Food & Trees for Africa
“Food & Trees for Africa” is a social enterprise addressing sustainable development through greening, climate change and food security programs. Started in 1990, FTFA has distributed over 3.8 million trees, facilitated the creation of over 2 500 organic food gardens for the poorest in South Africa and launched the first carbon calculator and the Carbon Protocol in this country.
FTFA’s objectives are:
- to contribute to greening, climate change action, sustainable natural resource management and food security;
- to create awareness of the benefits of environmental improvement activities amongst all communities of southern Africa;
- to contribute to poverty alleviation, sustainable development, enhanced environments, capacity building and skills development Working in partnership, and with the support, endorsement and cooperation of government, the private and public sectors, aid agencies, organisations, media and individuals to achieve these aims:
FTFA implements five programmes, namely: Trees for All, Trees for Homes and Bamboo for Africa Programmes (registered under the Carbon Protocol of South Africa), Food Gardens for Africa, and EduPlant, each with various projects. These programmes and projects lead to healthier lives for impoverished communities, more sustainable green environments and increased awareness of our impact on the planet and the need to address this. For a complete list of FTFA’s history, development partners, board members, patrons, employees, projects, products, media, financial statements and more, please refer to the award-winning website: www.trees.co.za.
- Creating employment opportunities for the locals in the fields of monitoring trees and providing assistance and information.
- Building capacity of the community members on creating food gardens at schools and homes.
- Ensuring land sustainably and creating urban forest that contributes to climate change mitigation, and a multitude of environmental best practices.
- Educating residents to respect the environment, and teach them why and how to care for it.
- Increasing income of the locals; as a result of FTFA’s programmes, 7,400 community-based educators have experienced an income increase.
- Supporting the community memebers to grow and sell products to other communities and retailers.
Partners
UNEP partners with Food and Trees for Africa in the context of the 'Billion Tree Project'.
South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries assists FTFA with greening and food security activities.
The Woolworths Trust supports the implementation of the EduPlant programme and the national school food gardening and greening programme.