Families encouraged to grow their own vegetables

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana has encouraged South Africans to grow food in their gardens and feed themselves and others. Image: GCIS

Zokwana was at the remote village of Malale outside Musina, in Limpopo to commemorate World Food Day. He was accompanied by his Deputy General Bheki Cele and they distributed food packs to destitute households there.

"Our visit to this village made us see that there are still families that cannot survive without government help. We hope to change all these remote villages into household gardens.

"The gesture we are making as government is that there is no reason to own big yards that produce nothing. Every garden could be a mini-farm. We want to see families growing their own food," he said.

The department has adopted October as "Food Security Month", and will embark on an awareness campaign about food production.

During Food Security Month South Africans will be urged to take action to improve food security and to help one another with donations of food from food grown in their gardens.

Household gardens can produce extra food

A few weeks ago, the department unveiled a food security drive, which was used as a platform to urge South Africans to make food donations to the poor at Malale.

Vegetable gardens can be grown by everyone in a community, including those at schools as well as individuals in their own homes. Image:Roots and Shoots

"If you have enough food you should see if your neighbour has and if they are going hungry and feed them if you can so we can say we are a caring nation," he said.

Cele said: "As government, we are not only promoting subsistence farming, we are also promoting the creation of household gardens. There are 13m people in South Africa who don't have food."

Limpopo MEC for Agriculture, Joy Matshoge, said: "As a provincial government, we encourage family farming because that's the only way we believe we can eradicate hunger, particularly through establishing household gardens."

Sibusiso Leope, commonly-known as DJ Sbu said: "I am here to encourage people to get involved in farming, especially young people who still view agriculture as a sector without any glamour.

"However, the reality is that through agriculture, you can create jobs and feed families while making some money. I'm a farmer; I have two farms, one in Brits and the other in KwaZulu-Natal," he said.