Click here to load reader
Upload
buidat
View
212
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
An urban gardening project greens Johannesburg rooftops In South Africa, the Tlhago Primary Agricultural Cooperative teaches urban youths gardening skills, educates them about climate change, and empowers them to take practical actions.
By Loulia Fenton, Nourishing the Planet / August 22, 2012 Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2012/0822/An-urban-gardening-project-greens-Johannesburg-rooftops
The Tlhago Primary Agricultural Cooperative
has brought nature to the roof-scape of
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Since July 2010, the cooperative’s six
organizers (two men and four women) have
planted two rooftop gardens at the heart of the
metropolis and, through outreach and
educational activities, have transferred urban
gardening skills to more than 100 people from
local communities.
“When people come to the city to look for a job
they struggle because all that they are used to
[in the countryside] is planting vegetables. The
city does not have any land, so we show them
how to grow on the roof,” said Tshediso
Phahlane, deputy chair of the cooperative. Everything is planted using sustainable, organic methods, and the gardens produce a
wide variety of vegetables and greens, including cabbage, spinach, carrots, mustard leaf, and CM Kale (African spinach).
The produce is sold to the rooftop gardens’ local patrons and additional income is secured from the preparation and sale of
traditional medicines such as cough syrups, massage ointments, and herbal creams.
At the heart of the cooperative’s skills-transfer program is the organization’s desire to educate people about climate change and
empower them to take practical action.
“Not everyone knows about climate change, and it is our responsibility to do something about that. Farmers can see it happening all
around them; it is uncharacteristically hot right now, and they are worried about losing their seeds and harvests if October – the
planting month – is too cold. So people are very open to listening to ideas and doing something about the problem,” said Phahlane.
The cooperative does much of its teaching in the communities’ own languages, including South Sotho Zulu, Tswana, and Setsign, at
the Greenhouse Project, based in Joubert Park, Johannesburg. They teach organic planting methods, how to cook without electricity
and prepare traditional medicines, and impart information about the causes and effects of climate change. Phahlane and his team
are hoping for a trickle-down effect as they encourage their students to go out into their communities and start similar endeavors.
The project started in 2010 when it secured funding from the Johannesburg Development Agency(JDA) to create the first garden on
a building rooftop donated by the city’s Affordable Housing Company. Now the group is actively looking for future funders and
collaborators.
“We are building exchanges with similar projects and greening initiatives in other countries, like with Slow Food International’s Terra
Madre network and are particularly interested in working with other youth. We want to know how we can work together to make sure
we are growing healthy food that is also helping to deal with climate change” commented Phahlane. “We also need funding as we
have a lot of work to do. To train more people to go to the rooftops, we need to expand and buy growing supplies, containers for our
medical preparations, and enamel pots for our cooking demonstrations,” he said.
In 1996, Phahlane started a program called Youth Agricultural Ambassadors (YAA) in South Africa’s Gauteng province to re-engage
and excite young people about an agricultural way of life.
“Most of the time, farming is seen as being for old people and not for the young. We wanted to change that,” commented Phahlane.
The future of agriculture and making the farming profession more youthful are not the only objectives of the program. “It is very
crucial for us to engage youth because a lot of kids are not working, they can’t find other jobs. We need to give them practical skills
because they are the future of today and the future of tomorrow,” he said.
YAA has been a great success. It now has more than 300 youth ambassadors who motivate other young people to engage in
agriculture and educate communities about climate change. In addition, YAA has provided numerous internships and environmental
and agricultural education to more than 1,000 kids in local schools. Phalhane also helped set up the Gata Lenna Youth Agricultural
Movement – a similar initiative with around 40 youth ambassadors in the Gauteng and Northwest provinces.
In Johannesburg, the Tlhago Cooperative’s dreams are big. The organization’s founders want to minimize poverty and malnutrition
within their community by facilitating subsidiary businesses and initiatives to generate incomes for unemployed people.
The ultimate goal, however, is even bigger. As Doreen Khumalo, one of the coop’s leaders, put it: “We want to make the whole city
green!”