Landscaping & Gardening
The Future of Urban Food Production
by Business Listings EditorPunggol Rooftop Garden. Photo Credit: ©iStock.com
With green living increasingly becoming an integral and important part of our sustainable urban development thrust, the need for a lifestyle shift is likewise becoming a more and more pressing matter every city or national government has to address.
In Singapore - where land space is limited and building construction seems to develop faster than plants and trees - the idea of a rooftop garden / farming system may well be the answer to the country’s quest for a sustainable and natural solution to greening its urban environment.
This effort has resulted in, among others, the emergence of urban agriculture from community gardens to private home gardens.
Rooftop Farming System
As farmable lots are disproportionate to the population size, many people are looking up, literally, for answers – on their rooftops. The space on rooftops can be utilized to cultivate various vegetables, fruits, grains and crops. One can grow a variety of produce or concentrate on just one or two kinds that can be used for one’s own consumption or to barter with.
As an integrated system, the rooftop farming system consists of the following basic components:
- Reservoir, membrane, drainage
- Planting medium
- The selected plant
The rooftop farming system is a low maintenance endeavor – no watering (unless there is no rain for more than a month), no weeding or pruning. And its success rides on the right blend of planting medium according to the plant’s needs.
Plants grown through hydroponics. Photo credit: ©iStock.com
Aquaponics System
Feeding into the rooftop farming system trend, various institutions have studied and developed the Aquaponics system.
Aquaponics system is a combination of aquaculture (raising aquatic animals like fish, in tanks) and hydroponics (cultivating plants in water).
A symbiotic relationship is formed between the plants and the fishes. Plants get their nutrients from the waste of the fishes, thereby cleaning the water for the fishes to thrive on.
This farming method is environmentally-friendly since no chemical fertilizers are used, and minimal water is utilized compared to traditional agriculture. However, Aquaponics is a fairly new industry and is still unstable because even a slight misstep in the process could potentially ruin the whole system.
It is still a long way to be sure. But with the coordinated efforts and help from the government and private sectors, this farm system has great potential for sustainable food production that will benefit not only Singapore but other countries as well.
In need of plants or fish suppliers for your own garden or aquaponics setup? Check out SgFave's Business directory for a list of landscaping and gardening suppliers and aquarium suppliers in Singapore.