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Rooftop garden to enhance food security

Rooftop garden to enhance food security

17th July 2014

By: Creamer Media Reporter

  

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From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Social housing provider the Johannesburg Housing Company recently launched another sustainability garden, the Lake Success Food Garden, in Hillbrow. Jonathan Rodin tells us more.

Jonathan Rodin:
JHC subsidiary Makhulong a Matala, together with the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and nonprofit organisation Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA), have launched two successful rooftop food gardens, with Lake Success being the third.

JDA marketing manager Susan Monyai explains the relationship between rooftops and food security.

JDA marketing manager Susan Monyai:
“For the City of Joburg, it’s very important that we promote food security in initiatives that build food security. Being in this area, as you can see, there isn’t a lot of space where you can actually grow your food; and rooftops become the next best thing and they have been quite successful over the years.”

Jonathan Rodin:
The JHC has five similar projects in Hillbrow, Joubert Park, Troyeville, Newtown and Fordsburg, in Johannesburg, comprising rooftop gardens and ground gardens.  Spinach, beetroot, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, beans and rosemary are grown on these farms, which provide food supply for the tenants.

The Lake Success project and other similar programmes have broadened the horizons of locals by teaching them new ways of obtaining food.

Although space has been a significant challenge for the project, FTFA volunteer project facilitator Ewald Viljoen emphasises that the future looks positive, as the area of the garden will be be increased to improve the project’s sustainability.

He highlights how the challenges have been tackled.

FTFA volunteer project facilitator Ewald Viljoen:
"Well the ideas been that we expand the area, but we’ve also said to them, “look, it’s technically not correct to move the garden to your flat, but here’s an extra seedling or two that you can take down and go put in a pot, in your flat, on your window sill and you’ll still be able to replicate what’s happening here on the rooftop, on your window sill, for yourself, on a very small scale."

“In five or six little pots, you could grow onions, spinach, beetroot, possibly a kale or something like that, which will mean you’ve got something green on the edge of your plate to put on yourself.”

Jonathan Rodin:
The sustainability plan entails tenants growing their seedlings from harvested seeds to limit the cost of buying ready-grown seedlings.

Ewald Viljoen:
"I think a sense of unity has come to particularly members in this block of flats. Before they were individuals moving around. Suddenly there’s a reason for them to get together.”

Shannon de Ryhove:
Other news making headlines this week: Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown slams Eskom’s poor generation performance; South Africa’s first five-star green industrial building is launched; and Johannesburg provides a platform for local firms to showcase their wares to retail giant Massmart.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has strongly criticised State-owned utility Eskom for meeting only 57.6% of the 33 key-performance-indicator targets outlined in its shareholder compact.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown

Pump manufacturer Grundfos’s sub-Saharan Africa headquarters and factory have become South Africa’s first industrial facility to receive a 5-star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa.

Grundfos South Africa MD Jonathan Hamp-Adams

The City of Johannesburg, together with Walmart-owned South African retailer Massmart, recently held a supplier development exhibition, allowing Johannesburg-based small, medium-sized and microenterprise manufacturers to showcase their products to the retail giant.

City of Johannesburg economic development department executive director Ravi Naidoo

Massmart supplier development executive Mncane Mthunzi

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy.

Edited by Shannon de Ryhove
Contributing Editor

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