In the face of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, we are at the brink of a food shortage in Sri Lanka, especially with the disrupted supply chains of imported goods and the hardships faced by Sri Lankan farmers due to the continued island wide curfew resulting in lagged supply of agricultural produce.
“Sow for Tomorrow” was an initiative taken under the environmental services avenue of the Rotaract club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance, which was carried out from 10th of April to 30th of May. We thought it would be a great idea to help those who are bored in lockdown to get their hands a little dirty and start up their own fresh produce garden. It would be entertaining as well as productive. After all, gardening is a great hobby that never gets old.
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We started a challenge on social media to give our followers a little nudge. Our team members planted a variety of produce at their homes, took pictures of them and posted on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp while nominating their friends to take up the challenge and do the same. We also shared some very interesting and useful tips and hacks to get them started.
This included instructions on how to make potting soil, how to start seedlings indoors, how to keep nasty pests away from the garden, how to make pet bottle planter with recycled plastic bottles, kitchen scraps that can be used as natural fertilizer, list of veggies that can re-grow, vegetables that can be grown in apartments with limited space and how to plant essential veggies like onions, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes and brinjal.
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The challenge emerged very popular with most of our friends joining in eagerly. We collected all the pictures they posted tagging us and re-posted on our Facebook page to appreciate them and encourage more people to take part in this green initiative. Moreover, the auspicious time for planting during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year was on the 19th of April this year and the 50th World Earth Day on the 22nd of April could not have come at a better time. They added greater value to our efforts allowing us to celebrate them as a part of our project.
As the final step of our project we promoted a similar government initiative called “Thuru Mithuru – Nawa Ratak” carried out by the Sri Lankan army. They have deployed their valuable manpower and resources to cultivate and supply more fresh vegetables and fruits to the market, through this program.
Here’s glimpse of our journey accompanied with a brief message from Chief of Staff, Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage – the brains behind the visionary initiative “Thuru Mithuru Nawa Ratak”
We can all join hands with them and help their cause by donating gardening tools and plants or simply by starting your own fresh produce garden and being self-sufficient. This can be our small contribution to reduce the post pandemic impact on the economy of our country and to help us bounce back stronger than ever before!
Follow our “Green Dream” Facebook page to stay updated about our Environmental Service initiatives: https://www.facebook.com/
rcuocfmf.greendream/
