Mariannhill market garden transforms lives
"Five years in development, the co-operative market garden model created here is ideal for cost-effective replication in other disadvantaged areas," said the bank's chief executive, Shabir Chohan.
A R300 000 investment in the development of a market garden, in the socially depressed area of Mariannhill by Al Baraka Bank, has transformed the lives of the initiative’s formally unemployed participants.
It also caught the attention of eThekwini Municipality as an exceptional agri-business model for job creation and food security among disadvantaged communities.
“Five years in development, the co-operative market garden model created here is ideal for cost-effective replication in other disadvantaged areas,” said the bank’s chief executive, Shabir Chohan.
During a recent event at the site of this venture, eThekwini Municipality presented the initiative’s six market gardeners with a container, a tank for irrigation water storage and the undertaking of regular future supplies through water tanker services.
Commenting on the market garden’s phenomenal success and the creation of a co-operative by its participants, Chohan said, “Working within South Africa’s financial sector, we recognise the cost implications relating to meeting this country’s socio-economic challenges.
Also read: Pinetown food garden helps families flourish
As a responsible corporate citizen, we have always set out to make a telling social contribution and are especially concerned about the need to stimulate self-employment and the promotion of food security.
“The bank’s Mariannhill market garden initiative dates back to 2014 when the organisation celebrated a quarter of a century in business and used this milestone to announce its intention to launch a bold, long-term corporate social responsibility legacy project in recognition of the support it had enjoyed since its inception in 1989.
The one-hectare facility currently produces lettuce, parsley, spring onions, chives, garlic, dill, fennel, thyme, edamame, gem squash and butternut, as well as a variety of marigold flowers, ensuring a sound living for the six previously unemployed and now hard-working members of the fledgling co-operative.
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