Rio de Janeiro: Necessity is the mother of all invention goes an English saying. And people in the Brazilian capital are living it. With vegetable and edible product prices skyrocketing, people in Rio de Janeiro have found a unique way to beat the rising inflation. Rather than looking for importing things, people in the low-income favela have started their urban farms – bringing relief to thousands of nearby residents struggling with the country’s high inflation. Rio’s experiment can be an example for cities that are grappling with similar issues.
Located in Madureira Mestre Monarco, a long and thin park spanning 3.5 km in the Madureira area, in the North Zone of the city, the farm is surrounded by many highly populated poor neighbourhoods. Fernanda da Silva Conceição started working in the garden in 2021, and like most of her neighbours, she struggled to buy food to feed her family after losing jobs during the pandemic.
“It is a good income for us. It helps us in this difficult time. This project has helped me a lot to put food on the table”, said Conceição. The plan is to create a single garden running the full length of the park, covering 11 hectares of currently unused land, the equivalent of 15 football pitches.
The municipality says the project will be completed by 2024 and will bring food security to 50,000 local families. The initiative is part of a movement led by activists and community leaders in partnership with local municipal authorities to address hunger and the lack of access to affordable and healthy food for economically marginalized residents.
Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition
Reducing hunger and malnutrition is one of the biggest challenges facing the government. It has become the central campaign issue of former president Luiz Inácio da Silva (Lula), who has promised to address the rising malnutrition with strong government programs like those offered during his term in office in the early 2000s, when hunger rates dropped dramatically.
It has also left President Jair Bolsonaro scrambling to craft a campaign message to counter Lula, who leads in polls for this year’s upcoming elections by double digits, in part by promising to direct more government resources to lower-income communities across the country.
City Farming: How local participation is ensured?
In Madureira, local residents are directly involved in the farm project, tending the gardens in exchange for a small stipend, and are provided with subsidized produce and fruit harvested from the extensive fields, giving locals a stake in the project and providing them with a way to feed their families. The cost is well below what they would pay in a supermarket, where food trucked in from farms in Rio State has risen in price, as has the price of petrol, driving up prices beyond the reach of many cash-strapped residents. Inflation in Brazil reaches over 10%, pushing food prices beyond the reach of many families.
India.Com View
With inflation rising across India and tomato prices crossing ₹100 and other vegetables touching the roof, Indian metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and several cities can follow this. Large unused gardens, open spaces at roundabouts, public places and parks can be used. Citizens and RWAs can be roped in. Little efforts can go a long way in fighting inflation and vegetable price rise.
AP video shot by Mario Lobao
(Inputs from AP)
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