Communities can benefit greatly from small scale farming
We use gardening as an intergration tool, we are all equal in the soil
URBAN agriculture – the cultivation of crops and animals in an urban environment – is known to increase access to healthy food. It is particularly important for poorer people in cities where food is mainly accessed through cash purchases. Healthy fresh fruit and vegetables are more expensive per kilogram than many processed foods.
The Green Camp Gallery project in Umbilo, Glenwood is an organic and sustainable lifestyle hub that focuses on urban farming and rebuilding the community through gardening. As drought and worsening food security have hit large swathes of maize harvests in Southern Africa, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the state of food insecurity in the world, indicates that more than 814 million people in developing countries are undernourished. Of these people, 204 million live in countries of sub-SaharanAfrica, including South Africa.
Founder of Green Camp Gallery project, Xolani Hlongwa explains: “The green camp gallery project was created out of the leftover material from a derelict house. It’s all about restoring community, recycling ideas, heartaches and challenges and making them useful to life. We use gardening as an integration tool, we are all equal in the soil. The project connects people from all races, crime in the area has been reduced which proves that gardening has social benefits and also raises environmental awareness.”
The main principles behind urban farming is providing local residents with fresh food, creating community around growing food, reducing concrete heat in urban areas and encouraging people to reconnect with the earth. With initiatives like the Congella Park project, the urban farming movement is pushing towards democratizing the process and generating a mass grassroots support so that urban farming becomes easy and prolific.
Jennifer Rampersad from city Parks, which has been instrumental with the developments at Congella Park said the most striking feature of urban farming, which distinguishes it from rural agriculture, is that it is integrated into the urban economic and ecological system. “Urban agriculture is embedded in -and interacting with- the urban ecosystem. Such linkages include the use of urban residents as labourers, use of typical urban resources (like organic waste as compost and urban wastewater for irrigation), the rapid urbanization that is taking place goes together with a rapid increase in urban poverty and urban food insecurity. Social impacts of urban farming may function as an important strategy for poverty alleviation and social integration.”
As the Municipality continues with its drive to encourage communities to use less water, Rampersad said Congella was fortunate in that there was a natural spring which the project used as well as rain water that is collected. “We also use tap water wisely,” she said, adding that sponsors for Jojo tanks were needed.
Info box
The Green Camp Gallery Project hosts markets every Sunday where the public can purchase fresh produce. It is located at 246 Umbilo Road (Corner of Essex and Umbilo Road, Glenwood, Durban)
tel: 071 907 9996 or email: greencampgalleryproject@gmail.com
