FTFA, Tiger Brands announces 2021 EduPlant winners

Food & Trees for Africa, in partnership with Tiger Brands, have found the best South African permaculture school garden in 2021.

Food security is becoming increasingly important in the face of climate change and the economic hardships brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. School food gardens ensure that some of the country’s most vulnerable residents – its young children – have access to nutritious food, and learn the life-long skill of being able to grow their own food.

Kings Harvest Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal won the overall EduPlant competition. Located in Hlutankungu, Ixopo, King Harvest enrolled in the EduPlant Programme in 2019 with no prior experience in permaculture. Bet-el School For Epileptics in the Western Cape took second place, and Sesete Primary School in Mpumalanga grabbed third position.

The EduPlant programme, run by FTFA since 1994, is the country’s longest-running and most impactful school greening and gardening programme. It has brought food gardens to thousands of schools. The programme involves workshops for teachers, learners and community members; season-appropriate resources; and materials for different age groups.

Every two years, FTFA facilitators oversee 300 new schools to improve their productive food gardens. The EduPlant programme traditionally culminates in a competition to honour the best EduPlant permaculture food gardens. In 2021, Tiger Brands continued its commitment to the programme, in a bridging programme consisting of 12 months worth of support.

This year, EduPlant aimed to increase the sustainability at each school and encourage them to share their skills and surplus resources within their communities. EduPlant hosted 96 workshops with the 247 participating schools across South Africa. Ultimately, the EduPlant programme reached 927 secondary beneficiaries through its scaled-up mentorship initiative.

“We are so proud to partner with the EduPlant programme, enabling young people to grow their own food at scale. Through school gardens, we can all help to feed our families and communities. These winning schools should all be very proud of their commitment to ecological food production. Well done to Kings Harvest Primary school on nourishing and nurturing young minds!” said Preeya Naidu CSI and ED specialist, Tiger Brands

Schools overcame many hardships to shine at this year’s competition, says EduPlant facilitator Bharathi Tugh, who has been with EduPlant since 1995.

“Despite the restrictive measures of the lockdown, social distancing and partial school closures, our schools responded with greater resilience,” says Tugh. “These secondary beneficiaries became empowered to effect phenomenal changes in their own gardens. We have witnessed more people creating food rich environments. Congratulations to all our schools for their commitment and dedication!”