Farmer Tackles Hunger And Food Wastage In The Face Of Covid-19

Farmers across South Africa have launched food aid initiatives for their local communities to ease the hardships and suffering brought about by the COVID-19 lockdown. Fruit and vegetable producer Rossouw Cillié of Laastedrif near Ceres spoke to Jeandré van der Walt about his involvement in distributing food parcels to Western Cape families in need.

- Jeandre van der Walt

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown regulations left huge numbers of South Africans unemployed, as businesses were forced to downscale or even shut down. Numerous families found themselves destitute, and food security and nutrition suddenly became priorities.

Seeing the increasing hunger amongst their fellow citizens, many farmers, agricultural organisations and communities made a commitment to do something about it. One such person was Rossouw Cillié of Laastedrif farm in Ceres, who plants 1 200ha to fruit and vegetables all year round, and supplies markets and retailers.

HOW IT STARTED

Cillié says he has a passion for helping people. “It’s something I inherited from my mother, Irene. She was an incredibly caring person.”

He explains that the initiative started when the national lockdown coincided with his apple and pear harvest coming to an end in April.

“My seasonal workers had to stay at home and were unable to look for work. It was my moral duty to feed these people. So we gave each of them a pack of fruit and diced vegetables every week,” he says.

This aid later extended to soup kitchens in Ceres, Elands Bay, Redelinghuys, Touws River and Worcester.

“Suddenly, the initiative boomed, as more industry role players started to offer their support,” he recalls.

Today, Ceres Fruit Growers, Cape Agri, Tru- Cape, Agri SA, Revolute Systems, HFR Refrigerated Transport, TE Coetzee and Yara Fertilisers all support the initiative, and farmer Stef Stephan from the Sandveld regularly donates potatoes.