Caracas, Venezuela Embraces City Gardening for Improved Nutrition, Jobs
by Michael Levenston
![](http://www.cityfarmer.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/caracas.jpg)
Photo: Urban farm located in central Caracas, Venezuelan next to the Hilton Hotel.http://www.cityfarmer.info/caracas-venezuela-embraces-city-gardening-for-improved-nutrition-jobs/#more-89~~~~~~~~~~r
Gardening for the poor
4 000 vegetable gardens flourish in Caracas
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South helping south
Anastasio Capote, 60, is one of 45 Cuban technicians who have come to Caracas for two years to reveal the mysteries of a farming system based on a mix of soil, organic material and manure. From the windows of the downtown hotel where all the technicians live, he can see at least one result of his team's efforts: a half-hectare vegetable garden bursting with fresh produce, with pests controlled naturally through insect-repelling plants such as basil and marigolds.
"The main idea of this plot was to have a beautiful garden in central Caracas, so all kinds of people could see it and start planting their own vegetable gardens," he says. "In Cuba, 300 000 people practise this farming system; they eat the vegetables and sell some on the side - all without government subsidy."
One of FAO's roles as a UN agency is to facilitate south-south cooperation. In Venezuela, a technician from Senegal who had launched a microgarden project in Dakar came to Caracas for six weeks to pass on his expertise. Senegal had learned about microgardens in the first place from an expert from Colombia, Venezuela's neighbour, under an earlier FAO project.
Back at FAO headquarters in Rome, a small horticulture unit develops guidelines and standards for urban agriculture. Although FAO does not have the resources to send staff to set up programmes in every developing country that wants to grow food in its cities, it can act as a catalyst.
More:
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/field/2004/37627/article_37647en.html