South Africa: Rooftop farmer over the moon as Didiza pops in

Award-winning Sandton rooftop farmer Zandile Kumalo couldn’t believe her luck when agriculture minister Thoko Didiza paid her a visit. The two women chatted about climate change and the benefits of hydroponics among other topics

By Duncan Masiwa
Food For Mzani
18th February 2023

Excerpt:

Our business growth! We are building our third hydroponic greenhouse and are still seeking more investment so that we can build more hydroponic farms. This will enable us to meet our market demand and also aid our efforts to teach, and grow more youngsters in the industry.

The project that we do for youngsters, Neighbour Roots, has collaborated with Green Urban Farms to expose and give skills to youngsters between the ages of 18 and 25 years.

The young agripreneurs get to participate in an intensive 12-month programme in which they gain hydroponic farming skills, and business skills through a STEM learning concept. This means they get to learn the science behind hydroponic farming, the technical, engineering and mechanical side of operating a hydroponic farm.

We initially started with six youngsters and we will be enrolling seven more young agripreneurs.

Many people don’t know that you have a big heart for your community

Yes, we’ve done a few community impact initiatives. We also have helped raise funds and built a hydroponic farm for a primary school in Orange Farm, and are still building one for a high school in Jabulani.

Since then, we’ve also constructed two smart gardens for two early childhood development centres in Alexandra. We also do farm tours for primary schools to show how agriculture is evolving in South Africa. We strive to impact more communities and schools in 2023.

My hope and wish for agriculture is that our sector gets more investment so that more innovative ideas sprout.

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