
Food Gardens in Africa
Welcome to the Slow Food Gardens in Africa, a vibrant network dedicated to fostering biodiversity, honoring traditional knowledge, and supporting small-scale agriculture across the continent. This initiative is a beacon of hope and action, working to establish many good, clean, and fair food gardens in schools and communities throughout Africa.
Why is this initiative vital? In a continent as diverse and rich in cultural heritage as Africa, the preservation of food biodiversity and the promotion of access to healthy, fresh food are essential. These gardens serve as a living classroom for the younger generation, teaching them the importance of sustainability and nutrition and inspiring a cadre of leaders who recognize the value of their land and culture and the crucial role they play in shaping the future of their countries and the African continent at large.
Empowering Communities Through Agroecology – Initiating an agroecological garden in Africa transcends traditional farming practices. It’s a profound political act that champions the small-scale farmers who form the backbone of the continent’s food production. These gardens are pivotal in strengthening local economies, preserving cultural identities, and safeguarding the environment and agrobiodiversity.
The Slow Food Gardens in Africa are not just plots of land where food is grown; they are nurturing grounds for food security, nutrition, and the celebration of indigenous crops, including traditional and heirloom varieties. Emphasizing sustainable agriculture, these gardens minimize the reliance on harmful pesticides and herbicides, conserve water, and enhance soil fertility through agroecological methods.
By engaging with the Slow Food Gardens in Africa, you’re joining a movement that does more than just cultivate plants. You’re supporting a network that educates, empowers, and ensures the sustainability of food.
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What We Do
Support local communities in their journey towards a better food system
Provide our local network with tools and guidelines to set up an agroecological garden
Link gardeners with a wider network of colleagues from all over the continent and with trained national garden coordinators of reference, for daily support
Empower local producers with technical trainings on agroecology
Facilitate gardens’ education and advocacy events in the gardens
Monitor & Evaluate the results and impact of the gardens
Share successful stories within and outside the network through films, publications, articles, conferences and more.
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What You Can Do
In Africa
As an individual
Find out where the closes garden is to you and start engaging in the activities or consider to launch your own Community or School garden
Discover moreAs an institution or municipality
Facilitate the launch of new gardens by integrating them in school curricula or development planning
Discover moreOutside Africa
As an Individual, a donor, a foundation, a school, a SF community
Financially support the resilience of the program by making a donation
Support the program by sharing it within your network
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How To Set Up A Garden
Make sure that the gardens will be properly followed in the future. To make it thrive, we raccomend to have a group of approximately 10 people/students and a Garden Manager following the daily activities – if you don’t have a community, create one!
This form collects the basic information on the gardens, like where it is and who manages it
Agroecology is the beating heart of SF gardens, make sure that the people managing the garden receive accurate information on how to make their own compost, multiply their seeds, enrich the soil, preserve local species of crops…the Handbook is a very helpful resource that can support you in developing a training
The resilience of a garden increase if the gardens receive the support of the local community – spread the word and work towards a constant strengthening of the network
Complete the forms to better understand the overall development of the garden’s activities, what is working very well and what can be improved in the future
The F2 form, collects data on the garden (crops, management, use of natural resources..) and needs to be filled in at every cropping season
The F3 form aims to measure the impact of community gardens at household level, measuring income generation, food security, benefits on health and other aspects
The Slow Food gardens network is wide and full of experienced gardeners who are very to share their knowledge, wisdom and techniques with you
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