either side of the paved footpath that stretches from the gate to the administration block.
Some months ago, the section where the sack gardens stand were beautiful flower gardens. They hosted roses and hibiscus, among other flowers.
But not anymore as they are now home to sukuma wiki (collard greens) and spinach, grown by the members of the club.
Principal Joe Mwaura, who joined the school in May, says the students started the project in June last year, and it is mainly run by the learners with the administration offering minimal support.
“When I arrived at the school, I was met with beautiful flowers that stretched from the gate all the way to classes and the administration block. They caught the eye of every guest visiting us,” he says.
But Mwaura saw an opportunity to practice urban farming as a way to teach the students how to produce food. He floated the idea to the then moribund Agriculture Club.
“We later uprooted the flowers at the entrance and convinced the directors to fund the project. We also turned our bushy farm on the part of the school into vegetable gardens for the students,” he says.
The school assisted the club to purchase the sacks at Sh500 each and contracted an agricultural NGO to help them grow the vegetables as they learnt the ropes.
The students were also trained on planting and taking care of the crops to ensure sustainability of the project.
“We started with small bags but abandoned them due to little output. We switched to recycled plastic bags but with the government ban, this was unsustainable, we have now moved to bio-degradable bags that cost Sh650 each,” says Keith Martin, the club’s treasurer, noting they water the plants at least thrice a week.
Martins, who keeps daily sales records, says the club now comfortably supplies the school with at least 30 kilos of vegetables weekly.
The students sell the produce at Sh20 a bunch, with the institution paying for it to motivate them.
“We keep the money and hope to grow it so that the members of the club can share it. If we earn some pocket money from the project, we will be motivated to even farm at home,” he says.
He says the sack gardens require less weeding and have minimal water usage making them very convenient.
“We water the plants at least thrice a week but during the recent dry season, we did it daily to save the crops from dying due to the high temperatures,” he says.
Members of the Agri-business club at Brookfield High School weed spinach planted on bag gardens at the entrance of the school. The school assisted the club to purchase the sacks and contracted an agricultural NGO to help them grow the vegetables as they learnt the ropes. PHOTO | GRACE GITAU | NMG
More vegetables come from the school’s main farm, located some 80m from the administration block.
The club comfortably supply at least 60kg of the vegetables to the school every week from the garden,” says the principal.
Other farming projects at the school include a zero-grazing unit and a Kienyeji chicken farm. The school owns six Friesian cows that produce at least 50 litres in the morning and another 40 litres in the evening.
This saves them at least Sh168,000 in a month reducing the burden on the parents to cater for the feeding programme.
“We prepare silage for the animals in pit silos so that they do not lack feeds evening during times of drought,” says Mwaura, noting they are currently in talks with agricultural extension officers at the Fisheries Department to start
To convert a flower bed into vegetable garden, one needs the recyclable bag, manure, lime, soil and pest control drugs.
“The vertical garden bags are not labour intensive compared to plots. They are also efficient in water use and you do not have to be worried about watering daily,” he says.
First, before you start, consider the following:
1 . The bed should be well fit to support vegetable growth. For good germination and harvest, you need a bed that gets at least 5-6 hours of direct sunlight a day. If the bed has no enough light, then you shouldn’t be trying to grow vegetables because the results would not be good.
2 . Second consideration is drainage, if the bed is constantly wet, the plant’s roots will rot. Let the bed have a good soil that is well-drained.
3 . Once you are certain of the all the above, prepare the bed clearing bushes and by digging to loosen the soil
4 . Plant the seeds using either organic or chemical fertilisers. Chemical fertilisers are usually more concentrated and can be harsh if used inappropriately.
5 . Tend to the vegetables the way you would in the normal garden by watering the vegetables twice a day and weeding them for the best results.
