Vertical Farming, A Radical Vision For Africa?
The Africa of the very near future is plagued by multiple problems. Desertification and global warming are some of the biggest, which are further exacerbated by rapid urbanization. This spontaneous migration of people from rural areas in countries that have no urbanization policies in place, means resources will be stretched to the maximum. Where will all the food to feed these people come from?
Try and imagine growing food in tall buildings with a self-contained climate powered by renewable energy. A radical idea yes - but one that would address the need for arable land and year-round supply of food. These towering greenhouses immune to weather and pests might very well be the source of nutrition for generations of the future!
While I feel that this fantastic future 'might' be a pipe dream for now, our grandchildren might be forced to effectuate it by inevitable circumstances.
My instinctive reaction is that since human beings began manipulating their environment, beginning with the agricultural age, forward through the industrial age and now in the knowledge age, we have manipulated the natural essence of something quintessential to life waaayyyy to much. I think we need to reel things back to the way nature intended them to be and formulate policies around that rather than formulating more policies around greasing the capitalist machine with even more excesses of wealth compared to excesses of poverty.
Hope that makes sense….
I think that is a little extreme a measure and not necessary at the moment. Our current lack of food security is not as a result of inadequate farming space but rather an ineffective use of available resources. What is being done to conserve the environment? Are we protecting the water catchment areas? Are we fully harnessing natural resources for food production? Soil conservation? Environment friendly irrigation practices?
If we make sure that we are doing enough to make the best out of what we already have, then we can start exploring sky scrapping gardens. But as it is, we are not doing even employing the simplest commonsense practices to ensure maximum food productivity.