Young Indonesians are breathing new life into their polluted concrete capital city with little more than buckets of soil and seeds. A group of mostly young professionals, known as “Gardening Indonesia”, has joined the global urban farming movement, converting vacant patches of land between Jakarta's skyscrapers into lush green vegetable gardens.
印尼年輕人正在為他們遭到汙染的首都注入新生命，而他們所用的不過是一桶桶土壤和種子。一個大半由年輕專業人士組成的「園藝印尼」團體，已經加入全球城市農業運動，要把雅加達摩天大樓間的空地蛻變為綠油油的菜園。
“There's concrete, concrete, everywhere. But if we look hard enough, there is vacant land we can farm,” said Sigit Kusumawijaya, 30, watering freshly planted tomato seeds. On a one-hectare （2.5-acre） lot between luxury homes in a north Jakarta suburb, Kusumawijaya and his fellow gardeners grow tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and chillies where an eyesore dumping ground once stood.
「放眼望去，除了水泥，還是水泥。但如果仔細看，會發現仍有空地可以耕種。」30歲的庫蘇瑪威加亞說，他正在為剛播種的番茄種子澆水。這片占地1公頃（2.5英畝）的畸零地，位於雅加達北部郊區豪宅之間。庫蘇瑪威加亞和其他夥伴正在種番茄、小黃瓜、玉米和辣椒，這塊地原本是礙眼的垃圾場。
The group's goals are to encourage a healthy population and a green city while saving money on grocery bills. Jakarta residents have for years criticized the government for allowing giant malls and towering apartment buildings to replace green spaces, which are now few and far between.
這個團體的目標在推動市民健康和城市綠化，同時省下買食物的錢。雅加達居民多年來不斷批評政府，對在綠地上建巨型購物商場和高樓坐視不理，如今綠地已不多見。
Traipsing the muddy earth of the vegetable garden in her leopard-print boots, 26-year-old architect Syahnaz said that urban farming was one way young Indonesians could take matters into their own hands. “The government isn't doing very much for us, so we have to take the initiative to look after the city,” she said.
26歲的建築師夏娜茲，穿著豹紋工作靴走過泥濘滿地的菜園，她指出城市農業是印尼年輕人可以親力親為的事。她說：「政府為我們做的事不多，因此我們要主動守護這個城市。」
Syahnaz -- who like many Indonesians uses only one name -- has traded her life as a mall-rat for urban farming.“The massive use of air conditioning in malls is destroying our planet -- it's an evil,” she said.
一如很多印尼人，夏娜茲只取單名，她原本是成天逛購物中心的購物狂，現在則全力投入都會農作。她說：「購物中心大量使用空調，正在摧毀我們的地球，這是一大禍害。」
Kusumawijaya and some friends formed the “Gardening Indonesia” group earlier this year, recruiting thousands of followers on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Members discuss online the latest urban farming trends and projects and share information about organic farming, while hundreds turn out on weekends to work in group gardens in 14 cities around the country.
庫蘇瑪威加亞和一些朋友今年稍早組成「園藝印尼」這個團體，並上社群網站「臉書」和「推特」招募成千上萬名同好。成員經常上網討論城市農業最新發展趨勢和計畫，並分享有機農業資訊，還有數百人利用周末在這個團體位於全國14個城市的農場工作。
The Jakarta group has already had two big harvests, initially sharing the vegetables with family and friends or people in the neighborhood. But now they and gardeners at Tangerang city on the outskirts have signed a deal to supply 10 kilograms of spinach a day to a popular local steakhouse in Jakarta.
雅加達分團至今已有兩次大豐收，一開始他們先和親友或菜園附近的住家分享收成的蔬菜。現在，他們已經與唐格朗市郊的園丁簽約，每天供應雅加達一家很受歡迎的牛排館10公斤菠菜。
The group also facilitates workshops and farm trips so that participants can learn how to farm without pesticides and harmful fertilizers. “It seems like easy work, but to have a successful harvest, we need to know what type of soil is suitable for different types of crops, and understand the different seed grades,” Kusumawijaya said.
這個小組也不時到各工作室和農場考察，幫助參加的成員學習如何不用農藥和有害化肥種菜。庫蘇瑪威加亞說：「這種工作看起來似乎很容易，但要成功的收成，我們必須知道什麼土壤適合種什麼不同種類的作物，並了解不同的種子等級。」
Extreme weather earlier this year destroyed chilli crops, pushing prices up five-fold to 100,000 rupiah a kilogram. Chilli is an essential ingredient in most Indonesian dishes. “If every city produced more of its own food, we wouldn't need to import so much from other cities. We would save fuel and reduce pollution,”
今年稍早時候，極端惡劣的天氣破壞了辣椒作物，把價格推升5倍，1公斤要10萬盧比（台幣330元），辣椒是印尼菜重要的食材。韋迪哈托說：「如果每個城市可以自己生產食物，我們就不需要從其他城市進口這麼多，還可以節省燃料，降低汙染。」
Urban farming has become a social activity. For Syahnaz, the trend has brought her an unexpected gift -- a like-minded boyfriend. “I've killed two birds with one stone. I planted my chillies, and I also planted the seeds of love,” she laughed.
城市農業儼然已蔚為一種社會活動。對夏娜茲來說，這個活動送給她一個意想不到的禮物：一個志同道合的男朋友。她笑著說：「這叫一石二鳥，我邊種辣椒，邊埋下愛的種子。」
It is known that a large part of the people involved in urban agriculture is the urban poor. In developing countries, the majority of urban agricultural production is for self-consumption, with surpluses being sold in the market. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), urban farming provides food and creates savings in household expenditure on consumables. Urban farms also are a proven effective educational tool to teach kids about healthy eating and meaningful physical activity.
據了解，投入城市農業者大半是城市貧民。在發展中國家，城市農業生產的作物大部分是自己消費，多出來的才會在市場上出售。聯合國糧農組織表示，城市農業不只提供食物，並可以節省家庭支出。城市農場更是個很有效的教育工具，可以教孩子吃出健康，並從事有意義的體能活動。
In this photograph taken May 29, 2011, Putri Safira, an Indonesian student and other urban farmers were watering organic vegetable gardens in a vacant lot in Jakarta.