A local gardening project stands to win up to R150 000 if it wins the coveted national Nestle Community Nutrition Award during the gala award ceremony in Johannesburg today.
A local gardening project stands to win up to R150 000 if it wins the coveted national Nestle Community Nutrition Award during the gala award ceremony in Johannesburg today.
Masizame Community Garden Project started in 1994 with individuals growing vegetables in different plots in the same garden and selling the surplus. Since working as a group seven years ago, the garden based in Extension 7 has won several awards including the provincial Female Farmer Award for the past two years.
Nestle corporate communications officer Thembeka Somtsewu says Masizame have been named as finalists in the Food Garden category of the Community Nutrition Award after they were nominated by the district office of the agricultural department earlier this year. "Now we have shortlisted them and are sponsoring their travelling and subsistence expenses, we want them to come here for the award ceremony as they are dedicated in what they are doing," she said.
The group of seven pensioners said they were surprised by the nomination as they had never heard about the awards before. The project’s secretary Linda Meltafa said: "We feel ecstatic, we didn’t expect this achievement and were shocked when we received a phonecall last week inviting us to Johannesburg."
According to Meltafa, this started last month with a visit from Somtsewu who asked to take photographs of the garden and explained to them that their garden had been nominated for the award. "The visit coincided with the time when our premises were burgled and thieves made away with all our tools, kettle, tea stuff and some cash," she added. Fifteen rakes, spades and hoes were removed from the garden’s storage container but were replaced by the agricultural department last week. The garden produces spinach, onions, cabbages, beetroot and maize and supplies local supermarkets with fresh produce.
Zama Sikhali, extension officer from the agricultural department, said that after helping the group with seeds and management of their garden he decided to nominate them for the award. "The awards are administered by Nestle in conjunction with the national department of agriculture which co-ordinated all the nominations," he said.
The overall winner of the awards will walk away with a whopping R150 000, while two runners up will each receive R75 000. According to Somtsewu, the prize for the most promising garden will be R30 000.
Launched in 1993, the Nestlé Community Nutrition Award pays tribute and gives recognition to women who implement practical programmes to combat the serious problem of malnutrition within their communities.
From 1993 to 1998, the award was run under the auspices of the Women’s Bureau of South Africa. However, when this organisation unfortunately closed down at the end of 1998, Nestlé welcomed the opportunity to run the award under the auspices of Soroptimists International, a prominent international women’s organisation with goals and objectives that provide for the advancement of women.
The prize money will be donated to the winner’s project to enable it to expand, as well as the opportunity to visit and learn from non-governmental organisations with a track record in development. The winner also receives a certificate of recognition for their efforts.
