Urban farming dilemma for city

FranckSeuret via pixabay

Small pockets of land have been offered to the city by landowners, but they are requesting hefty prices, according to mayor Athol Trollip.

At a mayoral committee meeting yesterday, Trollip said there was a lot of urban farming taking place in the city, bringing with it public health and safety concerns. "This is a matter of considerable concern. We have a lot of urban farming taking place. We've got livestock being farmed in the urban area," he said.

"In Uitenhage, we went to look at the available land.

"There's an extensive piece of land surrounding Uitenhage for farming purposes. That land is covered in prickly pear and other invader species.

"So, we have a shortage of land for people farming in the urban area.

"We are dealing with public health issues with livestock in urban areas [and] we're dealing with public safety issues with livestock roaming on our roads."

Trollip urged the economic development, tourism, and agriculture department to come up with a solution sooner rather than later. "We cannot continue to have people farming in urban areas where livestock is compromising people's health and safety," he said.

The municipality's political head of economic development, tourism and agriculture, councillor Andrew Whitfield, said they were holding meetings with livestock owners in the hopes of coming up with a solution. "It's an ongoing challenge," Whitfield said.

"We have residents in this city who have a problem - a public health issue with cattle in their communities.

"At the same time, we have to be sensitive to the needs of people who need land in order to look after livestock.

"We are looking at ways to identify and purchase pieces of land, to see where land is available and start moving cattle into those places," Whitfield said.

Trollip said they had to find suitable and affordable land.

Source: Herald