Cause Index

South African Urban Food and Farming Trust

South African Urban Food & Farming Trust: Working to make good food fair and affordable in SA cities.

We do this through:
• Support (land, operations, funding, skills, collaboration, market access, inputs) – individual farms, markets, organisations, projects
• Advocacy (public awareness, facilitation, stakeholder engagement, cohesion) – education, policy, social norms
• Facilities (markets, logistics, storage, distribution) – establishment, operation, leveraging

SAUF+FT offers critical thought and takes meaningful action regarding South African urban food systems. We aim to shift the conversation around urban agriculture and shape the food system on the ground in an effort to build economically, socially and physically healthy communities in South Africa’s cities.

By working to shape and strengthen the SA urban food system we seek to:
1. Strengthen and build intra- and inter-community social cohesion
2. Reduce poverty
3. Improve food security for health
4. Conserve and protect natural resources

Within the complex food system in South Africa, we focus on
• Urban local food systems (Cape Town initially)
• Small and micro-farmers (between NGO-backed food gardens and commercially viable farms)
• Directly edible crops: vegetable, herb and fruit farming (i.e., not grains, livestock/husbandry, dairy, etc. that require further processing)
• Production for local markets (i.e., not for export)
• Farms aspiring toward organic
• Enterprise development and hands-on mentoring and technical support for farms as businesses
• Market access and logistics

What we do:
• Mentoring and advisory services – provide
• Urban Food & Farming communications network (mailing list, wiki, etc.) – establish and manage
• Public communications – implement and sustain
• Local Food Indaba – host
• CSA – establish and operate
• Land Bank – establish and manage
• Community Seed Bank – establish and manage
• Food Policy Council – establish and provide secretariat
• Urban Food Market Forum - establish and provide secretariat
• Farmer’s Markets and Food Hubs – establish and operate

SAUF&F Trust have R1m from the Western Cape Government to initiate other farms in Cape Town in the current financial year.