Putting natural foods on city plates
Microgreens are loaded with nutrients, and they're easy for anyone to grow at home. We look at measures to raise awareness of these superfoods and the role that urban farms can play in improving nutrition levels in cities.
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00:00 Juicy berries, fresh chillies, bitter gourds and bumper crops of various organically grown
00:07 fruits and vegetables.
00:10 They are the reason Mumbai resident Zeeshan Ameri began volunteering at this food forest.
00:16 It's located inside the grounds of one of the region's biggest cancer hospitals.
00:20 A good hour's drive from his home.
00:25 I come from the most concrete part of Bombay which is Kurla and it's all about just buildings
00:30 and slums.
00:32 And I was lucky to find this farm so close to Bombay in Kharghar.
00:38 And it's very important to have access to nice and fresh veggies instead of having all
00:44 these injected veggies out there.
00:48 Locally grown organic produce.
00:50 Rather than food grown with fertilizers and pesticides shipped from industrial farms far
00:55 and wide.
00:56 Today, Zeeshan is one of some 500 volunteers who currently tend to the crops here at the
01:03 Earthen Roots Community Farm.
01:06 It began as a tiny garden under the direction of Manaswini Tyagi.
01:11 She is trained in permaculture, a type of agriculture that adapts itself to the natural
01:15 environment with minimal external interference.
01:20 But finding a natural environment in the city to cultivate was no easy task.
01:26 Then she heard that a neglected plot of land on the site of a hospital was soon to get
01:30 a makeover.
01:31 St. Jude Child Care Centre wanted to have a backyard ornamental garden, you know, for
01:39 beautification.
01:40 It looks good and all.
01:41 Because this whole place that you see that has become into a food forest was not like
01:46 this.
01:47 It was a dumping ground.
01:48 So they wanted some plants to look for it, for it to look beautiful.
01:51 So we suggested rather than growing something ornamental, why not let's plant something,
01:56 you know, to grow something edible.
01:59 Twelve years on, this thriving food forest now contributes fresh, healthy ingredients
02:04 to the meals of children undergoing treatment here at the hospital.
02:10 Volunteers can also take home the fruits of their labour.
02:14 They are among a growing number of people in cities like Mumbai, eager to add locally
02:19 grown nutritious ingredients to their diets.
02:24 Catering to that appetite, Saurabh Nagre set up a company that grows young edible seedlings
02:29 known as microgreens.
02:33 When we look at any other vegetable, how it is coming into a city and how we are eating
02:38 it, it is more or less being sourced from somewhere which is outside the city.
02:41 It's very difficult to be able to manage to grow a real like quantity of vegetables which
02:47 can serve a lot of masses within the city itself because of the constraint of space
02:52 that we generally go through.
02:53 So here when I understood about microgreens, I could see that the constraint of space was
02:58 not as much compared to other vegetables.
03:00 So giving fresh food access, like same day harvested, same day given food, that kind
03:06 of an experience can only happen when you're working on something like this.
03:11 This team grows 15 different varieties of leafy greens for some 200 local customers.
03:19 Microgreens can be cultivated in small spaces with minimal sunlight and water, making them
03:24 ideal for crowded urban areas.
03:27 Experts believe they can boost the health of the entire city.
03:34 Microgreens are essentially valued for the micronutrients.
03:39 So they are the additions to your diet, not to add calories.
03:47 These are the additional inputs to add quality to your diet.
03:52 And by quality, we are essentially looking at important vitamins like vitamin C, important
04:01 vitamins like riboflavin or important minerals.
04:06 When you look at nutrition in India today, even today, if you look at lower socioeconomic
04:12 status or probably middle income also, the only idea which people have is weight loss
04:16 and weight gain.
04:17 That's the only thing.
04:19 Nobody talks about having food or looking at diet which will help you live a better
04:25 quality of life.
04:26 So they are very reluctant when it comes to making lifestyle changes.
04:31 That's why this college department is on a mission to introduce microgreens into family
04:35 homes across Mumbai.
04:37 Suvarna Kotkar is among a group of college staff learning how to grow this superfood
04:42 on their own and use it in their daily diets.
04:51 I started using them in salads.
04:53 I even cook them as vegetables and make cheela like this.
04:57 It's quite healthy.
04:59 Now I know these recipes and have the ingredients ready.
05:02 They're quite simple and quick to put together.
05:05 I've also found it gives me energy in the middle of my work day as it's light and healthy
05:09 to eat.
05:10 So I've really benefited from learning about microgreens.
05:15 Back at the food forest, Babita Raja has been volunteering here with her autistic son for
05:20 close to five years.
05:22 For him, she says, the work is therapeutic.
05:27 I wanted him to be a part of this ecosystem, which he seems to really love.
05:34 He used to enjoy coming here as a guest and now he's a volunteer.
05:38 So he enjoys weeding, he enjoys pulling out tomatoes from plants.
05:43 So now when there's a tomato in our own balcony garden, he's like, "Amma, tomato!"
05:48 I mean, there's a sudden eureka moment for him.
05:51 Oh, these things come from plants.
05:54 Manaswini Tyagi says urban farms don't just offer city residents an invaluable chance
05:59 to connect with nature.
06:01 She estimates that this food forest alone sequesters over four tons of climate-warming
06:06 CO2 each year.
06:09 And yet, after over a decade, her garden of Eden is under threat from the fast-growing
06:15 city.
06:16 Last year, it's been like seven, eight months now, we were told that there is a road that's
06:22 going to come through the farm in an L shape, so straight, and then this is part of that
06:30 road also.
06:31 So when that road construction starts, the whole farm will go.
06:36 The hard work wasn't in vain.
06:39 Over the years, thousands of people found information and inspiration here.
06:44 Now the work is set to continue at a new community farm.
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