Urban farming: safeguarding a healthy diet and preparing for a self-sufficient future

“This house had been empty for years and people used to call it a ghost house. But it has a spacious front garden that we can use to grow vegetables. So, we use the space for our vegetable garden and have held regular meetings here since 2018,” says Roesdiah (68), entering a big, faded green door. There is a block-letter paper notice taped to the front door. It reads “Sumber Rezeki Waste Bank Vegetable Garden”.

Roesdiah is one of the advisory members of the urban women farmers group in the Kemlayan Village of Solo. Urban farming is integrated with a waste bank and health centre for elderly people, one of the Solo City Government’s programmes.

For the past year, Roesdiah and her friends have transformed the so-called ghost house into a vibrant green space where women in the neighbourhood come to learn how to grow and compost. The harvest season is over, but in the garden we can see newly planted lettuces and chillies. A group of 30 women is also there today to make a liquid fertiliser using fruit and vegetable waste.

Urban farming, as seen in Kemlayan, is more than a favourite pastime, but rather one of the sustainable strategies to help residents with low incomes save money on food purchases by growing and harvesting fresh vegetables and fruit in their own gardens.

Throughout 2018, the Solo City Government, Rikolto and Gita Pertiwi have helped establish ten demonstration pilots in Solo, inspiring 50 households to start their own gardens, growing in total around 80 types of herb, vegetable and fruit. The stakeholders are paying greater attention to urban farming at household level due to several challenges that Solo is still facing, such as food and nutrition security.

Our recent survey — carried out by our partner the Indonesian Consumers Foundation/YLKI - found that people in Solo spent around 60 percent of their expenditure on food. Around 11 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, earning less than Rp 1 million per month, which means that low-income households only have around Rp 13,000 (less than 2 Euros) to buy food. As food security is dependent on household purchasing power, it is fair to say that low-income residents are food insecure and they struggle to meet basic food needs. Food insecurity is also associated with under-nutrition. Households with low food security are more likely to consume food with reduced quality, variety and desirability of diet, which can cause under-nutrition. In the long term, under-nutrition can lead to the development of non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Based on a report by the World Health Organisation (2018), NCDs are estimated to account for 71 percent of total deaths in Indonesia.

Another key factor contributing to nutrition insecurity is food literacy. A survey by YLKI further discovered that Solo residents’ understanding of a balanced diet stood at below 60 percent. Consequently, people consumed food that was high in carbohydrates and sugar, yet low in protein and fibre. The majority of respondents opted for white rice and instant noodles as their main food, instead of choosing a healthier, alternative option such as red rice. Vegetable consumption was also reported as low, with less than 43 percent of households serving vegetables with their meals every day. The issue of low vegetable consumption is one that Indonesia is trying to combat on a national scale. Indonesia’s fruit and vegetable consumption is 180 grams per capita per day, which is below the WHO’s standard of 400 grams per capita per day. With the aforementioned figures and findings, urban farming can offer a sustainable solution to these pressing problems.

For city residents, urban farming helps them prepare for a self-sufficient future while promoting vegetable consumption.

One of the residents is Putri Handayani (62), who grows vegetables in her garden. Urban farming has improved her vegetable intake.

Putri tries to promote urban farming, partly through a WhatsApp women’s neighbourhood group in her village. She regularly shares photos of her vegetable garden, especially during harvest seasons. She regularly shares photos of her vegetable garden, especially during harvest seasons. This method has proven to be successful in attracting more women to start growing their own food.

Rini Pujiastuti (53), a member of Kerten Village urban farming group, started her vegetable garden because she is inspired by Putri.

Widdi Srihanto, the Head of the Community & Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Agency in Solo, says that urban farming is a good example of a collaborative model between stakeholders to manage food sustainably at city level.

Indeed, urban farming in Solo works because all stakeholders are willing to work together. On many occasions, the Mayor of Solo FX Hadi Rudyatmo has stated that the city has a vision to ensure good health and wellbeing (waras), good education (wasis), food sufficiency (wareg), employment (mapan), and habitable homes (papan) for all people.

The government agencies translate this vision into a set of programmes. The Community & Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Agency, for example, runs a food programme within the context of women’s and community empowerment. The agency has agreed to incorporate the Food Smart City initiative within its Gender Responsive Village Programme targeting women groups and women-headed households. These women will receive donated leftover food and food waste that they can use to make compost for their vegetable gardens.

Wisnu Dwi Endro Utomo, the Food Diversity & Safety Department Head at the Solo Agriculture Agency says that the main goal of the food programmes is “to protect consumers by ensuring safe, healthy, undamaged and halal food.” If integrated well with city programmes and policies, urban farming will have ample economic and environment benefits. Hence, the city government is on the lookout for more villages to be involved in the food smart city initiative. The initiative, Mr Srihanto says, has to be linked with and complement the government’s programmes, to ensure its sustainability and wide-scale adoption.