Sustainable Food Security Project Launched in the Orange Farm Community
Following on from the successful pilot project launched at Sibisi Primary School, Dennilton in partnership with Food & Trees For Africa (Food & Trees), a second food security project has been launched in Orange Farm, Gauteng.
The food gardens serve as a sustainable means to equip communities with vital skills, while addressing the issue of access to food. Food & Trees’ hands-on approach encompasses knowledge sharing, administration, and identifying key human resources to in the community to maintain the programme.
Food & Trees conducted an assessment on existing gardens in the immediate community surrounding Eyethu Orange Farm Mall. Urban Home was selected through a comprehensive analysis.
Urban Home, located 5kms from Eyethu Orange Farm Mall, is a registered NPO which was founded by Nhlanhla Dlamini in 2017 and aims to provide a safe space for youth, orphans, women and disabled community members. Urban Home aims to upskill youth and keep them off the streets through agriculture, sewing, baking and cleaning.
Urban Home feeds over 50 people a day, and Food & Trees identified the potential to further increase the garden’s produce to provide more meals for people from the community on a daily basis. The Urban Home project launched in November 2023, and the final workshop took place on the 1st of February 2024.
Through the Urban Home project, 50 beneficiaries were identified for the Garden in Bucket project which aims to establish 50 household gardens in the Orange Farm community. The Garden in a Bucket project, in partnership with Food & Trees, equips households with essential tools, including a bucket, watering can, hand spade, hand fork, and a comprehensive planting and growing manual, and training.
An assessment, compiled by Food & Trees, will indicate the success of the initial intervention in Orange Farm through the Urban Home project and Garden in a Bucket project, and will provide a recommendation regarding further support by Eyethu Orange Farm Mall once the assessments have been completed in February 2024.
To view the Eyethu Orange Farm Mall Garden in a Bucket project, please visit the following link.
