Rooftop Farming – An Overview

India has nearly 46 million-plus cities, with Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata having populations over 10 million. There are 54 urban agglomerations in India with a population of one million or more according to 2011 census against 35 in 2001 (www. censusindia.gov.in). So, urbanisation has become a common phenomenon in India. Further, it is going to increase at an incremental rate. Thus, we are losing our agricultural land every hour and the population is growing by leaps and bounds and also no. of buildings simultaneously. It means we will have less horizontal land to grow food and as a consequence, the problem of food supply in terms of quantity, quality and affordability, will be high amongst the citizens as more mouths to be fed than produces. This alarming situation poses a greater challenge for our future generations. To cope up with this situation, we have to increase the productivity per unit area. So, rooftop farming is found to be a viable option.