The Siyakhana Food Garden Project is a Permaculture project located in the inner city of Johannesburg. Brainchild of Professor Michael Rudolph, Head of the Community Dentistry and Health Promotion Unit at Wits University, this Johannesburg inner city food garden initiative arose from Professor Rudolph’s inherent commitment to social reform: he pioneered a Mobile Dental System to provide primary oral health care to thousands of children and adults in indigent areas in South Africa, and worked alongside NGOs providing home-based care to HIV+ and AIDS patients.
Four years later, the Siyakhana project functions as a model and demonstration site for other similar initiatives in Gauteng and surrounding provinces. What began as an arid and infertile one-hectare site in Bezuidenhout Park, allotted by Johannesburg City Parks, is now a thriving profusion of nourishment. Adopting the Permaculture approach, the rock-strewn and clay-filled ground was vividly transformed into rich, fertile soil through dedication, time and a great deal of effort.
Our Mission
Our mission is to establish a model urban agriculture initiativethat showcases a food garden system for food production, education, research, and empowerment of the community, particularly women, through training, employment and income-generating opportunities.
Our Vision
Our vision is to build a culture of sustainable urban agriculture in South Africa that will provide the wider community and households with healthy food and create a human habitat that is conducive to public and environmental health and productivity.
The Siyakhana project is also linked to a group of inner-city community-based organisations. These organisations include home-based care and early childhood development centres that provide vital services to disadvantaged community members.Â
