Community garden launched

At the launch, Dischem Foundation in Midrand, who started the garden two months ago, also announced the plans for phase two which would see community members receiving their own allotments to grow veggies for themselves.

Director for Dischem Pharmacy and founder of Dischem Foundation, Lynette Saltzman said the food garden launch was an exciting venture.

“This initiative makes a great difference in the lives of the beneficiaries. Every week we donate fresh produce to various non-governmental organisations,” Saltzman said.

“We are excited that the next phase of our project will be to involve community members in Midrand which includes Diepsloot and Ivory Park, who will receive land allotments to grow their own vegetables.”

Programme manager for Dischem Foundation, Penny Stein said the land had previously not been used profitably.

“The land where the garden is was just a huge dumping place. We cleared it and decided to start a garden there,” Stein said.

“About 21 million people in South Africa do not have food on a regular basis. Our garden currently feeds about 5 000 people through non-governmental organisation such as African Children’s Feeding Scheme, FeedSA and other feeding schemes in Alexandra.”

Timothy Mabuza from the Department of Agriculture said the food gardening initiative is a great way to encourage people to eat healthy food.

“As the Department of Agriculture, we are involved in this project to offer training and advice to community members who will be involved in the food garden. To advise them how to work the land and keep records of their produce,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries of the food garden is African Children’s Feeding Scheme. The Scheme’s operations manager Jwalane Molaba said, “We feed 31 000 children a day and the produce from the food garden has made that possible. We have a centre in Tembisa where we feed 61 families.”