Zuziwe Nkosi, a PhD student in crop science at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Mahikeng, uses a unique and creative technique called permaculture for food gardening to address food insecurity and nutrition among NWU students and surrounding communities.

Zuziwe is a coordinator of the Siyakhana Food Gardening project, in partnership with Tiger Brands Enterprise. The aim of the project is to mobilise and capacitate NWU students with a unique and creative technique of addressing food insecurity and nutrition.

Permaculture farming is a system of agricultural and social design principles centred on simulating or directly utilising patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems.

Permaculture farming focuses on elements such as designing, implementing and maintaining permanent natural systems to cultivate land, plants and people to foster mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships between them. It can be maintained by using a minimum of materials, energy and labour, and by recycling "waste" resources back into the system, it minimises pollution.

A permaculture system is designed to be diverse, so that even when one element fails, the system has enough stability and resilience to thrive. This gives it greater potential than a conventional system for long-term economic stability.

“The food gardening project is set to encourage people in the agricultural sector to use their potential to find innovative and future-oriented agricultural approaches,” says Zuziwe. “It also focuses on developing skills and knowledge, as well as establishing effective forums and institutions to engage youth in problem solving.”

 Zuziwe Nkosi (on the left) explains her gardening project to visitors from Tiger Brands.