Food Gardens Research Articles

The performance and support of food gardens in some townships of the Cape Metropolitan Area: An evaluation of Abalimi Bezekhaya1

Drawing on an evaluation of the gardening promotion activities of Abalimi Bezekhaya, a gardening organisation operating in the townships of the Cape Metropolitan Area, this article puts forward recommendations and policy directives for the development of urban agricultural initiatives. Field research, undertaken with gardeners in the townships, utilised participatory methodologies to elicit their opinions and gain insight into their motivations for gardening, the various constraints they face, and their opinion of the services provided by Abalimi Bezekhaya. From these exercises, recommendations were made to the organisation on how it could improve its services to the communities. In addition, the evaluation revealed that urban agriculture offers gardeners an opportunity to become involved in a development strategy which holds tremendous potential and which can expand into an entrepreneurial activity, if due attention is paid to issues of policy, agricultural development, land reform and the creation of livelihoods.

Organic contaminants in municipal biosolids: risk assessment, quantitative pathways analysis, and current research priorities

Basic research and monitoring of the fate and potential effects of PCBs and other xenobiotic organics in biosolids (municipal sewage sludge) used on cropland have identified specific Pathways by which the xenobiotic organics in biosolids can reach and cause exposure to humans, livestock, plants, soil biota, wildlife, etc. In order to provide the scientific basis for the Clean Water Act Regulations (40 CFR 503) on land application of biosolids in the U.S., a Pathway Approach to risk assessment was undertaken. Pathways included general food production; garden food production; soil ingestion by humans, livestock, and wildlife; human exposure through livestock tissues where the livestock were exposed through crop contamination or biosolids/soil ingestion; wildlife exposure through soil organisms; release to surface and groundwater; volatilization into inhaled air, or dust generated by tillage. Two Pathways were found to comprise the greatest risk from persistent lipophilic organic compounds such as PCBs: (1) adherence of biosolids to forage/pasture crops from surface application of fluid biosolids, followed by grazing and ingestion of biosolids by livestock used as human food; and (2) direct ingestion of biosolids by children. Each Pathway considers risk to Highly Exposed Individuals (HEIs) rather than to the general population who seldom have appreciable exposure to biosolids or foods grown on biosolid-amended soils. Because present (1995) biosolids contain very low levels of PCBs in countries which have prohibited manufacture and use of these compounds, the estimated increase in lifetime cancer risk to HEIs from biosolids-borne PCBs applied to cropland or gardens was much less than 10−4. Low biosolids PCBs and low probability of simultaneously meeting all the constraints of the HEI indicate that HEIs have less than 10−7 increase in lifetime cancer risk from biosolids-borne PCBs; this provides even higher protection to the general population. We conclude that quantitative risk assessment for potentially toxic constituents in biosolids can be meaningfully conducted because research has provided transfer coefficients from biosolids and biosolid-amended soils to plants and animals needed to assess risk for many organic compounds.

Rutgers Urban Gardening: A Case Study in Urban Agriculture

ABSTRACT Recent research into urban agriculture shows that it brings major benefits to the urban environment. Apart from improving local food supplies, urban agriculture puts marginal lands to wise use and absorbs wastes in the form of compost. In 1994, Rutgers Urban Gardening (RUG) transformed 30 acres of city waste land in Newark, New Jersey into 1,900 food gardens involving about 6,500 city residents growing vegetables and other food crops worth over $915,000. Nearly 4,000 tons of city leaves were recycled and used as compost in these gardens. Feeding people in the cities is becoming a larger problem as more people flood into them. RUG played an outstanding role in producing fresh and nutritious food close to home at a reduced cost to the participants. Gardens also became places for social interaction. Forty-four percent believed the fresh vegetables consumed improved their diet; 31.3% developed new friendships; 29.0% helped others; 14.5% shared their produce; 13.1% indicated gardening activity improved the neighborhood. The program reached diverse audiences representing over 30 ethnic groups. The participants saved approximately $4 million in 5 years by growing food in formerly garbage-filled public land.

Winter Annual Cover crops for the Home Food Garden

Cover crops add organic matter, improve soil fertility, prevent soil erosion and compaction and suppress weeds, but they can be difficult to manage at the home garden scale. Because incorporating the entire cover crop into the soil with garden tools can be problematic, two alternative strategies were explored: 1. clipping and removing aboveground vegetation before spading. 2. killing winter annual cover crops by mowing after they flower. Seven winter annual grasses and one legume [hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.)] were evaluated. Roots + stubble of winter rye (Secale cereale L.) were easy to spade in late spring once the top growth was removed. Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), field brome (Bromus arvensis L.) and 'Blando' Brome (Bromus mollis L.) gave better ground cover than rye but their roots + stubble were much more difficult to spade. Rye could be controlled by clipping close to the ground after it began to shed pollen in late May, whereas ryegrass, field brome, Blando brome and annual bluegrass all regrew. Triticale (Triticum X Secale) and five early varieties of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) all shed pollen later than rye, which suggests that they could not be mow-killed as early in the season. Rye + hairy vetch mowed just prior to transplanting tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in May or early June provided a moisture-consering, weed-suppressing mulch through the growing season. Additional mowing between plants was needed to control rye regrowth, but a single late-spring cutting to a low (2-in) stubble height has prevented regrowth of rye + vetch in other studies at the same location. Early-season tomato yields were lower in mowed than in soil-incorporated rye + vetch, possibly because the mulch cooled the soil and delayed mineralization of nitrogen. However, the mulch did not significantly lower total yields, and it saved labor on weeding, conserved soil moisture, and possibly reduced fruit cracking.

Urban food gardening in the Pacific Islands: A basis for food security in rapidly urbanising small-island states

Urban food gardening is seen as an important means of overcoming problems caused by unemployment, inequality, poverty, falling real wages, malnutrition and nutrition-related degenerative diseases in the small-island states of the Pacific Ocean, such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati and Nauru. This paper argues that the formal promotion, expansion and improvement of small-scale urban food gardening is a direct and economically, socially, technologically and nutritionally appropriate means of bringing about sustainable national development and promoting food security. Despite the fact that the potential urban foods production is not clearly understood by planners and policy makers, it should be viewed as a component of agricultural development strategies given the benefits it confers. Policies which would lead to its growth are discussed.

Urban agriculture in South Africa: Policy issues from the international experience

Recently, an increase has been observed in the practices of urban food gardening and the cultivation of vacant land on the peripheries of South Africa's metropolitan areas. In this paper it is argued that urban agriculture represents an issue of considerable importance for South African policy makers. A review is undertaken of research on informal agriculture in Asian and African cities. On the basis of this International review certain suggestions are offered for policy debates and research in South Africa.

Control of taro leaf blight using metalaxyl

Abstract Metalaxyl with copper (as 0.3% Ridomil plus 72 w.p.) gives excellent control of taro leaf blight (Phytophthora colocasiae) when applied at fortnightly intervals using a knapsack sprayer. This provides a useful tool for taro research and suggests a way to control the disease in subsistence food gardens which may be preferable both to the development and introduction of elite cultivars and to attempts at cultural control.

Household Gardens as a Development Strategy

Household food gardens have been a major subsistence strategy for Homo sapiens since the Neolithic, and their form and function are intimately related to the evolution of society, culture and agriculture. Gardens have played an important role in the domestication of grain and root crops and continue to serve as an avenue for the introduction and adaptation of new crops (Johnson 1972; Niiiez 1984). Household gardens also serve important economic, nutritional and social functions not only in largely agricultural, developing countries, but also in highly industrialized, developed countries like the U.S.' Household gardens, however, cannot be justified as a development strategy solely because of their ability and persistence in serving a wide range of needs. Rather, programs to support gardens must be examined as an alternative use of scarce development resources. There may be better ways to use these resources than in promoting gardens and there may be very good reasons why some households do not have gardens, or why others do not have bigger or different gardens. On the other hand, household gardens, because of their special characteristics, may be able to play an important role in supporting development. We define development as the process of improvement in the well-being of the poor majority of the population in ways that are sustainable socially, economically and environmentally over the long term (see Cox and Atkins 1979:677; Lappe and Collins 1978; Latham 1979: 198; Perelman 1977:3; Todaro 1985:85). After defining household gardens and discussing them within the context of development practice and theory, we will summarize evidence for household gardens as a viable development strategy for improving food production, nutrition, and income.

The Persistence of Women's Invisibility in Agriculture: Theoretical and Policy Lessons from Lesotho and Sierra Leone

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Persistence of Women's Invisibility in Agriculture: Theoretical and Policy Lessons from Lesotho and Sierra LeoneConstantina Safilios-RothschildConstantina Safilios-Rothschild Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 33, Number 2Jan., 1985 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/451462 Views: 39Total views on this site Citations: 26Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1985 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Romy Santpoort, Griet Steel, Andrew Mkandawire, Clemente Ntauazi, El Hadji Faye, Fridah Githuku The Land Is Ours: Bottom-Up Strategies to Secure Rural Women's Access, Control and Rights to Land in Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal and Malawi, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 5 (Dec 2021).https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.697314Hannatou O. Moussa, Charles I. Nwankwo, Ali M. Aminou, David A. Stern, Bettina I. G. Haussmann, Ludger Herrmann Sanitized human urine (Oga) as a fertilizer auto-innovation from women farmers in Niger, Agronomy for Sustainable Development 41, no.44 (Jul 2021).https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-021-00675-2Odile Mackett Female farm holding in Botswana's agriculture industry, Agrekon 60, no.33 (Jul 2021): 317–334.https://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2021.1940222Corinna May Walsh, Michelle Shannon Fouché, Mariette Nel, Frederik Booysen The Impact of a Household Food Garden Intervention on Food Security in Lesotho, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no.2222 (Nov 2020): 8625.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228625M. Carnegie, P.S. Cornish, K.K. Htwe, N.N. Htwe Gender, decision-making and farm practice change: An action learning intervention in Myanmar, Journal of Rural Studies 78 (Aug 2020): 503–515.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.01.002Henning Bjornlund, Alec Zuo, Sarah Ann Wheeler, Karen Parry, Jamie Pittock, Makarius Mdemu, Martin Moyo The dynamics of the relationship between household decision-making and farm household income in small-scale irrigation schemes in southern Africa, Agricultural Water Management 213 (Mar 2019): 135–145.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.10.002Oljira Alemayehu, Belay Fenet Review on gendered perspective of households participation in agricultural activities in Ethiopia, Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development 11, no.11 (Jan 2019): 1–10.https://doi.org/10.5897/JAERD2018.0985Symen A. Brouwers The Positive Role of Culture: What Cross-Cultural Psychology Has to Offer to Developmental Aid Effectiveness Research, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 49, no.44 (Aug 2017): 519–534.https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117723530Gearoid Millar “We Have No Voice for That”: Land Rights, Power, and Gender in Rural Sierra Leone, Journal of Human Rights 14, no.44 (Apr 2015): 445–462.https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2015.1032219A. Galiè, J. Jiggins, P.C. Struik Women's identity as farmers: A case study from ten households in Syria, NJAS: Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 64-65, no.11 (Mar 2022): 25–33.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.njas.2012.10.001Kammila Naidoo, Rachel Matsie, Angela Ochse ‘Resting’, AIDS-affliction and marital constraints: Engendered livelihood issues in the aftermath of Lesotho mineworker retrenchments, Development Southern Africa 28, no.55 (Dec 2011): 681–689.https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2011.623925Mateusz Filipski, J. 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Quisumbing Male-female differences in agricultural productivity: Methodological issues and empirical evidence, World Development 24, no.1010 (Oct 1996): 1579–1595.https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(96)00059-9Dia Cha, Cathy A. Small Policy lessons from Lao and Hmong women in Thai refugee camps, World Development 22, no.77 (Jul 1994): 1045–1059.https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(94)90147-3Fiona MacPhail, Paul Bowles Technical change and intra‐household welfare: A case study of irrigated rice production in south Sulawesi, Indonesia, Journal of Development Studies 26, no.11 (Oct 1989): 58–80.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388908422140Anthony B. Shaw Approaches to agricultural technology adoption and consequences of adoption in the third world: a critical review, Geoforum 18, no.11 (Jan 1987): 1–19.https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7185(87)90017-0Lovemore M. 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Food Gardening: For Beginners and Experts

Food Gardening: For Beginners and Experts

(1) The Mothercraft Manual (2) The Home and the Family: An Elementary Text-book of Home-making (3) Food Gardening for Beginners and Experts (4) One Hundred Points in Food Economy

(1) The Mothercraft Manual (2) The Home and the Family: An Elementary Text-book of Home-making (3) Food Gardening for Beginners and Experts (4) One Hundred Points in Food Economy