Approach backyard gardening with open mind

Monitor Editor | Monday May 5, 2014 12:12

It has worked well in other countries in Africa and beyond. Why should it not work well for Botswana? It is especially successful when driven  from family or household level before one can expand and translate it into a viable business idea. The first aim is and should be to feed the family with a fresh, sustainable and affordable home grown vegetable supply.  It is a notion that has been championed by the likes of  the first lady of the USA Michell Obama, when she grew her own statehouse backyard garden, in an effort to stimulate interest in backyard gardening among her people in America.

In other first world countries, backyard gardening is practiced even in flats, where tomatoes and other vegetables are grown in pots to feed the family. Perhaps back home in Africa the most successful example of the backyard gardening tradition is our neighbour Zimbabwe.

Today Zimbabweans even in cities do not rely on government to drive backyard gardening, the programme is in automation, it has inspired families and over time became  a culture to be nurtured. In fact the idea of backyard gardening in Botswana was preached  during President Festus Mogae’s era, contrary to some perceptions that it is purely President Ian Khama’s obsession. Former President Mogae was introduced to the idea by a certain local, who preached food security and used the backyard garden as a model that can be used to achieve food security for all.

While we seem to be waxing lyrical about the backyard gardening concept, barring other teething challenges associated with it as it takes shape in Botswana, we are however worried by reports quoting  Government sources as saying that backyard gardening will soon be extended to government institutions such as schools, clinics, and VDC’s. We are not saying backyard gardening in schools will not be successful, offcourse it will.

But when every school in Botswana is able to produce its own vegetables, it also presents another challenge; it means schools would no longer be considered as a market for either home grown vegetables, or commercially grown vegetables, because they can now afford to feed themselves anyway. Then we will have a problem whereby our SMME’s who produce vegetables with the hope of supplying nearby schools, will be struggling to find a market.  We know and we believe that backyard gardening in institutions can be a success, but that success can turn out to be a curse.