Three community food gardens in Botshabelo have received much-needed support from a prominent South African retailer, ensuring greater food security through the donation of fruit trees.
The Shoprite Group’s involvement through upliftment projects in the Botshabelo community dates back to 2017. Initiatives that are currently supported include these community food gardens, six early childhood development (ECD) centres and support to various surplus food beneficiaries.
The Trees for Home project is one of the initiatives through which the retail group supports the community of Botshabelo. To promote sustainability and growth, the group also provides training and tools to grow food at home.
“We are extremely grateful for Shoprite’s support. Planting these trees at our homes empowers us to take food supply into our own hands and become more self-sustainable,” said Paulos Khiba.
He is one of the community members who received trees to plant at his home.
“Shoprite is committed to addressing hunger relief and food security in vulnerable communities across South Africa,” said Sanjeev Raghubir, the Shoprite Group’s sustainability manager.
“We believe that fresh, nutritious food should be accessible to all, and this initiative addresses it at a household level by enabling families to grow their own food.”
The retailer supports more than 170 community food gardens and over 3 400 home gardens, which impacts almost 50 000 beneficiaries. In the past year, more than 2 500 community members were trained in sustainable food gardening, helping them grow nutritious and organic food.
Additional initiatives the group support in Botshabelo include the Ntataise Pre-school’s food garden, the community food garden Kgaugelo Ya Sechaba, and the Free State Rural Women Assembly Agroecological Hub.
According to Raghubir, the retailer has invested more than R100 000 in the Botshabelo community since January 2020, assisting 11 community organisations through the Shoprite Community Network.
