A South African Perspective On Home Gardens: Promoting Sustainability And Resilience Post Covid-19

Home gardens are recognised globally and can address the challenges of food insecurity and malnutrition. However, climate change, infertile soil, reduction in freshwater supply and increasing demand for food, coupled with crisis pandemics, put further strain on food systems and society. The authors focused on a desktop review to understand the principles of home gardens and consolidate the suggestions provided in the literature to determine possible strategies for resilience and continuation of home gardens post-COVID-19 to ensure sustainability within rural households and communities within South Africa. Besides enhancing the food supply within each household, home gardens can improve family health, women empowerment, and possible individual economic benefits by selling excess food, which, in the bigger scope, contributes to the self-efficiency and sustainability of households and communities. The global pandemic has reinforced the strain on the societal issues within South Africa, namely unemployment, food supply and hunger. Recommendations from the literature reveal practical approaches towards educational material to better transfer skills amongst generations, provide better-quality seeds and promote the growth of nutrient-dense foods, such as indigenous foods.