Growing the Future

Creating a resilient food system by improving food security
2014 SEED South Africa Award; European Union,2014 SEED South Africa Award; Hisense
Sustainable Agriculture
Gansbaai
South Africa

The enterprise offers a three-phase programme. During the first stage, unemployed beneficiaries receive training and inputs in order to implement home gardens. In the second phase, a community garden training centre provides support and market access to new gardeners. Gardeners can acquire land to become smallholder farmers during the last stage. 

Each gardener receives a “GreenBox”, a starting kit utilising wicking beds to grow produce in dry areas with poor soil quality. The box, innovative to the region, promotes adaptation to climate change.

Grootbos Foundation’s Growing the Future programme will increase household’s food security and improve access to nutritional locally-produced vegetables and other produce. It includes educational programmes and entrepreneurial community garden training and the provision of household “GreenBoxes.” 

Eco-Inclusive Impacts
The programme increases household food security and improves access to nutritional locally-produced vegetables and other produce. It includes educational programmes and entrepreneurial community garden training and the provision of household “GreenBoxes.”
  • Increasing food security through household food production.
  • Promoting diet variety in the prevention of dietary related illnesses.
  • Providing market access for households to sell excess produce.
  • Improving access to nutritional and affordable food for communities. 
  • Conserving 60 % of the community’s water through innovative gardening solutions.
  • Reducing agricultural waste through vermicomposting.
  • Improving sustainable land use and ensuring soil has higher nutritional levels.
  • Reducing necessity to import food, in turn decreasing the effects of transportation. 
  • Increasing entrepreneurial and economic opportunities through food production, especially for women.
  • Decreasing participating households’ monthly food expenditures, which increases the available budget for other non-nutritional necessities.

Partners

Growing the Future promotes nutritious and organic food production and improves household food security by providing a three-step gardening programme for unemployed people. After receiving an innovative wicking-bed gardening starting kit, households complete a gardening training course and can acquire land for smallholder farms.

Grootbos Foundation is the non-profit arm of the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and has promoted the conservation of biodiversity through education, research, management and ecotourism.

Soil for Life assisted the enterprise during its initial stages and currently acts as a consultant regarding management and organisational issues.

South African Department of Agriculture assisted the enterprise in profiling the 120 households selected to participate in the programme. 

Local Economic Development Office of the Municipality of Overstrand provided assistance during the initial project planning stages and is supporting the second entrepreneurial stage of the programme with its connection