EarthBoxes to help Alex

Portable, environmentally friendly food gardens called EarthBoxes have been donated to residents in Alexandra to help them grow fresh vegetables for the table.
HAVING food gardens in our homes makes a major contribution to ensuring that we get fresh vegetables on a sustainable basis in the most affordable way.

Preparing an EarthBox (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)Preparing an EarthBox (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)This is according to the City’s portfolio head of health and social development, Nonceba Molwele, who was speaking at the launch of a food garden project at Thoko Mngoma Clinic in Alexandra on Friday, 11 November. At the launch, some 200 residents of the township received EarthBox gardening equipment, which came with seedlings.

One of them, Zodwa Khumalo, who lives on 12th Avenue, said he was happy with the gift because “now I can plant and enjoy fresh vegetables with my family”.

EarthBox is portable food garden that is environmental friendly, self-watering and weed resistant. The bathtub-looking container comes with a water reservoir to make sure that vegetables are watered continually, a water pipe, and a screen to control the amount of heat hitting the plants.

“With these food gardens, which are donated by the Food and Agricultural Organisation [FAO] of the United Nations, we urge the communities of Alexandra and the surroundings to look after these gardens and to utilise this investment seed maximally,” Molwele said.

It was important for the recipients to look after their gardens because they were a tool that would help the community push back the frontiers of poverty.

Easy way toAn EarthBox: Easy and affordable way to grow vegetables“As the [member of the mayoral committee] for health and social development, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations for such a wonderful and important donation and will urge the communities to please look after this all-important tool.”

The FAO’s mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve agricultural productivity, better the lives of rural populations, and contribute to the growth or the world economy, according to its website.

It has over 190 member nations, two associate members and one member organisation, the European Union. Its South African office was opened in 1997. The presentation office is in Pretoria, while the regional office is in Sunninghill, in northern Johannesburg.

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