Urbansmart Gardeners and Groceries Helping households produce their own foods; and marketing surplus fresh produce from gardeners

Food security means access to sufficient safe nutritious food while food safety asks the question “is the food you have access to free from contamination?” 1 in 10 people in the world face food insecurity due to limited access to safe, nutritious vegetables resulting to foodborne illnesses, this is according to FAO.

Foodborne illness can affect anyone who eats contaminated food; however, certain populations are more susceptible and vulnerable to becoming ill with a greater severity of illness. These populations include infants and children, the elderly, pregnant women, people taking certain kinds of medications or immune suppressed (e.g., cancer patients, diabetics).To prevent foodborne illness, it is necessary to understand how food becomes unsafe and what proactive measures can be taken to keep food safe. We at USG seek to combat the issue of food security and food safety by providing gardening solutions to individuals living in urban or peri urban. Most urban and peri urban population are greatly affected by food insecurity and safety since what is available to them is contaminated in one way or another. We seek to offer gardening solutions that will by-pass all limitations (limited farming space, inadequate water, limited knowledge of producing crops) to people producing their own fresh vegetables in urban areas.

My company works to help households achieve food security and food safety by selling them vertical garden installation services and products. This helps them produce their own vegetables in a safe, efficient and aesthetically appealing way. We do not just throw in plants here and there but we do it passionately in a professional eye catching manner. With this we came up with foodscaping services that aims at doing crops in a good looking patterns while integrating ornamentals plants (flowers) on our systems to enhance visual appeal.

Contaminated Vegetables and fruits are one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses. Contaminants could be biological (bacteria, viruses and parasites), chemicals residues from production stages of the crop, and physical contaminants like dust and metal particles. All forms of contaminants come into contact with foods due to poor handling and storage at any point of the food chain mainly during packaging and transportation. We at USG are contributing to food safety by over 80% through helping households produce their own vegetables and fruits.

In the same value chain, we also have urban smart Grocery that aims at spearheading and making it easier for individuals in our urban setups to acquire safe, nutritious, fresh and clean groceries. We achieve this by getting produce direct from our demo garden and from garden’s that we have established for clients and are willing to generate a little income from there farm produce. We also are doing partnerships with farmers (our suppliers) whom we are offering agronomy services on safe food production (this is a complete success for us based on our profession as qualified and practicing Horticulturalists)