Opinion | Growing freedom

This week, a quiet revolution is unfolding at the Arya Samaj premises in Northdale, Pietermaritzburg. An intensive seven-day permaculture training course is covering theory and the practical development of a 200-square-metre permaculture garden. Revolution is a strong word, but when regenerative training seeks to challenge the extractive status quo of chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds, the decision of 30 SMME farmers to pursue organic methods is indeed revolutionary.

I was appointed as a coordinator for the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign (SAFSC) in February last year. This was new terrain for me, an activist of many years. In September 2025, SAFSC held a three-day workshop for 25 young African farmers.

The outreach was initiated by fellow activist Snenhlanhla Mngadi, chair of the KZN AFASA Women’s Desk. We drew most trainees from the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA), and I was amazed by their deep-rooted passion for farming and hunger to learn permaculture within the broader framework of agroecology. Having attended a permaculture course at Wits University myself, I was determined to bring this training to Pietermaritzburg.

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At Wits, SAFSC and the Co-operative and Policy Alternative Centre (COPAC) have created permaculture gardens that feed thousands of students, alongside a training centre and seedbank. SAFSC emerged from a need to unite partners in championing food sovereignty on a national platform. Its founder, Professor Vishwas Satghar, is a former Pietermaritzburg resident from a pioneering family of local activists.

To understand why this work matters, consider a story. Years ago, after America’s protracted war with Vietnam ended, the arms industry slowed. Genius scientists repurposed the technology into a new industry: nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers.

In the 1960s, India faced imminent famine. Chemical fertilizers and high-yield (later genetically modified) seeds tripled grain production. Millions of lives were saved.

India went from importing grain to exporting it. It was rightly called the Green Revolution. But the costs were not counted at the start.

Synthetic nitrogen starves the life in the soil; microbes disappeared, earth grew hard and dependent on chemicals. The water followed. Fertilizer runoff created dead zones in rivers and poisoned groundwater.

In Punjab, the falling water table brought water laced with nitrates, linked to rising cancer rates. GMO seeds, engineered to tolerate herbicides, did not reduce chemical use — they increased it. Glyphosate, now a probable carcinogen, became ubiquitous.

For farmers, the trap tightened. Hybrid and GMO seeds could not be saved, forcing new purchases each season. Input costs rose.

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