Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
HelloChoice and Standard Bank join forces to drive food relief in South Africa
OneFarm Share is a digital platform that matches farmers with requests for fresh produce from registered charities. Launched in 2021 by Standard Bank, and powered by the HelloChoice digital trading platform, OneFarm Share has since contributed over 7 037t of produce to 1 860 beneficiary organisations. This equates to 28 million meals that have reached one million people.
Farmers who want to get involved in the cause can donate or contribute their produce at a reduced rate specifically for the OneFarm Share programme.
Grant Jacobs, CEO of HelloChoice, says: “As a more accessible buying channel for emerging farmers, the OneFarm Share programme helps bring emerging farmers into the commercial supply chain and offers them efficient and low-cost market access.
“Easier paths to commercialisation for this critical part of our agriculture sector are key to building both food security and economic inclusion.”
PARTNERSHIPS
OneFarm Share has also enabled 272 of the emerging farmers on the HelloChoice platform, 61 of whom are women, to support local communities. One such example is African Marmalade, based in Gauteng and founded by Siphiwe Sithole in 2015, which grows indigenous and popular staple vegetables such as potatoes and cabbages.
Sithole brings together smallscale farmers from across the province to contribute to the OneFarm Share programme. She started her OneFarm Share journey last February and, together with her group of farmers, has contributed an incredible 667t of fresh produce.
Another key HelloChoice partner is A Pillay Farm, a 13ha farm in Thornville, KwaZulu-Natal, which produces crops such as spinach and lettuce. During the COVID-19 pandemic, owner Theovin Pillay realised the farm was having issues with excess produce that he couldn’t sell via traditional channels.
Not wanting the food to go to waste, he started donating fresh produce to the local community. HelloChoice subsequently approached Pillay to get involved in the programme, and since then his farm has contributed in excess of 54t of fresh spinach, butternut and cabbages.
Pillay says: “The little we have can make a big difference to South Africans; giving back makes all the difference.”
One of the commercial farms that donates to OneFarm Share is Cape Five Export, and its fruit donations have exceeded 16t. Wynand Viljoen, procurement and marketing officer at Cape Five Export, says: “We always want to give back to the community, and OneFarm Share makes it easy to do. Our fruit is collected and distributed; all we have to do send them the details and locations. It’s quick and easy!”
Other pivotal partners in the journey are the OneFarm Share food distributors FoodForward SA and Harvest SA, which ensure the food ends up with reputable beneficiary organisations.
FoodForward SA is South Africa’s largest food-distribution non-profit organisation (NPO). Its core business is the recovery of good-quality, edible surplus food from farmers, retailers, and manufacturers for redistribution to registered and vetted beneficiary organisations in underserved communities.
Andy du Plessis, managing director of FoodForward SA, says: “Our partnership with OneFarm Share has allowed us to significantly increase the nutritional value of our food baskets for beneficiaries, from 82% to over 90%.” SA Harvest’s mission is to end hunger in South Africa by tackling the immediate food security crisis, which it does by rescuing unused or unwanted nutritious food and delivering it to where it’s needed most. Food waste happens throughout the food ecosystem and, according to COO Ozzy Nel, SA Harvest’s model of tackling hunger means that it can deliver food that would otherwise have gone to waste to the most vulnerable in our society.
Some of OneFarm Share’s beneficiaries include early education centres, women’s organisations, and community feeding schemes such as The Domino Foundation, an NPO that has been running for over 12 years; and the Sizimisele Development Trust, an organisation that services various associations, such as those that assist people living with HIV/Aids.
Key partners Standard Bank and HelloChoice call on farmers, logistics companies and corporates to join the initiative. OneFarm Share hopes to increase total donation to 10 000t, to provide 40 million meals to needy communities across the country. HelloChoice
IN ITS SECOND YEAR, ONEFARM SHARE HOPES TO PROVIDE 40 MILLION MEALS TO NEEDY COMMUNITIES IN SA