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TUESDAY 5 February 2019 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
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People’s Post
PHILIPPI
Urban farmers developed SAMANTHA LEE @Samantha_Lee121
A
group of urban farmers will benefit from a R2.6m funding boost through a partnership with a local initiative. Last week, the City of Cape Town announced the funding as part of a memorandum of agreement, signed between the City and the Philippi Economic Development Initiative (PEDI), that will see the growth of the project following the approval of the funding. Grant Twigg, Mayco member for urban management, says farmers were selected through the Western Cape department of Agriculture and the City of Cape Town. “[Together, the entities] have trained home garden and urban farmers over the past years. However, there was never a standard set for these farmers to operate their farms by, or a quality standard of the crops they would potentially send to market. PEDI has firstly ensured its compliance to Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) organic growing standards and now will cross train 22 farmers to the same standards in the next 12 months,” says Twigg. “There is no scientific selection process at present, however, there is an objective of establishing a market place for home gardeners and urban farmers to bring their produce and collectively sell to commercial markets.” Conditions will be used to include farmers in the training programmes: PEDI, via the Department will have access to the database of the farmers who have been previously trained, farmers who are willing to accept the PGS organic growers standards which ensures production and crop quality for commercial markets, farmers who will grow and send
their produce to the Philippi Urban Agriculture Academy (PUAA) Agri-hub for processing and selling to commercial markets, these farmers will also have access to the FreshMark Systems to coordinate growing plans and crop availability reporting in order to satisfy client orders. The farmers will be selected from various areas around the Cape Metropole at first in order for the PUAA Agri-Hub to perfect it’s processes before expanding its farmer supplier base in the second year. The farmers were selected from the Philippi Horticulture Area, Philippi, Nyanga, Gugulethu, Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and Mfuleni and the Bo-Kaap “The reason for this spread is to ensure the Agri-Hub works with farmers of various growing conditions, crop quality and logistical constraints. These criteria are some of the reasons current home gardeners and urban farmers are unable to bring produce to market,” says Twigg. “The training academy was launched two
years ago with the first phase aimed at establishing the methodologies for producing organic crops in tunnels and open fields. The academy also established a seedling growing tunnel which can grow as much as 130 000 organic seedlings at any one time. This facility is one of only a few organic seedling producers in the Cape Metropole and certainly the only in the Philippi area,” says Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management, James Vos. The proposal for the inception came from PEDI initially as the Philippi Urban Food Security (PUFS) programme. This was to be a joint venture between PEDI and other partners that fell through. PEDI initially used its own funding to start the academy, with valuable contributions from the City’s Economic Development Department when the value of the project was recognised, says Twigg. “The intention was always to accommodate the academy using the vacant land at the Philippi Fresh Produce Market. The City owns the land and always been involved, both directly and indirectly, in the establishment of the academy,” says Twigg. “Urban Agriculture is core to food security in the city. Promoting urban agriculture addresses this problem head on. Unemployment is another clear problem, particularly for the youth. Growing the capacity for emerging farmers will create enormous potential for new business development and employment to assist in alleviating the poverty stemming from unemployment.” PEDI’s vision and mandate is to facilitate economic development through strategic social and economic investment. Urban Agriculture is a key industrial sector in Philippi. Due to the existing historical role agriculture plays in the area, PEDI has always promoted growing the urban agricultural ac-
tivity for the previously disadvantaged community members of Philippi. PEDI was established in 1998 as a Section 21 Company (NPO) by the City of Cape Town in partnership with the Western Cape Provincial Government, businesses and the community. From the outset, its primary aim was to promote economic growth and development in the Philippi Industrial area. PEDI has had a permanent presence in Philippi since 2011. “Across the Philippi community, individuals and organisations are working to transform the area for the benefit of residents and businesses alike. There are catalysts that we know can fundamentally alter our story. Here at PEDI we are making it our business to find the right ones, and to link entities who are keen to work together to have even greater impact than they can alone,” says PEDI CEO Thomas Swana in a statement on their website. “We don’t only want to make it a nicer place to live. Here at PEDI we like to describe the wider Philippi area as the Central Suburbs – a pivotal node for the whole city which can help to make Cape Town a more integrated city, economically and socially.” A group of 22 urban farmers will be trained in organic farming methods in the next 12 months. They will further be assisted to achieve Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) status on their farms. The academy also plans to take in a graduate intern for a year to hone their academic skills at the academy. Additionally, three employment opportunities will be created for unemployed matriculants from the Philippi area and surrounds for those who intend to pursue studies in agriculture. “The value of urban agriculture cannot be overstated and can be seen as an important sector in the local economy that helps to ensure food security, stimulate economic growth, and address unemployment,” says Vos. The academy currently operates at the Philippi Fresh Produce Market on Stock Road, Philippi, where 13 local residents are employed under the supervision of farm manager, Zodidi Meke. Meke was an unemployed graduate who excelled at the academy, and has already been acknowledged with a farmer’s award by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture at their ‘Women in Agriculture’ awards last year.