Gil Arbel, owner of Agri Renaissance, piloted the food gardens programme at the request of Hon. Minister Lindiwe Sisulu (Ministry of Human Settlements) in 2008 – 2009.
The pilot project covered 30 houses. As Delft was built on sand dunes, in summer wild south-easter windsblow sand into the eyes, ears and nose of the residents. Gusts heap sand in houses and on the road. In Winter, heavy rains turn the sand into soft mud and often flooding dumps sand in the homes. For this reason, green patches with food gardens were conceived.
After testing the soil (which was mainly sand) a special bio-compost was introduced in the planting areas, bath water was routed into underground irrigation pipes and seeds germinated in a commercial nursery were planted. The result was houses with attractive patches of Green growing range of vegetables including cabbage, spinach and onions. Part of the deal was also to grow grass in the pathways which would help anchor the soil.
In August 2009, Tokyo Sexwale, the successor of the former Minister in Ministry of Re settlements, toured the 30 food gardens in Delft, where thousands of government subsidized houses were built. He was given a presentation on costs involved to grow green patches for the rest of the households. It costed about R10,000 per house as most part of this expense was for routing the water to the vegetables. He was informed that the green patches will go a long way and help residents with food security as well as beautify the low-cost housing changing the perception of the people living there.
