Supporting food gardens in the fight against hunger

 

The Shoprite Group is committed to building and supporting the resilience of the communities in which we operate and where our employees and customers live. Our initiatives focus on fighting hunger and malnutrition, supporting early childhood development (ECD) centres and providing ongoing assistance to vulnerable communities.

One of the ways the Group is addressing the challenges of hunger and malnutrition in a systematic way is through our food garden projects. 

These projects are also starting to generate benefits beyond the initial scope of the project. There has been a rapid growth of satellite gardens set up by community members who took up our offer of a training session and starter pack. More than half of the community food gardens we support are now able to produce a surplus.

Statistics from the 2018/2019 reporting period:

Case Study: Eldorado Park Food Garden

Beneficiaries at the food gardens are taught modern farming methods to incorporate the proper utilisation of existing resources. This particular aspect made a profound impact on the Eldorado Park Food Garden in Gauteng.

“It’s such a blessing to be taught these new ways to grow vegetables and to make our garden more productive. All we knew then was the common method of farming, which is to put the seeds in the soil, water the soil and then wait for the crops to grow, but now we know about companion planting and mulching, which helps the plants to grow faster.”

- George Dickson (66), founder of Eldorado Park Food Garden

 

On a 2.5-hectare plot, which belongs to the Missouri Secondary School, George and two volunteers established the garden to feed poor people in Eldorado Park. The Eldorado Park Food Garden contributes vegetables to the school’s feeding scheme, they donate to poor community members and they sell some produce in the community. The crops include spinach, cabbage, beetroot, carrots and tomatoes.

The retailer invested in the Eldorado Park Food Garden by providing gardening equipment, seedlings, ongoing training and water infrastructure, which includes a water tank and gutters around the school for rainwater harvesting.

“Now that we have a good crop of vegetables, we want to expand the garden and sell the vegetables to shops in the area. We also want to restart our skills development programme to teach young people about these new gardening methods.”

- George Dickson

 

Also read: 

• Notshetshezi Primary Cooperative

• Environmentorz Food Garden