A morning at Abalimi Bezekhaya - Cape Town
2012/03/02
Abalimi Bezekhaya, a city of Cape Town initiative, is a Civil Society Organization (CSO) working to improve sustainable food production and nature conservation in organic micro-farms amongst the poor in Cape Town. The initiative promotes sustainable development and community adaptation to climate change while encouraging initiatives which renew, build and conserve social organisation, self-responsibility and the natural environment.
As part of the programme for the visiting researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ICLEI Africa and the City of Cape Town’s ERMD Sustainable Livelihood Unit co-organised and escorted the team to Abalimi Bazekhaya Gardens in Phillippi and Nyanga.
The first station was at Fezeka Community Garden in Philippi where the team met with Rob Small, one of the project co-directors. He gave a brief background on the project and then explained how the community members have started to generate income from land that once had been regarded as wasteland. According to research carried out at the garden a vegetable harvest from 100m2 is enough to feed one family for a year.
The initiative provides a viable livelihood option and food security for the community members. To end the day, the team visited the Business Place in Philippi where vegetables collected from all community gardens in Cape Town are washed, sorted and packaged for delivery to 25 collection centres across the city.
