A group of employees from Woolworths at Stellenbosch’s Eikestad Mall rolled their sleeves up and went to work with interns and young farmers at the Living Soil Community Learning Farm in commemoration of this year’s World Food Day.
Celebrated annually on 16 October, the day urges action that promotes inclusivity and the building of sustainable food systems for everyone the world over.
Situated in Lynedoch, Stellenbosch, the Living Soils Community Learning Farm focuses on re-engaging and developing young black farmers, particularly women in entry level regenerative farming to productively grow nutritious food, strengthen local and long-term community food security efforts and provide livelihood opportunities from farming.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for us to visit the Living Soils Community Learning farm and work alongside the farmers of the future. We learnt a lot about growing food for one’s community and were delighted that we could lend a hand at clearing some land for more crops to be planted in the summer planting season. Getting involved in my local community was so much fun and a unique experience to help build a better future towards foods security. The new skills I learned have inspired me to start my own veggie garden at home “ says Anton van der Berg, Store Manager Woolworths Eikestad Mall.
“Acknowledged on 16 October, this year’s World Food Day theme is to ‘Leave NO ONE behind’,” confirms Zinzi Mgolodela, Woolworths Corporate Affairs Director. “So calls for all of us to go out into our communities to help build a sustainable world where everyone, everywhere has regular access to enough nutritious food and a #zerohunger world by 2030. For many years Woolworths has been working to make a sustainable and positive impact on alleviating hunger in South Africa. We believe that food security and access to food is a fundamental human right and have over this last year* donated R6 million to organisations, like the Living Soils Community Learning farm to empower communities across South Africa to grow more food and become food secure.”
