For 51-year-old Zandile Shinga from ePlazini in rural Mtwalume, a small plot of land in her garden has become a powerful shield against South Africa’s cost-of-living crisis.
With local employment scarce and her household budget stretched to the limit, Shinga recently managed to earn R1,250 in a single week from selling surplus green peppers and chillies to her neighbours. More importantly, she no longer relies on paying for vegetables to feed her family fresh produce.
“Farming has helped me become independent,” says Shinga, who joined rural development NPO Thanda’s Household Gardening Programme in 2023. “The garden feeds my family, and when I have extra produce to sell, I can earn money for things my daughter needs, like school uniforms and stationery. It has made a real difference in our home.”
Shinga’s story offers a vital blueprint for resilience at a time when macro-economic pressures are eroding household purchasing power across South Africa. While the country tracks fluctuating fuel prices and rising inflation, low-income families are experiencing a severe cash crunch. In communities where poverty and high unemployment rates were already at a breaking point, household financial leverage has effectively collapsed, putting food security and nutritional diversity at immediate risk.
Thanda notes that when income and grant pay-outs cannot meet basic food basket needs, the quality and diversity of diets drop first. This poses a silent, devastating threat to childhood nutrition and stunting. A lack of nutrient-rich foods during the critical first 1,000 days of a child’s life accelerates stunting, an irreversible condition already affecting an estimated 1 in 4 South African children.
“Prevention begins long before a child enters a classroom,” says Angela Larkan, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Thanda. “When households have steady access to diverse, nutritious foods, they are better able to support healthy pregnancies and early childhood development. But when household budgets stretch to the limit, families often have zero room left to absorb market shocks. Home-grown food is no longer a hobby; it is a critical necessity for survival.”
Recognising these systemic vulnerabilities, Thanda launched its Household Gardening Programme in 2022 to help families supplement their access to quality nutrition. By training residents in low-cost regenerative practices like composting, mulching, and seed-saving, the programme focuses on self-sufficiency and resilience. When pests recently threatened her crops, Shinga didn’t need disposable income for chemical pesticides; she used organic sawdust and chilli-based methods taught by her Thanda mentor.
As inflation worsens, Thanda continues to look for additional layers of insulation against household-level food volatility by training over 650 Household Gardeners in growing protein-rich foods in their garden, proving that self-grown food can substitute for missing spending power.
“Too often, food gardens are viewed solely through an agricultural lens, but their impact is entirely social and economic,” says Larkan. “When a household grows its own food, they are no longer entirely dependent on cash to survive an unstable economy. At-home food production, whether in a rural homestead or a small container garden, offers a practical way to reclaim agency.”
As global and national economic pressures remain unpredictable, Thanda is calling for a shift toward household-level food production as an essential tool for long-term national resilience and systemic change.
PRACTICAL WAYS TO STRENGTHEN FOOD SECURITY AT HOME:
Start small: spinach, beans, tomatoes and chillies are good high-yield and low-cost crops for beginners.
- Improve soil health using compost made from kitchen and garden waste.
- Use mulch (like grass and leaves) to retain moisture and reduce water use.
- Save seeds from healthy plants for the next planting cycle.
- Reduce pest pressure by using natural methods such as chilli sprays or ash-based barriers.
- Grow in containers, tyres or small backyard spaces if land is limited.
