Restoring The Nutrient Cycle To Return Organic Waste To Farm Soils For Racial And Environmental Equity
Organic and biodegradable waste lost to landfill represents a significant loss of nutrients that when composted and used on farm soils, eliminate the need for costly agro-chemicals that damage the environment and unsustainable. Compost as soil fertilizer on farm soils builds soil health, prevents soil erosion, assists in stormwater management, promotes healthy plant growth, conserves water, combats climate change, saves costs for the farmer while increasing productivity.
The project proposal is to examine whether it is logistically possible to meaningfully connect the city’s need to divert food waste from landfill, to the need for black small-scale farmers to have sufficient quantities of compost made available for free as their primary input.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS
0% of waste generated in the Cape Town is food and biodegradable waste that end up in landfills or illegally dumped that constitute 10% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. This releases methane 22 times more harmful than CO2, pollutes the soil, contaminates groundwater used for potable, irrigation, degrades ecosystems. Landfill sites are approaching capacity.
Industrial agriculture with its roots in colonialism, slavery and capitalism dominate South African agriculture. This extractive agriculture is a high emitter of Green House Gases, degrade soils and biodiversity through the intensive use of synthetic fertilizers.
The livelihoods of black farmers especially women, are threatened by the high cost of agro-chemicals. Women’s participation in food production is higher than men as farm workers, landless farmers, labour tenants, emerging farmers.
Poor quality food produced using agro-chemicals, and organic waste in the environment has an impact on communities’ constitutional right to access healthy food, and the right to a clean and healthy environment.
Impact
Long term impact
The 3000ha peri-urban Philippi Horticultural Area farmland in Cape Town is known as the breadbasket of Cape Town. The PHA is ideally located, has the potential to absorb large quantities of organic waste as compost in farm soils. If achieved, it will consolidate and protect the farmland as the centre of the city’s climate resilience and protect its future.
Free compost will help black small-scale farmers make their farming operations economically sustainable, allow more black farmers to become the succession in the farmland dominated by ageing white farmers; address racism that black small-scale farming is not commercially viable, and affirm local and indigenous farming knowledge and practise as key in advancing racial and environmental equity.
Direct impact:
This project will provide a workable and equitable solution for the city’s waste. It will create new jobs and livelihood opportunities. It will improve access to healthy food for local communities while protecting the environment.
Indirect impact:
Restoring food and biodegradable waste to farm soils could become a model to replicate in other cities and urban centres with similar challenges. Peri-urban farming and peri-urban land could become a viable arena for the just transition and land reform in the country.
