
Gloves off: Martha has been feeding people from her garden for more than 20 years
In the Free State, a farming project in partnership with Woolworths, has improved the yield of produce for communities
By Nelisiwe Makhubu
Martha Susiwe Tau, 65, started a local feeding programme in 1999 at her home in Thaba Nchu – one of the oldest settlements in the Free State province of South Africa.
Vukuzenzele, which means “wake up and do it yourself” in isiZulu, began by feeding about 30 people a day, five days a week. Today, Martha supports 300 people a day and employs 15 to help her!
Martha has her own garden and enjoyed picking fresh ingredients for her meals. But cabbage was causing problems. The leafy green vegetable is a staple and particularly popular in her community.
“My people just love cabbage, but I couldn’t get it to grow” says Mme Matau, as she is affectionately known.
However, soon the vegetables she was growing were not enough and she had to buy more from the market. And she had to buy a lot of cabbages.
“It was a headache!’ she says.
Farming project brings new knowledge

But then, in 2022, she joined ForAfrika’s Mangaung Food Security Programme, along with 11 other smallholder farmers.
We provided her with tools and seeds and agricultural training to improve yields.
Thanks to our partnership with Woolworths, we could secure the services of agroecologist Tarirai Mpofu. He imparted excellent advice and showed farmers a few new tricks.
The Mangaung Food Security Programme has three main aims: to improve the economic status of 12 emerging farmers; to improve the nutrition status for children under five; and to encourage farming as a livelihood.
Communities in this region are characterised by widespread malnutrition and unemployment. A total of 431 community members, including children, now benefit from the programme.
After the training Mme Matau knows just how to deal with troublesome cabbages and other vegetables. Overall, her crop yield in the past three months has been so impressive that she hasn’t had to buy any others and is saving R570 ($33) per month. She has used her savings, not to buy anything nice for herself, but to buy more pots, plates and cutlery in order to serve her community.
Nelisiwe Makhubu is community development officer for the Free State and Eastern Cape