A dream in bloom
A young girl trained through the Business and Community Resilience Project has become a strong advocate for rooftop farming, not only for the benefits it brings to her family but to the community at large
Lalitpur, Nepal: There is clear joy and pride in the way an aptly-named Rosy Maharjan invites guests into her rooftop garden. Though the space is small – a common feature of most homes in this part of Lalitpur Metropolitan City – it is teeming with life.
Rosy says the garden, which currently boasts a variety of vegetables as well as ornamental plants, feels very much like a sanctuary.
“Whenever I’m a bit low or stressed, I come up to the roof and spend some time tending to the plants… it helps me feel calm and connected to nature,” explains the 21-year-old.
So, did she always have a green thumb?
No, not really, according to Rosy. Although she and her family, long-time residents of Lalitpur, had been trying to grow vegetables on their terrace for a few years now, their efforts hadn’t amounted to much. The seeds they planted didn’t sprout well, and the few that did grow into saplings would often before they could yield any vegetables or fruits.
It was only in early 2023, when Rosy received the opportunity to participate in a composting and rooftop farming training, that things started to click into place.
The training was organized by the Business and Community Resilience or BCR project, being implemented by UNICEF – with generous funding support from USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) – in partnership with the Urban Environment Management Society (UEMS) and Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC). This is one of several similar trainings that the BCR project has conducted in close collaboration with local governments and communities in Lalitpur District so far.
Rosy was the youngest among 24 people, most of the others comprising members of local women’s groups, who took part in the LMC-based training. Over the course of three days, facilitators sought to impart to participants information about the benefits of rooftop farming improving air quality, food resilience and organic waste managements, as well as crucial practical skills.
For Rosy, the training opened her eyes to the many errors she realized she had been making in the past with her own garden. “We were just planting seeds without thinking about seasonality, mixing too much compost into the soil, putting too many plants in the same place, and not paying attention to things like the height of plants,” she lists as examples. “All these minute mistakes were adding up.”
Rosy says she’s grateful that the training focused specifically on the opportunities and limitations of the urban context, particularly the need to work within small spaces and land areas. Following the training, she put these learnings into immediate effect in her garden – to some terrific results.
“The seeds we’re planting now grow so well, and we’re harvesting a lot of vegetables that we’re able to use in our own meals,” Rosy says. “It’s a great feeling to know we have organic food that we grew ourselves on our plates almost every day.”
The knowledge and skills from the training, Rosy feels, will go a long way in helping her and her family and her community at large become more food secure in the future. This is particularly important in case another crisis or pandemic occurs, and food supply is hampered.
In this regard, Rosy has not just bolstered her own rooftop garden, but also shared seeds and seedlings with interested neighbours, peers and relatives, as well as passing on to them information about different practices they should adopt in their gardening efforts.
“This is something everyone should learn about, including young people like myself,” she says. “It’s not just about supporting individual families but contributing to creating green and resilient communities.”
Priti is a Youth Consultant for Climate, Energy and Environment at UNICEF Nepal.
