[Sdpg] Permaculture Could Improve Food Security in Africa

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Permaculture Could Improve Food Security in Africa

BuaNews (Pretoria) http://allafrica.com/stories/200406150233.html

June 15, 2004
Posted to the web June 15, 2004

Stephen Mbogo
Johannesburg

It's lunchtime at Ikaneng Primary School in the heart of Soweto and 
10-year-old seventh grader Tsherelo Jobo rushes to fill his stomach with 
food grown at the school.

Jobo's school practices permaculture, a method of community gardening and 
tree planting that uses sustainable organic farming technology.

Permaculture, derived from the words 'permanent agriculture', was started 
as a project 10 years ago by a South African greening organisation called 
Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA).

Although the project's main aim was to ensure sustainable development 
mainly through the planting of trees, it has turned out to be an important 
food source and educational tool for young school children.

Ikaneng principal, Flora Lesele, says the project has broadened the minds 
of the children and increased their interest in farming.

"Previously, when the children ate organic cabbage, they did not know what 
it needed to grow, until we started the permaculture programmes," Ms Lesele 
explains.

The school started the programme in 1999 and since then, the learning 
environment and performance has improved substantially.

The children and their parents work on small patches of land divided into 
small plots measuring three metres.

They enrich the soil with compost from the school's compost heap and grow 
cabbages, kale and carrots.

They also grow herbs, which, says teacher Rachael Kgaswe, are used by the 
school community to treat minor infections.

The vegetables are used to feed poor children and are also sold to the 
local community.

Sale proceeds are usually ploughed back into the gardens.

This scenario has been replicated at 500 schools across South Africa and in 
Uganda and Costa Rica.

A parallel programme, known as Trees for Homes, also run by the FTFA, has 
facilitated the planting of more than 2 million trees in South Africa in 
the last ten years.

FTFA executive officer, Jueness Park, believes that the permaculture 
programme offers a great sustainable development opportunity for the 
African continent.

In addition to addressing environmental, food security and educational 
needs, the system raises important issues in the minds of young Africans, 
who are likely to make a positive change in future, Park says.

According to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 
Africa's food situation is very poor.

In 2003, Africa produced a total of 93 million tonnes of cereals, and had 
to import 22 million tonnes, 19 million more tonnes for commercial use and 
about 3 million tonnes as food aid.

Today nearly 800 million people in the developing world remain hungry and 
poor - and 650 million of them live in the Least Developed Countries 
(LDCs), most of which are in Africa, says the FAO.

Successive studies in Africa have blamed lack of the new farming 
technologies as a significant cause of the continent's food security problems.

Experts say African farmers can use the technology, not only to put food on 
the table, but also to tap into the $20 billion annual world market in 
premium organic foods.

The Germany-based Foundation for Ecology and Agriculture revealed that 
while organic farming techniques generally yield about 30 percent less food 
per acre in developed countries, the reverse is true in the Third World 
where overworked land benefits when organic techniques help return 
nutrients to the soil.

Professor Diran Makinde of AfricaBio says African farmers can grow crops 
such as bananas, cowpeas, cotton, corn and soybeans with the assistance of 
biotechnology.

	Prof Makinde says biotechnology should be used as a tool to boost crop 
quality and improve agricultural efficiency in Africa.

"I want African farmers to be able to access this technology and assess the 
benefits for themselves," Prof Makinde emphasises