The Enviro Solutions Centre has been running a seed share project which sees them sending seeds to home-growers who support their families.
Swellendam, South Africa (15 March 2024)—Food gardening is growing in popularity in South Africa as more people try to subsidise their grocery bills with homegrown nutrients. The Enviro Solutions Centre (ESC) plays a massive role in ensuring that people have access to seeds, especially in communities where the need is greatest.
They shared the happy news that they have reached a new milestone. ESC continues to grow its food network as part of its seed-sharing initiative. Building on last season’s efforts, which reached over 300 home food gardeners in the Swellendam municipality, ESC has launched a community worker programme in its mission to support more food gardeners.
This initiative has registered 30 community workers across 5 provinces in South Africa to distribute free vegetable seeds to more than 2200 backyard food gardeners.
“Our community worker programme, launched in January 2024, and has exceeded our expectations,” said Steph Lambert, Project Coordinator at ESC. “In just two weeks, due to an overwhelming demand for seeds we reached our registration limit. Our goal is to provide seeds to as many backyard food gardeners as possible, we are grateful for the support of organisations like SEF (Swellendam Environmental Forum), Starke Ayers, and anonymous donors who have generously contributed seeds, packaging, and postage to make this initiative possible.”
Food security is essential in South Africa. Staple crops are the most distributed by ESC, so that families can have wholesome, filling and good storing crops. For winter, the seed packs include:
“We thought having 5 staples would greatly benefit the health of a family and of the soil. The seeds in the pack that each gardener receives for winter planting are Cabbage or Kale, Onions, Spinach, Carrots and Beetroot.”
The next hope is to reach 4,000 home growers for Spring 2024.
“We have also just launched a Thundafund crowdfunding campaign to support our mission for reaching 4000 gardners by the next distribution in September.”
The centre has launched a Thundafund to raise funds to grow its reach. You can support the fund here. You can also follow the progress of the recipients of seeds via the ESC Facebook page here.
Sources: ESC – Supplied
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