A local green engineering firm will be donating seedlings to about 200 households in the Stellenbosch and Klapmuts communities, during July.
This was according to Wihan Bekker, chief-executive officer at African-Data Technologies (AD-Tech).
AD-Tech will be donating vegetable pots with high-grade soil and seedlings to residents in the local communities, as part of their Farming for the Future initiative, said Bekker.
This was thanks to a donation made for seedlings from Ranyaka, a local non-profit urban-planning consultancy.
About 200 households will receive vegetable pots with high-grade soil and seedlings (above), planted by the African Data-Technologies team (AD-Tech), in the Klapmuts and Stellenbosch communities. The AD-Tech team (from left to right): Jean Pierre du Plessis, Wihan Bekker and Roché de Villiers. PHOTO: Supplied by African Data Technologies
AD-Tech will be using about 2 000 seedlings, that have been growing with a garden caretaker in Klapmuts, to support food-security in the communities, said Bekker.
“These seedlings have recently been germinated,” he said.
According to Bekker, donations would be made to households based on beneficiary data supplied from Stellenbosch Unite, a local initiative that aids vulnerable community members during Covid-19, and others who have reached out for help in the community.
“Each household is getting one or two pots with a few spinach seedlings growing in [the pots], which will then eventually turn into enough spinach that will harvest every second day,” said Bekker.
One of African Data-Technologies’ goals is to encourage South African households to become resilient with growing their own food, according to Wihan Bekker (above), executive-chief officer at AD-Tech. PHOTO: Supplied by African Data Technologies
AD-Tech would continue to donate seedlings to communities in need in the future, said Bekker.
Initiatives like Farming for the Future, teach people that you can grow your own food, said Sonja Olivier, marketing and communications manager at Ranyaka.
“It is about empowering people on the ground to take responsibility for their future, by learning what sustainable farming is about,” Olivier said.
AD-Tech is also asking the public to support the initiative through donations, Bekker said.
“[AD-Tech] can support hundreds of families, but we need to buy high-grade growing medium. We can’t expect people to grow in poor soils in their backyard. Compost is crucial to growing vegetables,” he said.
‘It helps more than we think’
Last year, AD-Tech and Ranyaka also planted a vegetable garden at Klapmuts Junior Academy, said Bekker.
The aim was for the school to grow seedlings which learners and their families could then sell to middle and higher-income households, he said.
If AD-Tech could help a family get an extra R30 or R50, it would make a difference, said Bekker.
“Even though we don’t think it helps a lot, I think it helps them more than we think,” he said.
So far, the vegetable garden at Klapmuts Junior Academy has started producing coriander, said Fagma Swart, principal at Klapmuts Junior Academy.
“[The garden] is very good for us. Especially now [during Covid-19], that we have to concentrate on healthy eating to build the immune system up,” Swart said.
Swart’s son looked after the vegetable garden while the school was closed due to Covid-19, she said.
“It is still going well. [My son] is digging, planting, working in the garden every day,” said Swart.
The seedlings donation is part of African Data-Technologies’ food security initiative, Farming for the Future. PHOTO: Supplied by African Data Technologies