Chapter 15 - Urban agriculture and agro-environment: A case study of homestead food gardeners in the City of Tshwane, Gauteng Province, South Africa

Abstract

Urban agriculture encourages the production of fresh, nutritious food with low carbon and water footprints, while conserving land, reducing emissions and waste, and providing healthy, affordable, accessible food to a city's poorest residents. Urban agriculture has a major role to play in providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to poor urban households in South Africa through homestead food gardens. Homestead food gardens (HFG) are considered as a means through which rural households can improve their livelihoods and is defined as a piece of land behind a house that is being used for the production of food for the household. Homestead food gardens are part of a program seen as a solution to food security in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng Province. A lot of resources are being directed toward programs intended at aiding in the eradication of food insecurity and poverty by different governmental departments and international organizations, but it does not seem to be helping. The main aim of the research is to establish the contribution of urban agriculture toward food security in a changing environment. The objectives of this paper are (1) to evaluate socio-economic factors among homestead food gardeners, (2) to determine land and crop suitability among homestead food gardeners, and (3) to determine the natural resource management techniques among homestead food gardeners. A total of 270 households participated in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used as a structured questionnaire that was written in English was developed, and field observations and stakeholder discussions were part of the data collection. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 270 households from the list provided by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development GDARD. Data was coded, captured, and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 24). The results showed that the households were mostly female headed, with the majority being above 56years of age and all households were practicing open field production. Out of the 270 community members that participated in the study (31=12%) felt that the initiative was very good, (45=17%) good, (137=51%) fair, (51=19%) poor, and (31=12%) very poor. In terms of sustainability of the gardens not all households were able to generate income from the gardens as 32 (12%) households were able to generate income, 38 (14%) were only aware of environmental matters, and 85 (35%) were supporting social initiatives. Correlation results also indicated a positive association among the following variables: Availability of a garden, household members, age, household income and gender. The study recommends an increase in urban agriculture that includes the following: Monitoring and training of households in terms of agricultural production and natural resources, channeling of policies to benefit the community, intersectoral and interdepartmental collaboration, and youth involvement, to mention a few.