GROWING FOR GOOD
Developed in partnership with Mr Price Foundation’s HandPicked programme in the rooftop space donated by Redefine Properties, this beautiful urban farm aims to do a lot of good in the community.
“We want to create a meaningful and sustainable long-term solution to tackle youth unemployment and in turn food security in our immediate community/catchment area,” says Anelisa Keke, chief sustainability officer at Redefine.
The project will include a skills development programme that educates youth on how to develop an agricultural business in an urban environment. Project beneficiaries will be sourced from the Langa community and two unemployed young people will be upskilled each month – adding up to 24 young people over a 12-month period. After completing the programme, they’ll get resources to set up and run their own urban farms in their backyards.
Fresh produce for all
“Chilli le Langa will utilise the offtake of certain crops, such as chillies, in the production of its sauce range, creating an opportunity for the home growers to generate revenue and move from consumers to producers.
The project also plans to donate fresh produce to two to three local NGOs each month, or a minimum of 10 per year.
Mall restaurants will be able to purchase fresh vegetables directly from the farm, saving the considerable expense of transport fees. A kiosk or pop-store (as available) in the mall will be allocated to sell produce to customers in order to generate additional income for the farm.
How does your garden grow?
The HandPicked CityFarm will utilise a South African-developed system called the African Grower. This robust, easy-to-use, modular vertical garden consists of multiple growing pods stacked on top of one another. These towers are suspended, making it pest resilient, and coconut coir is used as a water-efficient growing medium. The system promotes increased production with each African Grower tower housing between 16 and 24 plants, occupying the same footprint as that of a person standing. This gives the project the advantage of increased production in a small space using vertical growing practices.
