During the 2020 lockdown, guerilla gardeners in Villingili conquered the desolate areas of the island. They grew sprawling gardens of copy leaves, basil, mint, tomato, eggplants, Maldivian spinach, chili, and even bananas. Soon after, the Male’ city council declared the gardens illegal, and thus the era of guerilla gardening was short-lived.
In response, the city council created an official community garden for the residents. The gardens soon flourished. Vibrant pink bougainvillea flowers welcome visitors at the entrance. Fragrant scents of a thousand plants fill the humid garden air. However, hidden behind the thriving herbs and flowers is a distressing tale, the future of the community gardens is at stake.
A Walk in the Gardens
Fayaz, a gardener who looks after two plots, took us on a walk through the equally divided allotments. The community garden comprises 30 plots. Each plot measures 20ft by 20ft. After the council forcefully removed the guerilla gardens, they decided that the fairest way to assign the plots was through random selection. Only residents of Villingili were eligible, and a staggering 500 residents applied for the 30 plots.
The decision to assign the plots through lottery meant that those without plans of gardening got plots, and those with ambitions to garden did not. Almost all the gardeners at the community garden are leasing the plots from the owners. The council collects a rent of MVR 1,000 ($64) per plot. The rent price is currently MVR 700 ($45) due to the pandemic. For those outside the Maldives, the cost may seem low, but this is a significant portion of an average Maldivian salary.
To write that the gardens are beautiful is an understatement. The gardeners tend to a diverse variety of flora. Each gardener is experimenting with their own techniques, finding out what works and what does not. An aspiring mycologist plans to grow mushrooms in one plot. Others are attempting to grow lettuce through hydroponics horticulture. Fayaz himself is also experimenting with small-scale aquaponics – a food production system where the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to plants. The Villingili community garden is a nursery of experimentation.
Tending to Community
Fayaz remarked on the power of the garden to bring the community together. A Viber group connects the gardeners online where they chat, share findings, and keep each other updated on the daily day-to-day tasks of the garden. A council of three, of which Fayaz is part of, is in charge of the administrative tasks of the community garden.
The gardeners host a monthly event to get together, feast, and connect with each other. Schoolchildren from Male’ and Hulhumale’ visit the community garden to learn, collect plants for science projects, and to escape from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Some gardeners work from 6AM until 6PM, the opening and closing time of the gardens.
The Cost of Beauty
Aside from the initial metal structure, every nook and cranny of the gardens is entirely crowdfunded and built by the gardeners. The gardener’s work is exceptional. However, the personal costs of running the garden, the council’s strict regulations, and the lack of promotion threaten the future of the community gardens.
Maintaining a community garden is expensive. Fayaz knows the costs all too well. He estimates he has spent over MVR100,000 ($6,485) over the past year on his plots. Rent, water prices, wages, and fertilizers take the largest chunk. Gardeners must also pay the Waste Management Corporation Limited (WAMCO) each time they need to dispose of waste.
The council forbids planting directly in the soil. Thus, the gardeners must plant in plastic pots. Not only does this limit the plants growth but the price of pots increased three fold with the new regulation banning plastic products. It is ironic that Male’ Water and Sewerage Company Pvt Ltd (MWSC) continues to produce a dizzying number of plastic bottles, while gardeners find it difficult to buy pots for gardening.
There is also little to no promotion on the gardens, few in the greater Male’ area even know of the Villingili community gardens. Passersby are unsure if the gardens are open to the public, and are thus hesitant to take a walk inside.
The city council expects the community gardens to generate profit. The council charges commercial rates for utilities. Yet the council considers the gardeners as hobbyists, not entrepreneurs. For instance, they do not have access to AgroNat, a state-owned enterprise that expedites an efficient supply chain for local agricultural products, which enables farmers to collect a fair price for their produce. Information is scarce. Most of the progress at the gardens results from trial and error and information from the internet.
An Uncertain Future
Hawwa Zahira is one of the original guerilla gardeners during the pandemic lockdown. As an avid gardener, she believes in the importance of connecting intimately with nature, and she finds peace and serenity in it. Her guerilla gardens yielded a variety of herbs, vegetables, and flowers. When residents could not find copy leaves, she supplied her friends and family with the leaves grown from her garden. When the city council deemed her gardens illegal, they destroyed her crops, and the self-sufficiency it provided.
Now Zahira leases a plot from the Villingili community gardens, and tends to her garden every day after her job as a civil servant. The entire Maldivian flora seemingly lives in Zahira’s humble yet dense garden.
Zahira stated that the running costs are too high, and they cannot grow enough to sell and turn a profit. Coupled with the council’s lack of regard for the gardeners, she isn’t sure if she can continue the gardens after Ramadan. Zahira said that each administration that comes into power in the Maldives long neglected Villingili, and she’s worried that the council’s neglect for the gardens puts its future in jeopardy.
Fading Spaces and Flourishing Gardens
The Villingili Community Garden is a haven of peace and solitude. A space for the youth and elderly to come together and connect with nature. Our cities are losing public spaces. Many of us who live in the Greater Male’ area are cramped in claustrophobic apartments, breathing vehicle exhausts each time we step out. In a city with disappearing public spaces, we need spaces where we can breathe, walk freely, and surround ourselves with the multicolored flowers and aromatic herbs.
A community garden is a community garden. Those who plant the seeds, not politicians, must take decisions for the gardens. The council gave the legal permission to use the land. The gardeners tended to it. They planted the seeds and nourished them until they flourished. We must not look at the community garden as merely a profit-generating venture. The gardens let us witness the fragile process behind our food-giving ecosystems. We can intimately connect with the dirt, soil, and seeds in these gardens. Above all, the garden brings people together. The gardeners sow their seeds side by side, and hope the seeds grow into something beautiful.
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Writer and steward for the Earth.