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  • About us
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    • Earth Markets
    • What is the Narrative Label?
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    • Slow Cheese
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Home » 10.000 Orti in Africa » Avontuur educational garden

Avontuur educational garden

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South Africa

Western Cape

The Avontuur agro-ecological site is a community garden run by farm dwellers in the Avontuur area of the Western Cape. The garden is on 2,5 hectares of land adjoining the local primary school with a land use agreement in place. The children from the school are involved in the garden, enhancing their capacity and building motivation amongst young people. The garden was initiated in 2009 and is worked by 7 full time beneficiaries (6 women and 1 man) with the school learners contributing part time. The site is implementing a number of agro-ecological land use techniques including companion planting, nitrogen fixing, water harvesting and seed harvesting.
Produce is used to supplement household food, as part of the school feeding scheme to ensure learners have access to healthy food and some surplus is sold at affordable prices in the community.
Avontuur is now serving as a "learning site" for other groups who are establishing agro-ecological production sites. Producers undertake site visits to Avontuur and the Avontuur producers are also available to visit new sites and offer advice on technical and institutional matters.
In collaboration with the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, the Surplus People Project (www.spp.org.za) is helping the growers apply agroecological principles.

Garden Location
Avontuur, Western Cape province

Slow Food in South Africa

In the “Rainbow Nation,” indigenous ethnic groups—the Zulu, Xhosa, Venda and Tsonga to name just a few—have over the centuries been joined by Portuguese, British and Dutch colonizers, then subsequently by waves of Asian immigration. South Africa has the highest number of people of Indian descent outside of India in the world. Hundreds of languages are spoken across the many diverse environments, from the temperate and Mediterranean-like West Cape to the arid Karoo and the subtropical northeast. But the country’s spectacular biodiversity is being destroyed by human activity. Agricultural biodiversity, for example, has been drastically reduced due to the widespread use of GMO seeds. Around 80% of the maize being cultivated is genetically modified. This type of agriculture is linked to the similarly industrialized production of foods high in sugar, salt, fat, additives and refined flour, creating eating habits that are leading to a rapid increase in heart disease and obesity. For these reasons, the Slow Food network in South Africa is working to highlight the relationship between food and health. Awareness is being raised among consumers about the importance of eating local, seasonal food, and the Slow Meat campaign is promoting more responsible meat consumption, with lower quantities, higher quality and the use of different cuts to avoid waste. It is not just consumers who are in need of better information. South Africa also has many small-scale farming families with little basic knowledge who urgently need technical training in order to help them develop sustainable agriculture practices. The 10,000 Gardens in Africa project is therefore of particular importance to the country’s development and the health of its people.

Garden Informations

Types:School Garden
Coordinatore:Mandy Barnes
Sibling with:Slow Food Katy Trail Convivium, USA

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