DOORNFONTEIN IS ONE OF Johannesburg’s older inner-city suburbs with decaying buildings and dingy alleys that wear a dour, monochrome look.
Daily commuters and street surfers jostle with delivery vans and mountains of metal scrap but the grey of the concrete city makes it hard to believe that there could be a patch of green in a most unlikely location.
Above the humdrum of life here is a rooftop hydroponics farm looking down on the city, but upwards to a new route to restoration and urban preservation.
Atop the eight-floor Stanop building – offering a breath-taking view of the city and the landmark Ponte Towers in the distance – one woman has made it her mission to turn a grimy grey terrace into a green lung on the city’s skyline.
“City life is taking on a totally new direction… even people who think they couldn’t one day farm, find themselves on rooftops,” Linah Moeketsi tells FORBES AFRICA.
Moeketsi grows herbs, used to treat non-communicable diseases (NCDs), in a 250m x 500m greenhouse on the building’s terrace. But her rooftop farm is sans any soil – it uses a hydroponics system.
“I think because we are in the city and we would like to produce for people in the city, hydroponic farming is one of the answers because you can actually harvest more than twice the produce, and the growth rate is quicker and there is produce that you can have throughout the year that people demand because it is in a controlled environment,” she says.
On a windy Wednesday morning in October, we meet Moeketsi at her aerial green facility, a couple of days before she is to send some of her plant produce to the market.
She talks about her journey as an offbeat farmer. It all started when her father fell ill in 2013, when doctors failed to correctly diagnose his disease.
This story is from the December 2019 - January 2020 edition of Forbes Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 2019 - January 2020 edition of Forbes Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Down To Earth
A new era in satellite technology offers space-down insight. Here are some fascinating world views.
Could A Digital Twin Save Your Life?
Human digital twins are quickly moving beyond manufacturing and into the medical world advancing cancer care, soeeding up drug development, personalizing clinical trials, and much more.
The All-Rounder In Ecotourism
An exclusive interview with renowned Kenya-born landscape architect and pioneer of sustainable tourism Hitesh Mehta. His other fascinating career? Representing East Africa and Kenya in first-class cricket and playing in three ICC World Cup tournaments in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Wheeler-Deeler
Alex Bouaziz’s HR company became the fastest-growing software startup in Silicon Valley history by promising to take the pain out of overseas hiring. But in its rush to a $12 billion valuation, regulators worry it may have been cutting the very compliance corners it’s supposedly maintaining.
Culture Couture
Niger designer Alia Baré, also the daughter of a former president, is working to weave together a positive narrative of her country through fashion.
'We Can Build A Real Unicorn Out Of Africa, Creating Impact'
Manish Sardana, the Nairobi-based co-founder of edtech startup Craydel, wants to democratize access to higher education in Africa and eradicate the study-abroad agent market.
A Record Year For Elections, 2024 Will Determine Global Geopolitics
We are all hopeful that 2024 will definitely bring better sense to people, particularly to those in power to make sincere amends to the lapses of the past.
For The Record
A Brazilian producer and a Kenyan singer came together to create a song last year that sOared ujp music charts globally, and in collaborating With a an India-born director for the video, it is NOW a milestone for African sound.
The Best Game
SA20 Commissioner and former South African cricketer Graeme Smith on the ambition to create the biggest league outside of India, and why putting on a show off the pitch is as important to attract a new audience.
Cream Of The Crop
Food is the future and these proactive startups are focused on shifting agricultural practices to prepare for what is to come.