Start producing food and beat poverty

Micro farming can keep thousands of families from going hungry and may even produce an income, according to Steven Barnard of the Institute for Rural and Community Development.

Barnard was one of the speakers during the recent symposium for rural safety hosted by the Waterberg Business Chamber in Modimolle. The main theme of the symposium was safeguarding communities against economic downslides, and enabling communities to rely less on the government to provide services. Communities will have to work together to find solutions for their towns.

With his initiatives FarmerKids and Garden and Life, Barnard travels the country educating schools and communities on producing their own food. He suggests that they use materials that are easily available to them.

“If we want to stabilise this country, we need to ensure that everyone has something to eat, is clothed and has a place to sleep. Young people who have no hope for the future may revolt otherwise,” he said.

“We have a population of 60 million people with a 34,5% unemployment rate. Among the youth unemployment is 63,19%. Millions of South Africans are affected by food security.”

Barnard advised residents to use the knowledge of farmers in their area to uplift the local communities.

“Individuals can no longer be passive if we wish to turn this country into a prosperous state. We must actively participate in the process of self-provisioning.”

Barnard gives training on how to produce vegetables grown in an old tyre. “By using a tyre, even worthless land can be used to produce food.” He shared stories of schools’ vegetable gardens producing food to take home and of unemployed women earning a decent income from their micro farms.

In his presentation, he gave a practical demonstration of how the micro gardens are put together. Some of the participants were local activist Alfred Maremane, Rev. Willem Sauer, Gerhard Breytenbach, media guru Freek Robinson, the inspirational Barend le Grange of South Africa Day and local residents of the area.

Place a lining such as a plastic sheet or woven bag in an old tyre. A two-litre plastic cool drink bottle is cut in half, with the top part placed upside down in the bottom half to create a funnel.

Several small holes are made on the sides of the bottom part of the bottle. This is placed in the middle of the tyre. Three equal parts of compost, soil and manure are added. Plants that flourish in this setup are cabbage, spinach, chillies and tomatoes among others.

The bottle creates a basic hydroponic system with the plants only needing to be watered with two litres twice a week.

To get seeds started, another two-litre bottle is placed on its side, with a flap cut on top. Egg cartons are cut to fit inside with the seeds planted in potting soil placed in the carton’s indents. The flap is closed to create a little hot house. Nothing goes to waste: the bottle’s label is rolled flat to tie growing plants to stakes.

Not only are the tyres warm and promote growth, it also offers some protection against pests.

Through micro gardens such as these, people can start producing food within three months, Barnard said.

He encouraged residents to get involved and convince local communities that they have the ability to produce their own food.