Registro del análisis

The case study investigated the emerging community gardens and the benefits and challenges which relevant interviewee’s experience. Both the biggest benefits as well as the biggest challenge overall with regard to indigenous foods were reflected in the socio-cultural theme, e.g. the challenge to erase the negative perception and lack of knowledge on ITFCs. In the case of ITFCs being an alternative to the current food system, most interviewees rather saw it as an addition which could feed directly into nutrition security.

ITFCs in community gardens may increase as the strategic influences of social change agents’ increase awareness of the benefits of ITFCs. These spaces are associated with the Slow Food movement, Slow Food Youth Network, and the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign. The current economic climate was also cited as a reason why people are reviewing the food system; they are dissatisfied with what the current system is delivering. The competition between resources of the community and where they are invested will differ amongst interest groups. Therefore, these groups should in principle create a profile, “a comprehensive description of the needs of the population that is defined or defines itself, as a community, and the resources that exist within the community, carried out with the active involvement of the community itself…” (Hawtin & Percy-Smith 2007:5).

Education also needs to be targeted for increasing both traditional and academic knowledge of the nutritional values of the ITFCs. The importance and value/worth of these foods within the community needs significantly stronger emphasis. Therefore, restoring the use and maintenance of ITFCs and their environment is highly important for ensuring that knowledge will not be lost to future generations. The participation of civil society and the usage of ITFCs needs to increase through a greater use of a wider variety of ITFCs, as well as promoting activities of food preparation, and introducing new and innovative recipes with special attention to the youth, highlighting the importance of nutrition (Kuhnlein, Erasmus, Spigelski & Burlingame 2013).

The community gardens using ITFCs can be summarised in one quote from Petersen, Thorogood and Sotshononda (2017:5), “…incorporating design and support for landscaping with indigenous edibles in public parks, open space and in private

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property developments would make a small but significant contribution to a more holistic approach to urban food.”. The direct comparison across all themes, illustrate that the challenges do not necessarily have a negative impact on the uptake of ITFCs.

However, they do need to be addressed sufficiently, for example despite a lack of nutritional testing, the interviewees none the less believed that ITFCs have a greater nutritional value. Cultivation was as both a challenge as well as a benefit, indicating that scientific research into cultivation this perceived challenge could be negated. The growing interest in ITFCs will increasingly counterbalance the lack of knowledge and the lack of access to market is being countered by the increase in own usage of ITFCs which increasingly grows a market for ITFCs.

In conclusion, though the cultivation and use of Western Cape ITFCs is in its infancy in this province, with more research and investment in these foods, they have the potential to become an important resource for both the formal and informal food supply chains as well as real assets in household nutrition security. Where the increasing awareness of the benefits of ITFCs are already provoking the revaluation of ITFCs as a valuable food and nutrition source, if research verifies their environmental resilience, they could prove to be a crucial alternative and supplementary crop with which to face future drought and climatic and change conditions.

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Chapter 4: Conclusion

Reinvigorating ITFCs is a challenge in itself, not just because of the foods themselves, but because of complexities of the social, economic and environmental values which accompany these foods. In fact, the lack of contribution of ITFCs to nutrition security has resulted in the routine undervaluation of them (Bharucha &

Pretty 2010). Considering the data reported in the literature review and the case study, the diversity of ITFCs may not only have health benefits, but it demonstrates that ITFCs have a significant contribution to make towards environmental, economic and social values in communities. Moreover, spin-offs of the benefits will go a long way in protecting the environment and biodiversity of the Western Cape (Johns &

Eyzaguirre 2006; Penafiel, Lachat, Espinel, Van Damme & Kolsteren 2011).

The profound changes occurring within the food system affect both the health of humans and the ecosystems. While the sustainable use of natural resources such as ITFCs holds the promise of self-sufficiency, the ethics of using these foods as an invigoration of these foods in the broader market may inevitably change the course and value of food with unpredictable outcomes (Johns & Eyzaguirre 2006). However, if the increase in promotion and consumption of these species is not matched with propagation or cultivation, this could lead to an unsustainable increase in harvesting from the wild or extinction of species in South Africa” (Maseko, Mabhaudhi, Tesfay, Araya, Fezzehazion & Du Plooy 2018:16). However, with the intent of sustainably cultivating these foods it may make this trend into a valuable food resource base and a food security net.

The Sub-Saharan Africa’s food insecurity, water scarcity, and nutrition and health challenges are well documented but the efforts to address these challenges have often been disconnected (Mabhaudhi, Chibarabada & Modi 2016). This thesis has attempted to investigate the benefits and challenges with efforts already occurring at grassroots level (community gardens) and to investigate the current status quo on ITFCs in the Western Cape.

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The conclusion provides a summary of the first three sections or chapters and then re-evaluates the role of ITFCs, critiques the study and its contributions toward the field, the challenges and limitations noted and recommendations for future research.

4.2. Thesis Summary