Gauteng Smallholder Gauteng Smallholder September 2017 | Page 17

#SAFoodCrisis
S Africans are not home-growers
S
ome years ago a green-
fingered do-gooder
came up with the catchy
idea that one can feed a
family of four on a patch of
land the size of a door. This
was an easy concept for many
to grasp ~ we all know the
size of a door ~ and it
became a common mantra
among those addressing issues
of poverty, hunger and food
security (to use the offi-
cial/academic term): “You can
grow enough food to feed
your family on a patch of land
the size of a door. Why don't
the poor simply grow their
own food?” was the sort of
thoughtless comment one
would hear.
Well, it's simple why “poor
people” don't grow their
door-sized patch of food:
their efforts would be futile,
and anyway, they can't.
If you have tried the door-
In this article in our series of articles and
comments on SA!s food crisis by
Smallholder publisher Pete Bower, we
explore why more South Africans don!t
grow their own vegetables, and how they
therefore DO procure their foodstuffs
frame growing idea you will
have failed in your efforts to
feed your family sustainable.
Hell, three cabbages take up
more space than a door
alone! Even with a mix of
single-plant, multi-harvest
species such as spinach, beans
and tomato, following all the
guidelines of succession-
planting, tilling, fertilizing and
watering, you will still be
hard-pressed to feed your
family sustainable, and will
only manage to fulfil part of
their vegetable requirements.
What about single-harvest
species such as carrot,
beetroot, potato, cauliflower,
cabbage, onion? And even
small plants such as radish?
No chance!
But let's examine the South
African population a bit more
deeply, and divide it into a
few categories. You have rural
poor people, many of whom
live on quite large pieces of
land in what were former
Bantustans (see my Comment
on P1 of the February 2017
edition). They certainly have
enough land on which to
grow food, and very much
more than a single door-
worth.
Then you have urban poor
people, many of whom live in
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“informal settlements.” The
shacks which make up most
informal settlements are so
cheek by jowl that the
residents do not have space
to grow more than a pot
plant or two.
Next, you have traditional
township dwellers. Let me tell
you a tale: A lady I know
from Etwatwa on the East
Continued on page 16