Gender, resilience and resistance: South Africa’s Hleketani Community Garden

ABSTRACT

This article explores local struggles and social solidarity among women farmers at a small farming cooperative: Hleketani Community Garden, in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Such farmers are rarely discussed when exploring sites of resistance to neo-liberal capitalism. These women have had success in reducing poverty and increasing positive health outcomes for their families and community, in an era dominated by agricultural forms (industrial and commercial) that have generally failed to benefit small communities and farmers. The research demonstrates the potential of small-scale collaborative food farming to support personal and broader social resilience, and draws attention to the kinds of structural barriers that continue to militate against small-scale farmers – especially women – achieving a decent life. Poverty reduction, improvements in health, and community building are among the benefits delivered by this community initiative. Lack of access to resources, policy frameworks antithetical to small-scale agriculture, and worsening climate change are among the greatest challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• resilience
• co-operative farming
• social solidarity

Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without research assistant and interpreter Basani Ngobeni. Thanks are owed to Lynne Marks, Todd Hatfield, Christine Welsh, Chris Fox, the editors, and the inspiring women of Hleketani Garden.

Notes on contributor

Elizabeth Vibert is Associate Professor and historian of colonialism and poverty at the University of Victoria. Her current research focuses on rural women’s life histories, diverse livelihoods, and household economies in South Africa. She is writing a book and making a documentary about the farm discussed here. She is the director of UVic’s Colonial Legacies Field School in South Africa.

Notes

1. Interview with Florah Mashele, Jomela village, 9 May 2013. All unattributed comments are drawn from interviews and conversations with farmers at Hleketani Community Garden, in Jomela between May 2012 and May 2015. I interviewed each of the 27 farmers individually (most numerous times) and held group conversations with distinct age cohorts. I also interviewed family members, the local headman, the hosi (customary leader), and youth farmers in a nearby village to gain a deeper understanding of the roles of this farm. Most interviews were translated by Basani Ngobeni.

2. Note that the name Jomela is a pseudonym.

3. Extension workers focus on conventional methods such as synthetic fertilisers. Farmers can rarely afford such inputs so the farm relies on many agro-ecological practices.

4. During the shut down, farmers planted maize and other rain-fed crops; lack of rain in 2015 meant no crop.

Additional information

Funding

This work received funding from the SSHRC Internal Research Grants program and the British Columbia Arts Council.