GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - In a province facing food insecurity and climate change challenges, two researchers are looking into food gardening as a way to improve food sovereignty.
Ruwimbo Mutirwara, a doctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University, Makhanda, and her assistant, Xolisa Maganca, are looking into the role of food gardening as a nature-based approach to ensure food security and enable climate change adaptation in two Eastern Cape towns, Port Alfred and Graaff-Reinet.
Mutirwara is particularly interested in the types of vegetables urban residents grow, the benefits gardeners obtain from growing their own food, the challenges they face and measures taken to adapt to extreme weather conditions, including the recent drought.
Neighbourhood hopping
To gather this information, Mutirwara and Maganca move about neighbourhoods looking for households, schools and health facilities with vegetable gardens. After spending five months in Port Alfred, they started working in Graaff-Reinet at the beginning of April this year.
If they spot a vegetable garden, they usually make an appointment with the gardener and ask questions from an approved questionnaire.
Because they want to promote food gardening, they also give seeds to the gardeners as a token of appreciation. In addition, Mutirwara also talk to non-gardeners to understand why they do not grow their own vegetables.
Calling all food gardeners
To date, Mutirwara has interviewed 108 participants in Graaff-Reinet across different socio-economic demographics. She has obtained the targeted number of participants in uMasizakhe, Santaville, Asherville, and Kroonvale, but still needs more participants in Spandauville, Cypress Grove, Market Square and the Horseshoe areas.
She is eager to see the gardening practices in the different socio-economic areas of the town, and how these influence the economic, social, health, environmental and aesthetic benefits obtained from food gardening.
"We're very grateful to Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality for allowing us to conduct our research here, and to all the participants, community leaders and organisations who have gone out of their way to make this work a success. We have been warmly embraced and the excitement we have witnessed pushes us to do more every day. A big thank you to the people of Graaff-Reinet," said Mutirwara.
Contact details:
Those who would want to participate in the research or know more about the project, can contact Mutirwara via email at g22m7252@campus.ru.ac.za or on 079 427 1151.
Remember, the size, type and condition of the garden doesn't matter, as long as there is a patch where vegetables are grown.
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