Eco Warriors

Wild Encounters
Garbage into Gold
Snake Saviour
Pigeon Lady
Queen among Elephants
Rachel Carson
Gerald Durrell
A Sacred Space
Jane Goodall
Greenpeace movement
When mom takes over
A Tree House for Butterfly!
The Tree Huggers of Khejadali

Garbage into Gold

A small family in a metropolis like Ahmedabad generates about a kilo of garbage every day. The Municipal Corporation handles about 8000 tonnes of garbage a day which it dumps in landfills. Unless some way of recycling this garbage is found, big cities will soon run out of dumping grounds or landfills.
Mumbai resident, Dr. Ramesh T. Doshi, has the answer to the problem. He has adopted the revolutionary concept of city farming. Dr. Doshi started growing vegetables on the 1200 sq-ft terrace of his bungalow in Bandra. For a couple of years, he had many problems, but gained in experience and knowledge. Soon, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

He began harvesting around 6 kilos of different vegetables every day for 300 days in a year! Not only did he grow flowers and vegetables like okra, brinjal, tomato, but also fruits like mango, pomegranate, guava and fig. He has had good results with cereals, too, growing maize, jowar, rice and wheat. He has even planted sugarcane and reaped a bountiful harvest!
Dr. Doshi was inspired to spread the idea of city farming to the entire urban community and convert it into community city farming.The organic waste produced by each flat in a multi-storeyed building would be converted to compost or manure in a 200-lt drum, while at the same time, vegetables would be grown in it. Organic waste is that which decomposes naturally like vegetable and fruit peels. Inorganic waste is material like paper, plastic, glass and metal. A drum for each household is kept on the terrace. The waste is separated in the house itself by keeping two separate bins. The seeds or saplings are planted in holes made in the drum on the side. As the organic garbage turns into compost, normally in a week, more waste is added till it fills the drum.
If adopted with enthusiasm by every building or tenement in the city, Dr. Doshi, who has done a scientific project appraisal of community farming, feels that the Municipal Corporation's garbage disposal problem will be solved, as least as far as organic waste is concerned. The inorganic recyclable waste can be handled, as it is done at present, by the thousands of ragpickers in the city. Fertilizers, water and pesticides are used minimally in this method. Best of all, the pleasures of farming (time consumed: around 7 hours a week) and eating home-grown, fresh vegetables at almost no cost (after calculating expenses, this comes to less than a rupee!) can be yours right in the midst of the concrete jungle.
Dr. Doshi can be contacted at Jamunotri, 26th Road, Bandra (West), Mumbai - 400 050. Tel: 022 - 26401439 and 26408671

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Last updated on :8/27/2004

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User's Comments

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shiv: I am intrested in setting up a snake farm & hope to sell the venom to anti-venom manufacturers. Kindly advise if it is legal & if in your vew the operation is viable financially. I own 2.5 acres in the out skirts of Delhi & the area around is farmland. Your kind advise will be invaluable to me, looking forward to your reply.

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RAJESH SHARMA: I am inetrested in setting up a shake farm.

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RAJESH: I am interested in setting up a snake farm & hope to sell the venom to anti-venom manufacturers.

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Rakesh Natarajan: Very interesting. I hope to learn from Mr Doshi's wisdom and experience.

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Basheeruddeen: Garbge is a bane in the modern society and Dr.Ramesh Doshi has found a way to overcome this nuisance ,with his revolutionary idea of city farming. Hats off to you Dr.Doshi.

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themba fadane: I'm interested to set up a greening company in my local area which will in turn grow to cover the whole of my country, South Africa. What sort of advice would you give me?

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Ashok Sood: We have a small garden space behind our cottage in Chembur and would love to grow vegetables for our personal use. Could you please assist with knowledge on what can be grown successfully and where to procure saplings and seeds for this quest. Will appreciate any assistance.

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santosh kutty: Please send me some catchy slogans on protecting the environment and littering.

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