Press release
The lives of 30 young people in the under-resourced Free State communities of Kroonstad and Bultfontein will soon be transformed, thanks to the generous support from Woolworths.
INMED South Africa was one of the seven beneficiaries of Woolworths’ December ‘Take a moment to make a difference’ Christmas Give campaign.
INMED South Africa has been creating some incredible opportunities in innovative, climate-smart food production in vulnerable communities across the country. Last year, it launched the INMED Aquaponics® Social Enterprise (INMED ASE) in Vanderbijlpark, and this year will be leveraging the INMED ASE model to tackle youth unemployment by training the next-generation agri-entrepreneurs in South Africa. “INMED’s youth programme utilising climate-smart aquaponics aligns with our food security strategy to empower communities to grow more food to help us reach #zerohunger2030. The programme also offers critical youth development and employment in rural Free State communities,” says Zinzi Mgolodela, Woolworths Director of Corporate Affairs.
The young participants, who are primarily unemployed school-leavers, will learn the basics of seedling production, nursery management, climate-smart food gardening, aquaponics and food preservation. “It is vital to our country’s food security that we develop the farmers of the future,” says Unathi Sihlahla, Director of INMED South Africa. “Many young South Africans are excluded from creating careers in agriculture due to the lack of access to resources, land and agricultural education. Aquaponics is an exciting, climate-adaptive technology that will have high appeal to the youth and empower them to play a significant role in developing social enterprises that alleviate poverty, enhance food security and provide dignified livelihoods.”.
Relevant pages on AgribookDigital include “Aquaponics” and ” Food security“.
