{"id":25,"date":"2023-09-14T11:07:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T10:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/igdc\/?p=25"},"modified":"2024-03-28T13:41:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T13:41:28","slug":"feeding-the-community-urban-farming-in-johannesburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/igdc\/2023\/09\/14\/feeding-the-community-urban-farming-in-johannesburg\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding the Community – Urban Farming in Johannesburg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

IGDC Member Henrice Altink, and Tim Hart discuss urban farming in Johannesburg.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are more than 300 farms in Johannesburg and new ones are sprouting up across the city, including in informal settlements. Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to enhance food security in Johannesburg \u2013 more than 40 % of households are food insecure \u2013 and reduce poverty through job creation. Our research into the production and consumption of traditional vegetables by migrant communities in Johannesburg shows that to fulfil this potential, urban farmers in the city need more support as most are only eking out a precarious existing on infertile soils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UA in Johannesburg takes various forms, ranging from backyard and community gardening on land provided by churches and schools to larger-scale urban farms. Many urban farms in the city were set up with support from the government, NGOs and other organisations1<\/a><\/sup>. The Ruterang Agricycle project, for instance, was set up in 2013 and has received seeds, manure and tools from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD). One of the seedling farms we visited in Braamfontein was the recipient of support from the Urban Agriculture Initiative<\/a> (UAI), a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides training and other support to grow fresh produce in limited spaces, such as rooftops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most urban farms we visited were based on school land or land adjacent to schools. Some farmers had also taken over existing farms that had gone into decline. The farmers are driven not by business profit but by the social benefits that the farm can bestow on the local community. Take, for example, Joseph, whose farm is close to the Protea Glen shopping mall. On approximately 2000m2<\/sup> and in polytunnels, he grows not just spinach, kale, lettuce and other commonly consumed vegetables but also traditional leafy vegetables, such as pumpkin leaves, okra leaves, and mustard spinach (mutshaina), which are nutrient-dense and can reduce malnutrition2<\/a><\/sup>(Mwadzingeni et al., 2021). Like most urban farmers we interviewed, Joseph sells his produce to community members who visit his farm. As the land is adjacent to a school, teachers and parents comprise a large proportion of his clientele. Joseph has plans to extend his clientele base by opening a spaza shop (tuck shop) to sell his produce and wants to undertake a survey in the neighbourhood to better understand the vegetables that people would like to eat so that he can better meet the community\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mustard spinach (mutshaina)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Like most of the other urban farmers we interviewed, Joseph is an organic farmer. He grows most of his crops in deep trenches, which improves soil quality, and uses only natural fertilisers and pesticides. Recently, he started a scheme that offers a discount for vegetables for anyone who can bring him a jerrycan of urine. Urine is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus and has been used for centuries across parts of Africa and Asia as a fertiliser for plants. He also has plans to keep rabbits on his farm not only for manure, like some other urban farmers already do, but also to improve the community\u2019s food security as rabbit meat is nutrient-rich and affordable. Rabbit farming is growing in South Africa, partly because start-up costs are relatively low and recovered within six to eight months3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph is currently providing primary school learners with raised beds so they can grow crops to take home to their family. Alongside enhancing their family\u2019s food security, the learners acquire key agricultural skills that can help them secure a job in future. And Joseph also feeds the community directly. Every weekend, he and his wife cook for about 40 people from the local neighbourhood and during the week, they cook for the workers and some hungry community members. Like some other farmers in the area, he allows community members to freely pick the leaves of seasonal leafy vegetables that germinate after the first summer rains in the uncultivated areas of the farm, including blackjack and amaranth. Some migrants in the area like the leaves of young sweet potato and pumpkin plants, and Joseph allows them to pick these when the crops are grown.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Blackjack<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

But Joseph and other urban framers in the city need more support to scale-up their enterprises so they can feed more people in the community and provide more local jobs. They need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n