Tag: Africa
South African Inventor Profits From Exciting New Market
South African Claire Reid has most recently won the title of Agripreneur of the Year at the global competition, Future Agro Challenge.
She is the inventor of a biodegradable seed tape which takes the hassle out of growing domestic vegetable and herb gardens. Reid’s seed tape (which evolved from her...
Africa Needs Its Version Of Vertical Farms To Feed Growing Cities
Vertical farms use high tech lighting and climate controlled buildings to grow crops like leafy greens or herbs indoors while using less water and soil.
Because it's a closed growing system, with controlled evaporation from plants, this farms use 95% less water than traditional farms.
At the same time, most vertical...
South Africa’s Chamber of Mines Shows-Off Potential of Rooftop Agriculture
South Africa's Chamber of Mines is aiming at creating a vibrant urban agricultural ecosystem by repurposing disused rooftops and making use of hydroponics and aquaponics to produce agricultural produce for Johannesburg's inner city communities.
The initiative was established by the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership.
As a key stakeholder in the JICP,...
Urban Farming: Cultivating Real Change In Cape Town
Recent concerns about transparency of food supply and mislabelling are certainly a welcome change, but even so, such questions are still a luxury of the affluent, especially in a Cape Town where issues around food insecurity far outweigh those around food integrity.
It's only logical then that a selection of...
Accra’s Urban Farmers Need Support
In Accra, urban farming is responsible for 90 percent of the city’s fresh vegetables and 46 percent of the capital’s households are involved in it, according to a 2012 report published by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF).
However, despite the popularity of urban farming, it operates on the peripheries...
Africa’s Urban Farmers
A nurse, Wangari counts on income from farming to raise money to buy more land - for more farming.
With prices for basic foodstuffs at their highest levels in decades, many urbanites feel well rewarded by farming.
Across Africa, political leaders, long dismissive of rural concerns, have woken up to the...