The recently concluded two-day national seminar on Organic Terrace Gardening at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) Alumni Association Convention Centre, Hebbal was in all respects a great meeting point and a good start to a process that seeks to become a nation-wide movement.

One of the primary objectives of organising such a seminar was to ensure that organic terrace gardening spreads as a movement across the country, rather than merely as a hobby or passion for a select few. There was also a need felt to bring together like-minded practitioners, individuals and institutions on a common platform and use the momentum to take the process forward.

(From left to right) Dr B N Vishwanath, Dr K Narayana Gowda, Dr R Dwarakinath, Dr S B Dandin and Dr G K Veeresh. Pic courtesy: AME Foundation

Dr B N Vishwanath (an independent consultant on terrace gardening and city farming and Vice President, Association for Promotion of Organic Farming - APOF), the person behind the entire initiative, says the seminar saw a total of 140 registered participants (though they had kept a target of 100 initially! In fact they were unable to accommodate another 100 last minute requests). There were another 25 participants that included advertisers, stalls and sponsors.

And it was truly a national seminar as participants came from Chandigarh, Dehradun, Hardal (Madhya Pradesh), Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Delhi and various parts of Karnataka. The organisers of the event were AME (Agriculture Man Ecology) Foundation, APOF, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, UAS Alumni Association, all based in Bangalore, and Bagalkot-based University of Horticultural Sciences (UHS).

The Chief Guest for the seminar, Dr Prabhjot Sodhi (National Coordinator of Centre for Environment Education ) was unable to attend but other key persons who attended the seminar and shared their experience and views included Dr Prem Nath (Chairman of the Prem Nath Agriculture Sciences Foundation, Bengaluru; also known as the vegetable man of India due to the various vegetable varieties developed by him ), Dr R Dwarakinath (former Chairman of Karnataka Agricultural Commission and Vice Chancellor, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore) , Dr S B Dandin (Vice Chancellor UHS, Bagalkot), Dr G K Veeresh (founder-chairman APOF and agriculture scientist and former vice chancellor of UAS) and Dr K Narayana Gowda (Vice-Chancellor of UAS Bangalore).

Grow what you eat, eat what you grow

After the initial formalities of inauguration and welcome on Day 1, the actual seminar kicked off around midday on Thursday September 9^th 2010, with the first presentation on Why and How Organic Terrace Gardens by Vishwanath, the key person behind the idea and the seminar.

Some of the highlights of his presentation was the positive impact of organic terrace gardening: in reducing our carbon footprint, maintaining bio-diversity, promoting local varieties, reducing food mileage; even creating 'oxygen clubs' in our own terrace/balcony! Perhaps one of the key messages Vishwanath emphasised was the need to recognise and respect insects and other living beings in our garden - treating them as co-inhabitants rather than as pests.

Using the example of Bangalore, he mentioned the creation of green jobs (where individuals had been trained and supported to start businesses to create organic terrace gardens) as an encouraging and positive result of organic terrace gardening. He also cited the various initiatives of schools and communities in addition to many individuals in the city who have taken up organic terrace gardening in a spirited manner.

Stressing on the imperative to start with no further delay, Vishwanath concluded on a rather scary note, cautioning the participants that if we did not do so, it was quite likely that by 2020 our regular food would just be a mix of pills, tonics and supplements.

Plenty for all

Preeti Patil of Urban Leaves, Mumbai made the next presentation on Water and Nutrient Management in Terrace Gardening. Sharing her experience of city farming for the last ten years, Preeti said that as the person in-charge of catering for the Bombay Port Trust - BPT - canteen since 1992, she had been troubled by the amount of waste generated at the canteen (that caters to almost 4000 people). In her search for a solution, she came across the work of Dr R T Doshi (who pioneered City Farming) and Prof Shripad Dabholkar and Deepak Suchde of the Prayog Pariwar. She shared the science and simplicity behind Dabholkar's Natueco farming approach, also telling the audience one could get more information from their blog

Participants at the national seminar on organic terrace gardening. Pic Courtesy: AME Foundation

Vinita, a resident of Frazer Town is trying to adopt environmentally-sensitive alternatives in her day-to-day activities and realises it doesn't need to be complex.

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