Hortas Cariocas
by Hortas Cariocas (Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro) · HQ 🇧🇷 Brazil
Launched in 2006 by Rio de Janeiro's municipal environment department, Hortas Cariocas builds agroecological gardens on unused public land in communities and schools across the city, paying gardeners, coordinators and integrators a monthly stipend to grow and distribute organic food. By the early 2020s the program had grown to 56 school and community garden units covering more than 25 hectares and employing over 270 people, with the Manguinhos community garden recognized by the UN in 2020 as the largest urban community garden in Latin America. In 2023 alone the network produced more than 77 tons of fresh food, sold at accessible prices or donated to vulnerable families in the neighborhoods where it is grown.