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Mexico City cultivates rise of 'backyard agriculture'

Saturday, 5 July 2008


Adam Thomson in Mexico City

MEXICO City, one of the world's most populous and polluted metropolitan areas, is working on its own solution to the rapidly rising cost of food: grow your own.

Led by Marcelo Ebrard, the city's leftwing mayor, the local government has decided to expand a "Backyard Agriculture Programme" launched last year to encourage the capital's residents to use all available space to grow crops.

"We want to make people realise that they can use their gardens, yards and roof terraces to grow food," says Adolfo L