Urban farmers were not trying to maximise their profits but were actually forming strong
social networks by working together to plant gardens. Flickr/Gemma Pitcher
the city’s food system overall, the 6,000 urban
farmers who are growing their own food and
selling surplus on Cape Town’s Cape Flats find
it an irreplaceable part of their livelihoods.
For such farmers, it is well-known that growing
their own food helps them diversify their
family’s diet, and selling surplus provides
additional income. But our research shows
you don’t have to farm at a large scale to reap
significant benefits.
By talking to the farmers, we found that even
having a small backyard food garden puts
you in touch with neighbours, NGOs and local
government, which in turn creates a wealth of
spin-off benefits.
Our research shows that building social
networks is one of the greatest benefits of
urban agriculture in poor areas. This research
was conducted on the Cape Flats, a vast
residential area of mainly low-cost council
housing and shacks.
As a legacy of apartheid-era racial segregation,
the Cape Flats has high unemployment rates,
limited access to amenities and prevalent
crime. In such an environment, fear and
mistrust curtail positive social interactions,
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
while economic hardship limits access to
adequate healthy food.
In this context, the real value of urban
agriculture is not only in generating income for
the economically marginalised, but it is found
in expanding social networks. These networks
help farmers draw on emotional and practical
support during tough times.
The research involved interviews with 59
farmers throughout the Cape Flats, from
home gardeners to larger commercial farming
groups.
New findings
Most studies have been focused on the
economics of urban agriculture. Only a couple
of case studies done in Cape Town and Nairobi
indicated that the benefits to urban farming
were far more nuanced.
By asking more qualitative questions, these
studies revealed something startling. Urban
farmers were not trying to maximise their
profits but were forming strong social
networks by working together to plant
gardens.
Inspired by these findings, we decided to see
if the same applied on the Cape Flats. The
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