WCDoA honours its TOP FOOD GARDEN PRODUCERS

by Dr Hlamalani

IIn 2011, the food garden competition was launched by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) with the aim to recognise, reward and encourage food garden producers within the Western Cape. The goal is always to encourage subsistence farmers and food producers (including households) to produce food in a sustainable way, thus responding to the challenges of food insecurity in rural, urban and peri-urban areas. The food garden competition further seeks to heighten public awareness on the global challenges of hunger and malnutrition.

Each district team, together with the support of the Agricultural Producer and Support Development (APSD): Food Security Sub-Programme was responsible for organising and hosting the respective award ceremony within their district. During the month of April 2022, award ceremonies were held in the North West Coast, Swartland and the Garden Route districts. The rest of the award ceremonies took place during May and June 2022. These districts included Overberg, Central Karoo, Cape Winelands and Little Karoo.

The competition aligns with the Western Cape Minister of Agriculture’s One Home, One Garden Campaign in response to the increased threat of food insecurity aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Ivan Meyer said: “Ultimately, we want households to shift away from their reliance on the supermarkets for fresh produce and ensure greater access to produce to meet the nutritional needs of families.” This approach has helped to combat high levels of food insecurity and enhances the wellbeing and dignity of people in various communities.

In the Overberg district for instance, a total of 92 household gardens, 13 community gardens and three school gardens competition entries were received.

To ensure transparency, objectivity and fairness in line with the competition’s code of conduct, the selection of winners for each category was done by two sets of structures: Evaluation Committee and Adjudication Committee

The Evaluation Committee comprised of internal officials.

The Adjudication Committee was a multidisciplinary team comprising of representatives from various internal programmes within the Department, as well as external stakeholders, such as the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), Provincial Department of Health, Education, Social Development and municipalities.

The Evaluation Committee did the first level of evaluation after receiving the entry forms with photos. They then recommended a shortlist of gardeners to the Adjudication Committee. The Adjudication Committee conducted site visits to all shortlisted projects and determined the winners, 1st runner-up and 2nd runner-up in both categories.