Hydroponics bring fresh produce to the inner city

12 October 2017

 

The office of the City of Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Development Planning, Cllr Funzela Ngobeni expressed the City’s commitment to revitalise and transform of the Inner City at the launch of the Urban Agricultural Initiative on Wednesday, 11 October 2017.

 

This exciting initiative between the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership, Chamber of Mines, Wouldn’t It Be Cool (WIBC) and other stakeholders aims to create a vibrant urban agricultural ecosystem.

This agricultural ecosystem is underpinned by the innovative rooftop farms using hydroponics and aquaponics to grow fresh produce for the Johannesburg inner city communities.

Balisa Finca, Special Advisor in MMC Ngobeni’s office said: “We are excited about this project. The Executive Mayor is passionate about transforming the inner city and the reality is, if the inner city is going to be transformed it is going to be a collaborative effort.”

“The Johannesburg Inner City Partnership Forum is a very important partner and along with other stakeholders, we hope to work together with them to transform the inner city, particularly through establishing more rooftop gardens,” added Finca.

The project aims to afford entrepreneurs with opportunities to buy produce from rooftop farms, process them and sell it back to residents within the inner city and other areas that lack fresh produce markets.

In addition, it also seeks to provide residents of the city with educational opportunities in this field, create jobs, transfer skills and contribute to the sustainable social developmental goals.

Since the inception of the project, various partners have offered spaces and resources in their buildings to enable entrepreneurs to create sustainable farming enterprises on rooftops

Through this project, the inner city can establish a complete agricultural ecosystem that meets the needs of the majority of food needs in the City, Finca said.