Lesson 1.14 INT. PROJECTS - Self-sustaining food systems

 

FOOD FOREST COURSE

AGRO-ECONOMY Lesson 1.14 

INT. PROJECTS - Self-sustaining food systems  

The active INTERNATIONAL projects 

Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) is a South African non-profit organisation committed to food security and environmental sustainability. It recently launched a Food Forests Initiative and planted the first forest in 2019 at Mother of Peace, a home for orphaned and vulnerable children in Johannesburg.

The design of the forest was “very much based on permaculture principles”, says Mike Pierce, a junior manager at the FTFA. A food forest “is a system, not a garden”, he explains; it is about creating a system that functions together over time to become “as self-sustaining as natural forests are”, minimising labour and maximising food production.

The FTFA facilitators provide initial training and ongoing support so that the people on site “have a really intimate understanding of the system”, says Pierce, enabling the host community to “take ownership and accountability” for the future of the forest.

The Mother of Peace forest is an exemplar of a successful food forest: it is biodiverse, low-maintenance, and productive, providing for both the residents and surrounding wildlife. There are stone-fruit trees, including peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots, with an eye to diverse pest resistance for the fruits and indigenous wild fruit trees for the birds. Fruit trees are planted up with a guild of supporting vegetation which helps them to be as productive as possible. Wild garlic and basil surround the base of the trees to draw in pollinators as well as serving as useful kitchen herbs. There are also granadilla vines (a close relative of passionfruit), corn, squash, brassicas, and other crops, providing a broad range of nutritionally diverse foods for the children.

As the project enters its third year, Pierce claims that “they are going from strength to strength in terms of productivity and knowledge.” With the abundance of food now being grown, some of the produce is sold at local farmers markets, enabling the food forest to continue giving back to the community that has nurtured it.

Examples of urban community food forests include Beacon Food Forest in Seattle, a volunteer-led permaculture project which has put seven acres of disused public land to use, providing crops that anyone is free to harvest. In 2012, the Picasso Food Forest, a grassroots initiative in Parma, became the first urban community food forest in Italy. Project Food Forest is a company based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which designs and establishes food forests across the Midwest. In 2018, the team established the Prairie Ally Food Forest in Luverne, Minnesota, where the public are welcome to forage. This spring they are planting two new food forests, including one on the site of an old school.

The projects join a long-established tradition of communal food forests, including that of Ifran in the Moroccan desert, a forest that has provided an abundance of dates, bananas, figs, pomegranates, guavas, mulberries, and tamarinds to the local community for thousands of years.

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KOZI YA MSITU WA CHAKULA
KILIMO-UCHUMI Somo la 1.14
INT. MIRADI - Mifumo ya chakula inayojitegemea
Miradi inayoendelea ya KIMATAIFA
Chakula na Miti kwa Afrika (FTFA) ni shirika lisilo la faida la Afrika Kusini linalojitolea kwa usalama wa chakula na uendelevu wa mazingira. Hivi majuzi ilizindua Mpango wa Misitu ya Chakula na kupanda msitu wa kwanza mnamo 2019 katika Mama wa Amani, nyumba ya watoto yatima na wanaoishi katika mazingira magumu huko Johannesburg.
Muundo wa msitu huo "ulitegemea sana kanuni za kilimo cha kudumu", anasema Mike Pierce, meneja mdogo katika FTFA. Msitu wa chakula "ni mfumo, sio bustani", anaelezea; inahusu kuunda mfumo unaofanya kazi pamoja baada ya muda ili "kujitegemea kama misitu asilia", kupunguza nguvu kazi na kuongeza uzalishaji wa chakula.
Wawezeshaji wa FTFA wanatoa mafunzo ya awali na usaidizi unaoendelea ili watu kwenye tovuti "wawe na uelewa wa ndani kabisa wa mfumo", anasema Pierce, na kuwezesha jumuiya mwenyeji "kuchukua umiliki na uwajibikaji" kwa ajili ya mustakabali wa msitu.
Msitu wa Mama wa Amani ni kielelezo cha msitu wa chakula wenye mafanikio: ni wa viumbe hai, wenye utunzaji mdogo, na wenye tija, unaotoa kwa wakazi na wanyamapori wanaouzunguka. Kuna miti ya matunda ya mawe, ikiwa ni pamoja na persikor, squash, nektarini, na parachichi, yenye jicho la kustahimili wadudu mbalimbali kwa matunda na miti ya asili ya matunda ya mwituni kwa ndege. Miti ya matunda hupandwa pamoja na shirika la uoto unaosaidia kuwa na tija iwezekanavyo. Vitunguu saumu mwitu na basil huzunguka msingi wa miti ili kuchora kwenye pollinators na pia kutumika kama mimea ya jikoni muhimu. Pia kuna mizabibu ya granadilla (jamaa wa karibu wa passionfruit), mahindi, boga, brassicas, na mazao mengine, ambayo hutoa aina mbalimbali za vyakula vya lishe kwa watoto.
Mradi huo unapoingia mwaka wake wa tatu, Pierce anadai kwamba "wanaendelea kutoka nguvu hadi nguvu katika suala la tija na maarifa." Kutokana na wingi wa chakula kinacholimwa sasa, baadhi ya mazao hayo yanauzwa katika masoko ya wakulima wa eneo hilo, na hivyo kuwezesha msitu wa chakula kuendelea kurudisha nyuma kwa jamii ambayo imeustawisha.
Mifano ya misitu ya chakula ya jamii ya mijini ni pamoja na Msitu wa Chakula wa Beacon huko Seattle, mradi wa kilimo cha kudumu unaoongozwa na kujitolea ambao umeweka ekari saba za ardhi ya umma ambayo haijatumika kutumika, ikitoa mazao ambayo mtu yeyote yuko huru kuvuna. Mnamo 2012, Msitu wa Chakula wa Picasso, mpango wa msingi huko Parma, ukawa msitu wa kwanza wa chakula wa jamii wa mijini nchini Italia. Project Food Forest ni kampuni iliyoko Sioux Falls, Dakota Kusini, ambayo inabuni na kuanzisha misitu ya chakula kote Midwest. Mnamo 2018, timu ilianzisha Msitu wa Chakula wa Prairie Ally huko Luverne, Minnesota, ambapo umma unakaribishwa kutafuta chakula. Masika haya wanapanda misitu miwili mipya ya chakula, ikijumuisha moja kwenye tovuti ya shule ya zamani.
Miradi hiyo inaungana na mila iliyoanzishwa kwa muda mrefu ya misitu ya chakula cha jumuiya, ikiwa ni pamoja na ile ya Ifran katika jangwa la Morocco, msitu ambao umetoa tende nyingi, migomba, tini, makomamanga, mapera, mulberries na tamarind kwa jamii kwa maelfu. ya miaka.