Water Wheel Nov/Dec 2021: Water And Food

Abstract

Food security – It takes a village… and a whole lot more In the undulating foothills of the Eastern Cape’s Amathole mountains, the village of Krwakrwa lies a little way off the road between Alice and Hogsback. As in many rural villages in South Africa, the residents survive largely on social grants. Most people of working age – particularly men – have gone to urban centres to find employment, so the population is dominated by older women, some of whom tend homestead gardens. Much of the extensive cropland surrounding the village lies fallow today, and livestock farming is now the main agricultural activity, but the communal rangelands are in poor condition due to overgrazing. Few households have a monthly income exceeding R2 000, so poverty and food insecurity is rife. Electricity is expensive so it is typically only used for lighting, while cooking and heating is done with firewood collected from the veld. This not only results in deforestation, but is a health and safety hazard through exposure to smoke and the risk of accidental burns and house fires.

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