FOOD PRODUCTION AND FUEL SHORTAGE GOES HAND IN HAND: WILL A CITY LIKE CAPE TOWN BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN ITSELF?

With the current rate at which Cape Town are growing, this might be an
impossible task. Although the city has a good infrastructure, with
Philippi, an agricultural area not far from the city center, it will
still not be able to reach the demand. Even if the city had less than
half the residence it has at the moment, there are other factors that
make Philippi unproductive. It is situated on the Cape Flats aquifer and
over the years, with fertilization and herbicides it has contaminated
most of the ground water. Most of the farmers farm on a relatively small
scale. Machinery to plough and maintain these crops uses a lot of fuel.
If the city was much smaller and the groundwater was not so badly
contaminated this would have been ideal. Transport cost would have been
minimal and would have been enough water to get good crops. Cape Town
would not be able to stand on its own.

Eugene Marinus
2357422@uwc.ac.za