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A food garden at the Isipingo Food for Health Clinic is improving lives and earning provincial recognition along the way. The initiative has been shortlisted for the KZN Premier’s Service Excellence Awards in the Most Effective Food Security and Agricultural Programme category, showing the collaborative need for food security, healthcare and community upliftment
Launched in 2024, the food garden was created to help patients on chronic medication access nutritious food. For many, food insecurity makes sticking to treatment plans incredibly difficult. This garden offers a practical solution that supports recovery of these local patients, literally from the ground up.
Focus on growing health
The project initially focused on a group of female clinic patients, many living with chronic conditions. By involving them directly in growing fresh produce, the garden helped improve household nutrition, improved health outcomes, and gave patients a real sense of purpose.
The initiative is led by the Social Primary Healthcare Food Security Division and brought to life through strong partnerships between healthcare services, agricultural experts and community organisations.
What exactly is an aeroponic garden?
This isn’t your average veggie patch. One of the standout features of the project is its aeroponic garden system, which is a soil-free way of growing plants, with roots suspended in the air and misted with a nutrient-rich solution. The result is less water use, minimal maintenance, and a big yield of crops despite limited space.
Designed and installed by Joe West of Nandagram Ecovillage, the Isipingo system supports more than 4 000 plants and can produce between 2 700 and 3 600 plant units per growing cycle. Built using recovered and recycled materials, it’s a smart solution for urban areas where space and resources are limited.
As the project grew, market days were introduced during harvest seasons so that participants could also sell surplus produce, creating a small income for emergencies, seedlings and garden upkeep. Today, the Isipingo Food for Health Clinic Garden has rightfully earned its recognition through the KZN Premier’s Awards, hopefully inspiring many more such gardens to follow!
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