Farming for charity

Food security is a huge challenge globally and with food prices spiraling out of control, it is an ever increasing challenge to keep up let alone stay on a balanced diet.

Owing to this, Randfontein Herald caught up with Carryou Ministry which has established its own food garden to try to and alleviate the element of poverty while fighting to sustain food security in the local community.

Carryou Mininstry is a non-profit organization (NPO) which does charitable work for the community.

Their food garden is situated on a 3ha plot in Vleikop on loan to them from a local family, the Andersons, for a period of nine years.

Carryou Ministry is one of the largest charitable organisations on the West Rand.

They take care of and feed well over 1 000 orphans, vulnerable children, elderly people and Hiv/Aids patients in the Randfontein area on a daily basis.

According to Carryou’s general manager Reverend Lawrence Mabaso, he is excited about their farming project which was launched in February this year.

“Food security is really a challenge for us all and more of a problem for us who rely on government funds to fulfill our mandate.

“We have to feed the people that we take care of without spending too much.

“What this means is that we have to do as much with the little that we have as is possible and that is why we decided to start this project,” says Mabaso

So far, Carryou has received donations from the US Embassy in the form of a vegetable tunnel, irrigation system, seedlings, uniforms, training and fencing.

However, their biggest challenge remains the availability of funds for farm worker’s stipends and other equipment needed to meet their goals.

“Our main priority is to ensure that our beneficiaries are well fed and on a nutritious diet.

“Our other priority is to create employment for the people of Vleikop and its surrounds,” says Mabaso.

Although nothing has been planted as yet, Mabaso says that he and his team are excited to start planting as soon as their plans fall into place.

The land has already been ploughed.

“Although we haven’t started as yet, we will be planting different foods including cabbages, carrots, onions, spinach and many others.”

According to Mabaso, the surplus produce will be sold to local markets in order to generate an income for the NPO.

This income will then assist in funding other things that are necessary for running the Ministry.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that if each and every family was to grow their own fruits and vegetables, this would directly decrease the amount of money that they spend on fresh produce from supermarkets.

Mabaso says that besides for providing food for their beneficiaries, each family working for the project will grow their own vegetables, providing them with a means of saving money on food as well as a way to make some extra money by selling their surplus vegetables.

This would also speak to the high rate of unemployment in South Africa and combat the overall element of poverty.

“In this way we are doing our bit to curb poverty and unemployment in the area,” says Mabaso.

“We do not believe in giving away the proverbial fish.

“We would much rather teach our beneficiaries to fish for themselves.”