On Sunday, 16 October, marked World Food Day which is celebrated annually on 16 October. The day is dedicated to highlighting the hunger and poverty challenges facing many communities around the globe. World Food Day also serves to commemorate the founding date of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945.
To mark the day, the City of Tshwane worked with relevant stakeholders to provide several garden tools, vegetable seeds and other tools of trade to Leratong Hospice in Atteridgeville. The City believes that vegetable gardens can contribute positively to poverty alleviation and food security.
This year’s World Food Day theme is Leave NO ONE behind, which speaks to the need to support all the people facing hunger and undernutrition due to multiple challenges, such as the lingering negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing food prices and the need for healthy, nutritious food.
As the theme suggests, it is important that the City uses all available resources to assist poverty stricken Tshwane residents to put food on the table. In this regard, agriculture and natural resources have proven to have great potential to alleviate poverty. Often community and subsistence farming help to fight hunger, but there is sometimes a lack of resources and that is something we are addressing as the Environment and Agriculture Management Department.
Furthermore, the City runs a Food Bank Programme to provide relief to qualifying destitute families and non-governmental organisations. We also have an Indigent Programme that is designed to assist residents who are unable to pay for municipal services, but also serves as a vehicle to fight poverty. These social relief services are provided by the Community Services and Social Development Department.