16-10-2012: Joburg City Parks marks World Food Day
Johannesburg City Parks, the custodians of greening will be marking World Food Day on 16 October 2012 by intensifying its call to residents, business and
the media to support the rollout of community-based food gardens in Joburg.
The Acting Managing Director of City Parks, Mr Bryne Maduka urged residents to start their own food gardens in the City. The global impact of the recession
and the anticipated changes in the weather will impact on food security. “Demand will outgrow supply if we do not start planning ahead,” he added.
World Food Day, observed globally aims to raise public awareness of the food crisis and to encourage solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition
and poverty.
The world’s leading environmentalists have warned that the global food supply system could collapse at any point. This stems from the growing demand for
food, compounded by ever-increasing prices. This will result in the poorest of the poor absorbing the biggest impact. City’s such as Joburg can contain the
effects by putting-in place co-operatives that are able to manage and share harvests, at a community-based level.
Johannesburg City Parks has recently planted 6500 fruit trees and rolled out 42 food gardens in schools and various public institutions.
City Parks has also developed plans in initiate a large-scale urban agriculture site in the far north of the City to encourage smme-farming.
These programmes continue to assist in providing much-need nutrition to vulnerable learners while simultaneously fostering high levels of environmental
awareness in the respective benefiting-communities.
The City of Joburg, through its Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) aims to provide a resilient, liveable and sustainable urban environment to its
residents.
“The simple act of starting a food garden has far-reaching implications”, stated Maduka adding that, “this is a vital tool in teaching us all to respect and
nurture our environment to enable this life source to reciprocate by providing us with a healthy meal”.
Follow these simple five steps to create your own food garden for World Food Day TODAY!
1.Make sure your garden space gets full sun at least 3/4 of the day.
2.Fortify the soil with organic material such as a good compost. Tilling good, fertile soil with your less than fertile soil will help ensure your
vegetables get the nutrients they need to grow healthy, disease free produce. Make your own compost from garden trimmings and kitchen waste.
3.Choose plants that will be well adjusted to each spot, in terms of light, moisture, drainage and soil quality. Reduce the number of weeds you have to
contend with by applying mulch
4.The best time to water plants is usually in the morning. Why? Mornings tend to be cool and without strong winds, so the amount of water lost to
evaporation is reduced. If you water in the evening plants stay damp overnight, making them more likely to be damaged by fungal and bacterial diseases.
Ideally, you want to water the roots, not the greenery, which is easily damaged. Harvest rain water.
5.Harvest and share your produce with others, freeze or pickle.
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ENDS.
Issued by
Bryne Maduka
The Managing Director (Acting)
Johannesburg City Parks
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MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Jenny Moodley
Spokesperson: Johannesburg City Parks
T: 011 712-6615
C: 082 8030 748
E: jmoodley@jhbcityparks.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
W: www.jhbcityparks.com
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