• Food + Nutrition: Feed Hungry Nations!
• Scaling-Up for Sustainable Living
• Related Pages: Lawn History & Our Initiatives
• The Urban Farmer
• Get Growing: Seeds for Africa
• Health + Fitness

Let’s start to minimize our potential health risks through the consumption of questionable products often used for large-scale food production. Let us be more aware of where our food comes from, how it is produced and the impact it has on our environment, other species and our communities as a whole. With the world population expected to grow to close on 10 billion people by 2050 – The food industry will be under extreme pressure to help alleviate poverty and meet nutritional demands to ensure food and social security, globally.

*According to the United Nations (UN) and World Bank (2015) ~

• With a current world population around 8 billion people (2020) – More than 736 million people are living below the international poverty line of US$1.90 (or less) a day
• Around 10% of the world population is living in extreme poverty and struggling for the most basic needs like: Food, health, education, access to water & sanitation, to name a few
• Most people living below the poverty line are from two regions: Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
• As of 2018, 55% of the world’s population have no access to at least one social protection cash benefit
• More than 160 million children are at risk of continuing to live in extreme poverty by 2030

For more information, see links above or find other reputable sources online.

As it stands with efforts for faster food production, it is inevitable that more and more natural resources will need to be acquired for commercial farming; And to the detriment of even more plant and animal species. Large-scale commercial agriculture tends to require big machinery and equipment over vast tracts of land. Massive resource acquisition and diverting of natural water ways, for irrigation, is common practice. Extensive use of inorganic fertilizers, growth hormone, antibiotics, chemicals (insecticides etc.) and GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) production is utilized within commercial agriculture in a valiant effort to feed hungry nations.

With better utilization of existing residential properties and their infrastructure in the way of naturally occurring resources, buildings, irrigation and logistics etc. – We, as a society, can develop diverse portfolios of high performing urban farms to help relieve strains on commercial farming and our ecosystems.

Urban farming on residential or privately owned properties may contribute to better living to some degree. However, scaling this up to larger tracts of land that may be considered ‘under-utilized’ could further drive positive change.

Golf courses (sports grounds), green spaces, community parks, school grounds, business parks, to name just a few; Usually acquire large hectares of land within metropolitan areas. All of these facilities usually have easy access to infrastructure, irrigation, electricity and are surrounded by transport networks. Better utilization of these land masses, coupled with creative approaches could allow for more sustainable, environmental and community based initiatives.

‘Urban farming’ on such properties will not only help feed, but will economically benefit communities through education, skills development and job creation – This should also have a positive social influence over time, if implemented correctly. If certain participating entities do not have the resources to implement and maintain these allocated ‘growing areas’ – These roles can be outsourced to Entrepreneurs, SMEs or even Commercial Businesses (large employers) to ensure the success of such a project; Or land can be leased for commercial ventures and economic gain.

“We all know that water is our most precious resource & without it, life would simply not exist!

Golf courses, as an example, do offer a number of positive attributes to society. However, they do also bring a number of concerns to the table. They tend to be highly resource intensive – Requiring billions of liters of water every year to keep the grass green for an elite status.

They also require excessive fertilization at times… And a tendency to produce an abundance of noise population with ‘mowers & blowers’ to keep the lawns trim and leaves off the tee boxes, cart paths and greens. Indigenous plant and animal species can also tend to suffer. Moreover, Greenkeepers and maintenance staff can often resort to what could be considered inhuman practices, “to keep the wildlife at bay!”

Surely, there is a happy medium, a win-win, where golf courses and other properties taking up large tracts of land can better utilize their resources and adopt greater awareness – Becoming far more sustainable, environmentally friendly and even more community focused.

Seeds for Africa is a privately owned company in South Africa. Formed in 2011 we have a catalogue of over 2600 indigenous African and Exotic plant seeds. We are verified sellers on bidorbuy.co.za where we are consistently the top seller in the garden and outdoor living category. We trade on eBay where we have attained top rated seller status on the United States, German, French and United Kingdom sites. We operate our independent websites www.seedsforafrica.co.za catering to the domestic South African market and www.AfricaSeeds.com catering to the International market.

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