Sitting at her desk six hours a day, Anna, 20, who came from Lyon to study geography at the Sorbonne, turns her back on the 9 square meters that make up her world. She focuses on her video lessons. Sometimes his gaze slips across the rue du Mont-Cenis in the 18e district towards the building where a grandpa waters his plants every day at the same time.
From her student residence at Porte de Clignancourt, she doesn’t want to complain. She almost lives in a shared apartment with the students on her floor: group lunches every noon, loud music in the evening, laughs and crazy dances included. “But, hey, it’s still the same heads. I did not imagine my student life in Paris like that… ”
“Urban agriculture is a great tool for working in solidarity with people in difficulty. »Swen Déral, from the association La Sauge
So, all occasions are good to socialize. She did marauding, tutoring and has just registered for a market gardening workshop of the Veni Verdi association on the roof of the Eva-Kotchever school, Porte de la Chapelle, “To see the world and also understand how it is possible to produce food in tight spaces in the heart of the city”.
An ecosystem of associations concerned with both urban agriculture (Veni Verdi, Sensitive Zone, etc.) and sustainable food (Ecotable and Linkee) is being organized to help students out of their isolation. La Sauge, an association committed to “generous urban agriculture”, coordinates market gardening activities on urban farms in and around Paris when spring arrives.
Build a henhouse, start seedlings …
From April 15 to May 15, all students in the Paris region are called upon to come and put their hands in the earth, to breathe for a day, to meet people, and also, perhaps, to become volunteers. “The question of food is crucial, but we must also work on the social and psychological dimension, explains Swen Déral, one of the co-founders of La Sauge. And urban agriculture is a moment outside, close to nature … We have a great tool for working on social ties, solidarity with people in difficulty. ”
In Saint-Denis, 500 meters from the University of Paris-VIII, in this hectare worked since 2017 by the association Zone sensible, five tonnes of vegetables are produced each year. Here, migrants come to train in agricultural trades, concerts and outdoor cinema sessions are in full swing in the off-Covid-19 season, and tomorrow students will learn to transplant salads.
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