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FoodForward SA’s Partnership with OneFarm Share Improves Access to Nutritious Food across South Africa

Retail 27 August 2025

Despite South Africa being the most food-secure country in Africa, millions of South Africans suffer from moderate to severe food insecurity. This is largely due to inequality, poverty, and unemployment. Meanwhile, more than 10 million tonnes of perfectly edible surplus food end up in landfills every year.

To address this, FoodForward SA (FFSA) has partnered with OneFarm Share (OFS) – an initiative powered by Standard Bank and HelloChoice - to redirect surplus fresh produce from farms across South Africa to provide nutritious meals for vulnerable communities.

In South Africa, more than two million tonnes of fresh produce are wasted annually, while nearly one in four households lack adequate access to nutritious food.

OFS directly addresses this imbalance. Farmers upload produce availability onto the HelloChoice digital marketplace platform. OFS negotiates a preferential rate with the farmer, and it purchases the surplus produce, which is then donated to FFSA.

FFSA leverages its national network of over 2 500 registered NGOs, cold-chain fleet, and mobile rural distribution capability to ensure fresh produce reaches just under one million food insecure people every day - across all nine provinces.

This collaborative effort has resulted in large donations such as five truckloads of weekly potato surpluses being redirected to FFSA branches nationwide – contributing to more than five million meals and reducing cost –per meal to just R0,50c.

Thanks to OFS, FFSA’s beneficiary organisations now have access to up to 41 different types of fresh produce – including butternut, spinach, pumpkin, beetroot and aubergines. The healthy nutrition component of the food basket has improved from 82% to more than 90%.

A Partnership that Matters

Redistributing surplus food from landfills not only alleviates the effects of poverty and food insecurity, but it also reduces climate impacts and avoids the loss of farming inputs like water, energy and labour.

By supplying fresh fruits and vegetables to local community kitchens, the partnership significantly improves the dietary diversity on offer, resulting in more balanced meals for poor people, improving their access to healthy food.

Other benefits are that emerging and women-led farming enterprises gain market access and fair pricing, while finding reliable buyers via the HelloChoice channel. This boosts their income and business resilience.

Looking to the Future

In the years ahead, the FFSA and OneFarm Share partnership aims to deepen impact by:

Further amplifying the volume and variety of produce recovered and redistributed
Expanding opportunities for small-scale and women farmers in underserved communities
Increasing the health and nutritional value of delivered meals across the national network.

This partnership exemplifies an integrated and innovative approach to addressing food insecurity. By turning excess into impact, we’re moving closer to a South Africa where nutritious food is more accessible, and no harvest goes to waste.

Supplied by: FoodForward SA.

Guzzle Media