Rooftop sweet potatoes for food

I read a very cool article on Nov 8, Straits Times.


In Japan a number of people are becoming city farmers. They plant crops atop tall buildings or deep underground in basements.

These farms have carefully controlled and adjusted the temperatures, humidity and lighting so that vegetables can be grown in optimum conditions for human consumption. Remember the concepts like limiting factors for photosynthesis and denaturing of enzymes that control the steps involved in the process???

The Japanese are very particular about food safety. They are willing to pay a premium for pesticide-free and pathogen-free vegetables.

The advantages of rooftop and basement gardening are as follows:

1-It also provides gainful employment for the unemployed, fun and stress relief for the tired office workers.
2-The roof top areas provide space for growing crops in land-scarce Japan. Japan imports 60% of its food from other countries.
3-City farming also provides a solution for a big problem called 'urban heat-island effect'. Concrete buildings and pavement heat up quickly. People will use more air-conditioning, esp in summer, raising CO2 emissions further. Plants absorb CO2, a greenhouse gas. The leaves are broad, covering the building's surface absorbing the sun's rays. They also transpire ie they absorb water with their roots and transport it upwards in their xylem vessels and release it in the form of water vapour. When water evaporates off the leaf it causes cooling effect. (Remember latent heat of vaporization?)
4-Lettuce, roses, rice, tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, brinjals, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons and more to feast on...

Singapore is warm and sunny throughout the year. We are also an urbanised country with very little arable land. We also buy most of our vegetables from other countries. We have tall buildings and do depend a lot on air-conditioning to bear with the sweltering heat.

When I was little, I used to grow all kinds of plants from my mother's kitchen. I just wanted to see how the plants' leaves and flowers will look like. Cumin, mustard, pepper, kidney bean, ginger, tumeric, garlic, bittergourd, etc are some that I grew and had hours of fun. I would like to grow plants on rooftops if I am invited to do so.

Cheers,
Have a good day.