One thousand gardens are blooming across Africa, where the international organization Slow Food is helping schools, villages, and other communities grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs using sustainable water management, pest repellent, and fertilizing techniques. The project also aims to protect varieties of
indigenous crops that would otherwise fall victim to the
monoculture practices of large farms.
"A vegetable garden means healthy, local food for the community, the passing-on of knowledge from the old to the young, and a reinforced spirit of collaboration,"
Slow Food writes in its manifesto about the "A Thousand Gardens in Africa" project, which is being organized under the auspices of its
Terra Madre network of food communities.
