Clean vegetable garden for the poor in Brazil

Workers harvest vegetables from a vegetable garden in the Manguinhos slum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Photo: AFP

The first seeds were planted at the end of 2013 on land that is home to many drug addicts.

Little by little, Manguinhos vegetable garden built a reputation and was secure in the middle of the neighborhood by the “protection” of drug dealers. Today, the garden provides affordable fresh vegetables to about 800 poor families in Rio.

“Why do poor people have to eat toxic food? My goal is not to leave organic food only for the rich,” said Julio Cesar Barros, one of the managers of the vegetable garden.

The Manguinhos Garden is one of 56 gardens in Rio that Mr. Barros introduced to city officials in 2006. The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact hailed Mr. Barros’ gardens as one of the regional systems. World’s best urban garden. So far, 225 cities around the world have joined the treaty.

Manguinhos Garden is four times the size of a football field, providing 2.5 tons of clean vegetables every month. Half of it is sold to people with an average price of only 0.4 USD/kg, the rest is donated to orphanages and refugee camps.

“The garden has changed everything for me: the way I live and the way I eat. Before, I barely had money to buy carrots and onions,” said Dione Enedina Da Silva, 73. She is one of 25 employees at the garden, who are paid from the profits of selling vegetables.

“I come here to work every day, rain or shine. I don’t want to leave,” a 40-year-old male employee with a criminal past told AFP. He is proud of what he is doing, saying that thanks to his work, his daughter can eat clean and nutritious food.

Mr. Barros said restaurants in the area have started buying fresh vegetables from community projects. The Rio government also announced plans to expand a garden in the Parque de Madureira area of ​​the city, making it four times the size of Manguinhos and the largest urban vegetable garden in the world.

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