Planting Rooftops

Urban Greenhouses Rooftops

Started in July 2018, Social and Cultural Nashet association took the pioneer initiative to create Green houses on the roof of Palestinian families in Palestinian refugee camps. This pilot initiative had been launched in partnership with Karma organization in Palestine and funded by Medico international and Lush Cosmetic Company.

After efforts and cooperation between Nashet and Karma in order to exchange the experience of Karma in the field of rooftop urban farming, Nashet created first 11 gardens in Ein el hilweh camp and equipped women with a special training to take care of their own gardens. This initiative – model empowers the refugees with the possibility to decrease their dependency on exterior assistance to supply their families with food and nourishment, besides this, gardening also has a huge emotional value for the women come from families who were forced to leave their homeland during the Nakba, to seek refuge in Lebanon, and  stayed in refugee camps with the slightest elements of rights, these gardens helped reconnect families closer to their homeland through agriculture.

So far the project was able to attract qualitative contributions from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Lebanon, which enabled the program to reach The Rashidiya camp. Besides, Nashet acquired resources made available by MEDICO, which contributed to increasing the number of beneficiaries of agricultural tents to more than 100 agricultural tents benefiting 100 families. The green houses consist of seven broad tubes, in which 8 to 10 seeds are planted in each tube. These tubes are in stands to spread the weight equally over the roofs. Around these tubes a cover is shaped to create the best atmosphere possible in both summer and winter.

In summer a green cover from mesh is placed which created shades for plants, and sieve is surrounded the tent to prevent insects from entering the house and allowing the air to enter.  While in winter the Nylon surrounds the tent from all directions to protect the plants from the rain – wind and cold.

A water tanks with drip irrigation system are installed to the roofs, the aim of the water tank so more water can be stored during the days that there is cut off the water.

The agricultural program is supervised by a team of specialists led by an agricultural engineer with years of experience working in the agricultural field, and the agricultural team is wor.king on field visits to follow up on the beneficiaries’ commitment to the instructions and provide appropriate guidance.

It should be noted here that agriculture is based on the principle of organic farming, i.e. beneficiaries are required not to use any chemicals during the agricultural process.

Also, the selection of beneficiaries is based on criteria set by the Association as follows:

  • Prioritizing women given that they are more capable than men in caring for the work and the follow-up.
  • Prioritizing divorced women or widows as they need more resources provided by the agricultural tent.
  • Prioritizing the poorest families is to enable them to meet their needs.
  • Families that have enough space
  • Seriousness in the interest of training and serious follow-up

 

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