INMED South Africa - Free State

Established by INMED in partnership with Woolworths, the South African Adaptive Agriculture Programme aims to strengthen food security and improve nutrition in low-resource communities. A youth national unemployment rate of 63.9% coupled with the worst drought the country has faced in 30 years has placed severe economic and social pressures on vulnerable South African households who are unable to meet their basic needs related to food and nutrition. Thus, INMED’s Adaptive Agriculture Programme focuses on addressing food security among targeted youth participants in selected areas of the Free State province. 

The Programme adopts a tailor-made approach to the interrelated issues of poverty, food security, nutrition, economic development and exclusion, by preparing small-scale producers including youth, women and people with disabilities as well as their communities to adapt to climate change while conserving natural resources and increasing access to economic and technical assets.

The key objectives of the Programme are: 

• Improving food security and alleviating hunger in two areas of the Free State, Kroonstad and Bultfontein, through the expansion of INMED Aquaponics® and climate-smart agriculture.
• Providing out-of-school youth, older people and primary school children with the tools, education, supplies and training needed to become food secure through the development of agricultural skills such as the AgriSeta-recognised certification. 
• Transforming struggling food-insecure communities in the Free State into thriving hubs of self-reliance through the creation of climate-smart household, community and school-based food gardens, fed by climate-smart agriculture and training in INMED Aquaponics®.

As a next step, INMED will provide guidance and resources to the beneficiaries to support the establishment of food production units in their respective households.

Achievements of the Adaptive Agriculture Programme 

• Out of the 30 beneficiaries of the Programme, 20 are those with disabilities and nearly half of whom are female.
• To date, 43 beneficiaries have received theoretical and participatory training in aquaponics, seedlings nursery management, crop production and harvesting. These skills will be used by the beneficiaries to establish their own food production units. 
• The Bulfontein site received support from the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to repair and upgrade two agricultural shade net-covered structures, install water-conserving drip irrigation and utilise solar power to draw water from the existing borehole. This, in turn, allowed the Programme to commence its participatory training with the beneficiaries in the region.
• All 30 beneficiaries received agricultural starter packs consisting of a wheelbarrow, spade, garden hoe, steel rake, garden fork, hand spade, watering can, compost and a variety of seeds.

The INMED-Woolworths partnership has seen wonderful highs in terms of providing opportunities to alleviate hunger through the provision of skills and resources as well as fostering the creation of sustainable livelihoods among community members. We look forward to INMED’s journey and the rise of many more youth agri-entrepreneurs in South Africa.