Regaining Lost Agricultural Yields: Vertical Façade Farming on Ayat 1 Condominium Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024-06-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Due to the city's rapid urbanization, agricultural and non-agricultural areas have been transformed into built-up urban areas. The Integrated Housing Development Plan (IHDP) of Addis Ababa is the main sector for the conversion of agricultural land to housing development-built areas without the provision of any option for farming products. This study aims to demonstrate vertical vegetable farming as a means to regain agricultural yields that has been taken over by condominium buildings. The study focused on Addis Ababa in Ayat 1 site 1, 2, and 3 condominium buildings and their resident as a population. A stratified sampling method based on their family size strata was used to find the population's vegetable demand, and 362 families were sampled. Purposive sampling is selected to find the potential surface area of the buildings based on their building typology and orientation. The data was gathered from the residents and farmers by questioner and key informant interview and observation from the existing building. The household's vegetable consumption amount, the buildings' potential surface area, the land's previous productivity, and the vertical farming productivity of the façade were analyzed and described statistically. Based on the literature and resident preference 10 vegetables were selected for the demonstration. The result shows that the total annual vegetable consumption of the residents in the study area is 3,632,473.4kg/year or 1,204,169,438 calories/year. The potential surface area for vegetable façade farming with 6 hours and 4 hours of daylight exposure is 297,270m2 from both, B+G+8 and B+G+10 building typologies. The 31 hectares of the study area land has been producing 46.5 tons of teff, which is 155,775,000 kcal/year. Vertical façade vegetable farming can produce 5,333,418.11kg/year or 2,309,169,276.366kcal/year. As a result of the vertical façade vegetable farming, 191.76% of the vegetable consumption of the residents can be fulfilled and 1,482.56% of the lost agricultural land produces can be regained. Using vertical façade farming on the condominium building is the key recommendation for the government, researchers, urban designers, and the community.
Key Words – vertical farming, façade vegetable farming, condominium housing, food security