The SPCA’s Compassion in Farming programme is cultivating much more than humane farming practices. It is seeding economic opportunity, promoting responsible production, strengthening community food systems, and equipping everyday heroes like Mrs. Khawuleza with the tools to create lasting, transformational change.
When Mrs. Noncendo Khawuleza first stepped onto iThemba Farms, as a participant in the SPCA’s Compassion in Farming programme, she carried with her more than just knowledge from her pig-farming past. She brought resilience, vision, and a hunger to grow—not just crops, but a future.
Pig farming had once been her lifeline. But the devastating cycle of African Swine Fever—ruthless, recurring, and incurable—had decimated her efforts and her income.
Where others might have surrendered, Mrs. Khawuleza rerouted. And this time, she planted her hopes in the soil.
Armed with practical training from the SPCA’s Compassion in Farming gardening and composting classes, made possible with funding from the Welttierschutzgesellschaft e.V. (WTG), and delivered in partnership with Abalimi Bezekhaya’s Gardening Centre in Khayelitsha, she pivoted to vegetable production—a strategic move that put her in control of her future, not at the mercy of a virus. But like all true entrepreneurs, she soon realised that farming success is more than what’s in the ground. It’s about spotting gaps, seizing opportunities, and sometimes, thinking far beyond the garden fence.
At iThemba Farms her greatest challenge wasn’t pests or poor soil. It was water. No water, no farming—simple as that. But instead of packing up her hoe and heading home, she widened her scope and discovered a neighbouring initiative: the Burundi Gardening Project, a collective of 34 community members committed to growing produce for income. What they lacked in formal training, she had in abundance.
And that’s when the lightbulb went on.
Every Wednesday, Mrs. Khawuleza boards public transport—no fancy truck, no subsidies—to buy over R600 worth of quality spinach, beetroot, lettuce, and spring onion seeds. She then supplies these to the Burundi gardeners, creating a supply chain complete with knowledge. It’s grassroots agri-business at its finest.
Her husband plays his part too. With nothing more than a wheelbarrow and a wide smile, he sells their harvest to shoppers near Mfuleni’s retail centres, turning pavement corners into pop-up produce stalls.
Their green-fingered hustle doesn’t stop there. Mrs. Khawuleza recently landed a contract to maintain a preschool’s vegetable garden, earning a reliable monthly income of R2,500. Not too long ago, her family depended solely on child support grants. Today, she’s a self-sustaining grower contributing to food security, early childhood nutrition, and community empowerment.
What’s more, she’s expanded operations to a plot of land across from iThemba Farms—another space she’s now transforming into a flourishing green haven. In a world of shrinking opportunities, she’s growing hers—quite literally—from the ground up.
This isn’t only a story about farming. It’s a story about capacity building, economic inclusion, and sustainable development—buzzwords in corporate boardrooms that mean very real things to people like Mrs. Khawuleza.
It’s also about what happens when compassion isn’t just for animals, but for the humans who care for them. The SPCA’s Compassion in Farming programme may have started with a mission to improve animal welfare in informal agricultural settings. But its impact reaches far beyond farm animals. It’s enabling ethical farming practices while cultivating livelihoods, fostering local economies, and helping everyday heroes like Mrs. Khawuleza sow independence, reap dignity, and harvest hope.
This is the kind of change that deserves to be nurtured. Please help us to grow more stories like this one—where compassion meets commerce, and innovation takes root in the hands of the underserved. When you back people with courage, you don’t just grow crops—you grow change.
When you invest in a woman like Mrs. Khawuleza, you’re not just backing a business. You’re backing better futures. For families. For communities. For South Africa.
How the SPCA’s Compassion in Farming Programme Advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
🥇 SDG 1: No Poverty – By empowering participants like Mrs. Khawuleza to generate stable incomes through ethical agriculture and micro-enterprise, the programme strengthens financial independence and reduces reliance on social grants.
🌾 SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Through small-scale farming initiatives, access to nutritious food is expanded at a grassroots level, contributing to local food security and improving early childhood nutrition.
🏢 SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth – By promoting micro-business development, entrepreneurship, and local supply chains, the programme creates dignified income opportunities and fosters resilient economic ecosystems within under-resourced communities.
🔄 SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – Teaching sustainable farming methods, composting, and responsible resource use, the programme encourages environmentally conscious food production that respects both people and the planet.
