Lecturer Motlogeloa Mokolobate, with the assistance of final-year students in the subject group Crop Sciences, is spearheading this initiative, aimed at improving food security for on-campus students and the surrounding communities. It focuses on ensuring access to a healthy diet that contains the macro- and micronutrients our bodies need to keep healthy and form natural antibodies that fight off infectious diseases.

 

Provide nutritious food

 

Thabiso Mabaso and Thato Ntsimane are two of the students who help prepare the vegetable plots.One of the aims of this project is to educate and advocate for households to plant their own vegetables, especially in rural areas where people have limited income-earning opportunities and poor access to markets.

 

Motlogeloa says gardening can enhance food security in several ways. “It provides direct access to a diversity of nutritionally rich foods, leads to increased purchasing power from savings on food bills and income from sales of garden products, and ensures fall-back food provision during seasonal lean periods.”

 

The project, along with the university’s Meal-a-Day initiative and the Lokaleng community vegetable project, helps to relieve the burden on students and communities who cannot afford nutritious food, negatively affecting their academic performance and quality of life.

 

The project has been allocated about one hectare of land and draws on the expertise of soil and agricultural scientists from the university.