Agrihub Gathering 2026: Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow
This morning, farmers from Cape Town’s Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain and Gugulethu Agrihubs came together for the annual Agrihub Gathering, a day of farmer-led learning, knowledge-sharing and showcases under the theme “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.” Coinciding with World Food Day, the gathering explored how practical knowledge, new ideas and collaboration can help build a more…
Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow: Why Transforming Food Systems Requires More Than Good Policy
By Kurt Ackermann, CEO of the South African Urban Food & Farming Trust (SAUFFT) As we mark World Food Day under this year’s theme, “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow,” we are invited to reflect on the changes needed to build better food systems for the future. When we think about innovation, we often think of new…
Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow? The answer might already be growing in Cape Town, South Africa
This year’s World Food Day theme asks us to innovate today to nourish tomorrow. But in Cape Town’s townships, some of the most sophisticated food innovation is already here, being tested daily by farmers and foragers whose expertise food policy rarely takes seriously. Expertise policy doesn’t recognise Food policy debates tend to default to a…
Our 2025/2026 Impact Report: Building Stronger Urban Food Systems
Our 2025/2026 Impact Report reflects a year of practical change, community leadership, and collaboration to build stronger, fairer urban food systems. Across Cape Town, farmers are growing food and generating income, informal traders are improving their businesses, and communities are finding new ways to turn local challenges into opportunities. Through the Agrihub Initiative, we supported…
SAUFFT in Tunis: Reflecting on the people and partnerships shaping urban food systems
Day 1 | 21 September 2026 | Tunis, Tunisia Today marked the beginning of the AfriFOODlinks Consortium Meeting in Tunis, bringing partners together from across Africa and Europe to reflect on four years of collaboration, share experiences and consider the future of urban food systems. Launched in December 2022, AfriFOODlinks connects more than 65 cities…
Growing Confidence: How Grow SA Helped Busi Majola Cultivate Her Permaculture Vision
For Busisiwe “Busi” Majola, agriculture has always been more than a practice. It has been a lifelong fascination, shaped by childhood visits to rural areas, school projects, and a deep imagination of ecosystems where everything has a place. In 2019, that early love was reawakened with a new language: permaculture, sustainability, and regenerative farming. As…
Enterprise and livelihoods in Cape Town’s food system
Enterprise and livelihoods have been part of the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust’s work since its earliest years, with award-winning achievements in this area.
Food Indaba 2026: What we learned when we put water at the centre of the food system
From 20 July to 2 August, Food Indaba 2026 brought people together across Cape Town to explore a question that is at once obvious and easy to overlook: what happens when we understand water and food as parts of the same system? This year’s theme — Rivers, Oceans, Aquifers and Rainfall (ROAR) — provided a…
From Waste to Opportunity: Pamela Nontshinga’s Journey of Leadership and Community Impact
For Pamela Nontshinga, Operations Leader for the Langa Waste Diversion Project, the role has been a journey of learning, leadership, and community impact. Born and raised in Langa and a mother of three, Pamela has worked in nursing and health and safety, but has always been driven by a desire to make a difference in…
People as Infrastructure: Why Urban Land Use Must Be Reimagined Through the Lens of Food
By Rirhandzu Marivate, Programmes Manager at SA Urban Food and Farming Trust (SAUFFT), BSc (Hons) Ecology, Environment and Conservation, Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Development and Planning (Food Systems), MPhil Candidate in Sustainable Development (Food Systems) As South African cities continue to grow, I find myself returning to an increasingly urgent question: What does a just,…
SAUFFT’s Rirhandzu Marivate joins global sustainability exchange in Germany
As cities around the world grapple with climate change, waste management, mobility, and food insecurity, international collaborations are becoming increasingly important in shaping more sustainable urban futures.Earlier this month, SAUFFT’s Programmes Manager, Rirhandzu Marivate, travelled to Bavaria, Germany, as part of a knowledge-exchange and capacity-building mission focused on sustainable urban mobility, circular systems, and food…
Stories of impact: Busi Majola, GrowSA graduate
For Busisiwe “Busi” Majola, agriculture has always been more than a practice. It has been a lifelong fascination, shaped by childhood visits to rural areas, school projects, and a deep imagination of ecosystems where everything has a place. In 2019, that early love was reawakened with a new language: permaculture, sustainability, and regenerative farming. As…
Cultivating Change: Sibulele Plaatjie’s Story of Persistence and Possibility
In the heart of Langa, Sibulele Plaatjie is redefining what farming looks like for young women in her community. Raised in a single-parent household in Langa, Sibu knew she needed a way to generate income, and she wanted to do it in a way that aligned with her desire to live healthier. Growing her own…
New Voices, Shared Vision: Meet the Trustees Guiding SAUFFT Forward
One of the key highlights of this year was welcoming three new trustees to the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust: Miles Kubheka, Hadijah Nankanja and Nonhlanhla Taylor. Each brings not only expertise but also a deep personal commitment to community resilience, food justice, and the power of grassroots action. Their arrival has infused the…
Paving and Levelling of the Smiley Market: Strengthening Safety and Dignity
For decades, the Rhodes Street Smiley Market in Langa has been a cornerstone of local food culture. Known for the preparation and sale of “smileys”, sheep heads cooked over open flames, the market is both an economic lifeline for women traders and a gathering place for residents and visitors. Despite its vibrancy, the site had…
Cape Town Mayor Joins SAUFFT at the Lerotholi Ave Open Streets
Following the success of the inaugural Open Streets event, the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust (SAUFFT) was invited to participate in the Open Streets Experiments: Lerotholi Ave Sundays on 30 November. The platform allowed us to showcase work across our community programmes in Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, and Gugulethu. At the event, we were…
Langa Waste Forum Outing: A Community Learning Journey Towards a Circular, Zero-Waste Future
In November, a diverse group of City officials, community members, circular economy innovators, and local partners gathered in Langa for a full-day learning journey marking the beginning of the Langa Waste Forum. More than an educational trip, the outing became a moment of relationship-building, shared reflection, and collective visioning for what a cleaner, more circular,…
SAUFFT Impact Report – 2024/2025: What we did and why it matters
Our 2024/2025 Impact Report shows simple, practical change: people growing food, earning an income, and building community power. More than 1,300 farmers – most of them women – are now part of our Agrihub network. In Khayelitsha alone farmers earned over R1.1 million across two years, and the hub supplied tens of tonnes of organic…
Decentralising Resilience: What the Langa Agrihub Reveals About the Future of Climate Adaptation
The publication of Sustaining Urban Food Gardens for Community Resilience: A Case Study of the Langa Agrihub arrives at a critical moment, one in which compounding risks, cascading systemic failures, and escalating climate uncertainty are reshaping how societies must think about resilience. As global policy debates continue to centre technocratic, expert-driven models of risk governance,…
Langa’s Journey Toward a Community-Led Food Council Begins
Today, in collaboration with Food Agency Cape Town (FACT), we hosted the first Langa Food Council Workshop at Guga S’thebe in Langa. The gathering brought together a vibrant mix of voices, from urban farmers and informal traders to community kitchens, youth leaders, artists, educators, and local organisations, united by a shared commitment to building a…
SAUFFT Programmes Manager, Rirhandzu Marivate, at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Senegal
In early September, Rirhandzu Marivate, Programmes Manager at SAUFFT, attended the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) in Dakar, Senegal, one of the continent’s largest and most influential gatherings dedicated to shaping a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food future. The forum brought together more than 6,000 delegates from across Africa, including governments, farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers,…
Open Streets Langa Brings Community, Culture, and Local Innovation to Life
This past Sunday, the streets of Langa came alive with movement, music, and connection during the Open Streets Langa event. For one afternoon, King Langa Libalele and Lerotholi Avenue were closed to cars and opened to people, creating a vibrant space for walking, dancing, shopping, and storytelling. The day celebrated the rich history and community…
Deepening Agrihub Roots: Strengthening Farmers Through Learning and Collaboration
This year has been about growth, not just in the gardens, but in knowledge, confidence, and collaboration. Across the Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Gugulethu Agrihubs, farmers have taken important steps to strengthen their skills and deepen their understanding of what it means to farm sustainably through training and workshops. What made this year’s learning…
Agrihub Gathering 2025: Growing Together
On Thursday, 16 October 2025, over 90 farmers from the Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain and Gugulethu Agrihubs gathered in Gugulethu for a day of farmer-led workshops, discussions and showcases. The Agrihub Gathering is an annual chance for growers to exchange practical knowledge, celebrate wins, and deepen the relationships that sustain Cape Town’s growing network of…
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