Household growers learn how to build a tower garden
The department of agriculture, land reform and rural development through its directorate of water use and irrigation development has innovated a sustainable way to harvest rain water from rooftops to help vegetable production in poorer communities.
To achieve this, a pilot programme was implemented in villages experiencing irrigation challenges due to water scarcity.
The villages are Balloon, Sofaya, Madeira, Mahlomelong and Sedawa villages within the Maruleng Municipality. According to Lungheka Nkuna, an extension officer responsible for the coordination of food security programmes in the area, the rain water harvest programme is nearing completion with only the installation of irrigation equipment still outstanding.
Equipment will include water storage facilities (5000l tanks) and drip irrigation pipes.
These will be provided to the ten beneficiary households according to the size of their vegetable growing garden.
Also read: Cheap and cheerful spring seedlings to add colour to your garden
Training has already ensued to ensure its success and sustainability.
The techniques of constructing a tower garden and the advantages of using grey water to irrigate vegetables have already been covered. In his presentation to a group of about 29 household gardeners, Lehlogonolo Motsoko, explained the advantages of a tower garden.
A demonstration on how to connect irrigation equipment to a rooftop as well as how to construct a tower garden were carried out.
