Tag: food security
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...
Australia’s Karenni Refugees Cultivate Community Through Wollongong Farming Initiative
Developing small farms on unused land in urban areas could help alleviate chronic unemployment for refugees resettled in Australia.
At Mangerton in Wollongong, Karenni refugees are transforming a steep hillside next to the Saint Therese Primary School, into a traditional terraced garden.
According to University of Wollongong geographer Ananth Gopal, community...
The Man Who Saved The Lives of 4 Million Farmers
"In our country people think farmers are from another planet; the way farmers are discussed, as if farmers are not like other human beings," says 65-year-old Subhas Palekar.
"For example," says Palekar, "Prices increase for everything and everyone accepts price rise for everything from toys to petrol, but somehow the...
Urban Farming Takes Root in Brazil’s Favelas
Women in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of this city 40 km north of Rio de Janeiro no longer have to spend money on vegetables, because they have learned to grow their own, as organic urban gardening takes off in Brazil.
The Urban Agriculture Programme, which now provides the women...
Students Grow Organic Vegetables In School
Most city schools learn the bit of farming within the four walls of a classroom. Students of Marudhamalai Devasthanam Higher Secondary School, Vadavalli, went a step ahead and created a small organic farm at the school to meet their needs.
Started in June, the students cultivate spinach, tomato, ladies finger,...
New Regulations For Greenhouse Growers To Produce Safe Food
As the rules of the Food Safety Modernization Act are finalized, greenhouse growers will be required to ensure the edible crops they produce are safe for human consumption.
The purpose of the law, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is "To ensure the U.S. food supply is safe...
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...
Facebook Group Cultivates Interest In Organic Vegetables
Scare over widespread use of pesticides has prompted many to turn to organic food and cultivation.
Residents of Thiruvananthapuram, India, looking to buy organic vegetables at affordable price now have one more destination to head to.
Krishibhoomi, a Facebook group, has started organic vegetable sale every Sunday at L-43, LIC Lane,...
Urban Farming Is Booming, But What Does It Really Yield?
Midway through spring, the nearly bare planting beds of Carolyn Leadley’s Rising Pheasant Farms, in the Poletown neighborhood of Detroit, barely foreshadow the cornucopian abundance to come. It will be many months before Leadley is selling produce from this one-fifth-acre (one-tenth-hectare) plot. But the affable young farmer has hardly...