More food gardens to be established in Ekurhuleni

The Homestead Food Garden Projects is a poverty eradication intervention which targets food insecure households and encouraged them to grow vegetables on their homesteads or in their backyards.

The summit, which was mainly attended by young and elderly women, also agreed to identify those communities which are the most affected by poverty and unemployment.

The women who chanted “down with hunger, we will meet in the mealie fields” also reviewed their progress since last year's conference.

Project success

Newly inaugurated Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Councilor Ntombi Mekgwe told BuaNews there had been great success in the rolling-out of homestead food gardens project since last year.

According to Mekgwe, a total of 1470 homestead food gardens have already been established in the various informal settlements around Ekurhuleni.

Apart from homestead food gardens, there are also community food gardens, whereby the residents come together to plant vegetables in a larger communal piece of land.

“Currently, there are 28 existing community food garden projects in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. We are determined to fight the scourge of hunger and poverty in our municipality through agriculture,” she said.

Agriculture education compulsory?

Mekgwe further said they were planning to engage the Department of Education to make agriculture a compulsory subject at schools from primary level in an effort to get more young people involved in agriculture.

She further told BuaNews that community groups are also using small scale of land at clinics, schools and congregations for gardening.

Gauging market potential

Emerging poultry farm, Tsholofelo Zuma of Tshomu Trading in Poultry Farming used the summit as a platform to share information with other women on how they can venture into the agricultural industry.

“Do not venture into production without being assured of a potential market. As women, I want to urge you to use the opportunities which the government is creating,” she said.

Apart form supplying chickens to food chains around Benoni, Zuma also donates chicken to poverty stricken families in the Mogoba informal settlement, outside Daveyton to help fight hunger there.

“In this industry, you need to work hard in order to have a prospering business. Start your own projects and use government as a supportive system,” she said.

Zivuseni Poultry Farming Co-operative is also one of the prospering community projects at Duduza.

Project member, Sibongile Simelane, said when they received a funding of R200,000 from the National Development Agency (NDA) in 2005 they used certain amount to develop their skills.

The 186 hectares farm is situated in Heidelberg and they supply chicken to food chain stores in Nigel and Springs.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews