PHA farmers need support
“BACKING for Philippi rezoning” (Cape Argus, June 23) refers.
It is no surprise some farmers support rezoning the farmlands. There have always been farmers and property owners who would want to cash in if the area was rezoned for housing.
The lack of long-term protection as called for by the 2017 MEC tribunal ruling is causing a huge land price bubble in the Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA). Yet despite this, more land is cultivated than ever before and is expanding on land held by developers and speculators.
It is a property owner’s constitutional right to sell to anyone for the best price possible. However, the zoning of a property is with the state in the interest of the local community and broadly in the interest of the city. Simply put, zoning laws protect you from getting up one day to find a chemical factory outside your bedroom window.
Crop theft and petty crime are reasons some farmers want to sell. Crime in the PHA is real. But this is not unique to the PHA. According to Stats SA, livestock and crop theft has seen a 7% increase in the Western Cape for 2013 to 2016.
While crime is a reality, it is not used as an argument to pave over Constantia. If the city and local community can work together and invest in Constantia, it can be done in the PHA – the farmlands that feed the city and the custodian of the Cape Flats aquifer.
There is the mistaken perception that farming in the PHA will collapse if some families stop farming. Farming is a generational business. It took generations for today’s white farmers to develop the skills, knowledge and practice to farm in the Cape Flats environment. Lots of trial and error and even death. On my smallholding the farmer died digging a sloot. Very humble beginnings. The UN calls this heritage farming and believes it needs to be protected. The PHA Campaign thinks so too.
New farmers in the PHA benefit from heritage farming. But today we are farming in a changing environment – climate change, consumer activism, supermarket dominance, environmental degradation, land reform, high cost of inputs including fertilisers, energy, land, living wages and so on.
Some farmers are struggling to navigate through this new reality while others, including first-generation farmers, are innovating.
The authorities should be connecting with local community organisations to see how crime and other challenges can be addressed. The value and opportunities the PHA presents far outweigh the challenges. The PHA campaign has built a whole awareness campaign called “Do you know where your food comes from?” There is massive goodwill. There’s also increased awareness around supporting local food and local farmers.
These are reasons to be optimistic about the future of the PHA farmlands.