Container gardening against hunger and child malnutrition

Prof. Dr. Willem VAN COTTHEM

University of Ghent (Belgium)
http://desertification.wordpress.com

These are some interesting quotes from an article published by Dean FOSDICK for
the Associated Press: Container gardens for vegetables are growing in
popularity
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-living/ci_15072431?nclick_check=1

QUOTES:

(1) Two of the hottest trends in gardening are containers and cultivating fresh
food, and savvy families are beginning to combine the two. They're growing their
vegetables in pots.
(2) "It's so easy to put a tomato into a pot. It almost grows itself," Crawford says.
"It's a whole different ballgame than putting one in the ground. There's less
weeding involved and fewer insects to fight. Container gardens are more
productive and involve less work." (Pamela Crawford, a landscape architect who
has written four books about container gardening. Her latest is "Easy Container
Combos: Vegetables and Flowers" (Color Garden Publishing, 168 pp., 2010).
(3) "I've been able to harvest as many as 236 small spicy peppers all at once from
four plants in a 16- to 20-inch container," Crawford says, referring to habaneros.
"I've also been able to get my fill of tomatoes from a pot that included a few
ornamental sweet potato vines with their large root systems. It's amazing how
little ground space plants need to be productive. They can tolerate being
crowded."
(4) "I've had good experience with clay pots and plastic pots," says Joseph
Masabni, an assistant professor and horticulturist with Texas A&M University. "If
you live in a hot area, I don't recommend black or dark containers. They can
overheat plants. I prefer clay because it breathes if it isn't coated. (Plant) roots
are never starved for oxygen."
(5) Vegetable gardening in containers is also a good way to involve children.
(6) "Older people who are still gardeners at heart but who live in apartments also
can grow their fill of vegetables or small fruiting shrubs in pots," he says.

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MY COMMENT (Willem Van Cotthem)

No one denies that container gardening is "an easier ballgame" than growing
plants in the ground, particularly in the drylands. There are many advantages in
avoiding plant growth in a poor dryland soil by using a better substrate in
containers (improved soil without any pests, bigger water retention capacity by
limiting evaporation, less weeds, more oxygen, etc). Most people are not aware of
the fact that plants can do with limited ground space, even grown in competition
with other species in a container.

Not only "savvy families" are beginning to combine container gardening and
cultivating fresh food. It is more and more recognized that this type of gardening
is a key for combating hunger and child malnutrition. Indeed, everyone on this
globe, in rural areas and in urban ones, can grow his own fresh vegetables and
some fruits in all kinds of containers (pots, bottles, boxes, bags...).

Many city dwellers, thinking they are excluded from gardening, will appreciate the
reward of vegetable gardening in a condo or apartment. For them, container
gardening can open up a new world of producing their own food.

Clay pots being too expensive for people in developing countries is a wrong
argument, sometimes used against container gardening. There are plenty of
 plastic pots and bottles, plastic and metal boxes, plastic shopping bags and
woven bags everywhere. One sees them littered all over the world. So, why not
using them for food production?

In Belgium, I am growing continuously plants in bottles and pots, thus reducing

irrigation for at least 50 %. My plants do not need special care: I can leave them for
weeks and weeks without "labouring my garden". See my blog:
http://containergardening.wordpress.com

2009-11-08 - Germinating avocado seed in yogurt pot

2010-03 - Simple mini-greenhouse made of a plastic tray and a plastic

bag.
Seedlings are kept moistened in an easy way.

2007-06-03 - Producing strawberries in a PET-bottle.

See many vegetables and fruit trees in the background.
 200-08-13 - Container gardening display (vegetables and fruits in yogurt
pots and bottles)

Let us hope that this handful of photos makes it clear that anyone in the
developing countries can copy these experiments and multiply the type and
number of containers to produce a sufficient quantity of fresh food and seedlings
of fruit trees. This can be done (even by children at school) at almost no cost.

Today, I was reading at the blog of AfricaFiles (Africa InfoServ

<infoserv@africafiles.org>) the article No. 23615:
"Africa can feed itself: green revolution takes root"
See also: www.agra-alliance.org <http://www.agra-alliance.org/>.

Under Summary & Comment I found: "Kofi Annan poses challenges for Africa's
Green Revolution and gives recent examples of success, supported by AGRA. He
emphasizes the importance of small-holder farmers and "partnerships", skips over
the controversial issue of GMOs, and encourages the spread of best practices in
farming, marketing and finance for agriculture. But first he summarizes the
current connections between climate change, water scarcity, poverty and other
factors which lead to Africa being currently „the only continent unable to feed
itself." J.Stamp.
I cannot agree more with Mr. Kofi ANNAN, emphasizing the importance of small-
holder farmers and encouraging the spread of best practices in farming. I am
profoundly convinced that container gardening is one of these best practices for
small-holder farmers, particularly in all areas affected by drought and
desertification, be it in rural areas or in the cities. With this type of gardening
there is even no need for drip irrigation!

If "Africa really is the only continent unable to feed itself", "partnerships"

should be encouraged to apply container gardening at the largest possible scale
by farmers and citizens, but also by their children at school. In doing so, Africa
will soon be able to feed itself. Hunger and child malnutrition will be banned
forever from that beautiful continent.

Why don't we set up a large-scale test in one of the areas affected by hunger to
show once again what is already known? Why continuously importing expensive
food if every single person can produce it very easily at home? Let us not forget
that there is also a certain pride when one knows that one can grow his own fruits
and vegetables, not being dependent anymore on food aid from international
organizations or NGOs.

That reality is "jumping into our eyes”. Let us not close them now for that reality!