Shoprite competition accelerates community food security across SA
The competition offers collective prizes worth R1m in tailored support, enabling winning gardens to scale their efforts through infrastructure, training and agricultural resources.
With gardens often serving as inclusive spaces of nourishment, learning and resilience, the initiative highlights how local food growing is becoming a critical part of South Africa’s response to ongoing food security challenges.
According to the latest South African Food Security Index, while access to food is improving (from 44.9 in 2023 to 56.5 in 2025), millions of households still struggle to access nutritious, affordable produce.
To ensure a broad and balanced evaluation of the entries, four guest judges — an agricultural entrepreneur, a gardening advocate, a leader in urban farming and a public communicator — will join the adjudication panel, bringing diverse lived experience and community-based perspectives to the selection process.
"These judges embody the spirit of the competition, bringing together storytelling, sustainability and social impact – all rooted in a shared belief that a food garden can transform much more than what’s on your plate," says Sanjeev Raghubir, chief sustainability officer at the Shoprite Group.
"Each one brings a different kind of expertise, from hands-on farming and urban greening to communication and entrepreneurship. But they all share the same goal: celebrating how gardens build stronger, more self-sufficient communities."
Growing more than food
Community gardens increasingly play a pivotal role in tackling local hunger, relieving household costs, building skills and strengthening community bonds.
They are hubs of innovation — teaching organic cultivation, composting, irrigation, resource-efficient planting and collaborative labour — proving that sustainable food systems can be grown from the ground up, literally.
A decade of investment
The Act For Change Food Garden Competition aligns with Shoprite’s long-term support of community agriculture. Over the past ten years, the Group has invested in nearly 300 gardens across the country, which collectively produced more than 106,000 kg of fresh food in the past year alone.
Judging begins in January 2026, with the panel selecting the Top 10 finalists. Winners will be announced by 30 April 2026.
Call to enter
Community gardens of all types may enter — including those run by individuals, faith-based organisations, NGOs, schools, informal collectives or neighbourhood associations. Entrants must be over 18, and the garden must serve a broader community.
Entry is free and data-free at https://actforchangefoodgardencompetition.datafree.co/. Entries remain open until 30 November.