Sweetening the Soil: How Livelihood Agriculture Transformed Khwenxurha

By: Ronald Eglin

{This article is part of the #WriteYourFutureSA series and involves fictitious characters and scenarios from the perspective of a person living in 2036 designed to explore the possibilities of our shared future. We invite readers to imagine their own futures and contact info@afesis.org.za if they would like to contribute their own “Write Your Future” article to this growing collection of visions.}

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What happens when an entire community rejects industrial farming to gamble on its own collective survival?

Set in the year 2036, Sweetening the Soil follows Nosipho, a retired teacher who returns to her Eastern Cape ancestral home of Khwenxurha. Instead of chasing the commercial mirage of large landowners, the community pioneers a radical shift toward local livelihood agriculture. By blending modern digital remote work with organic agroecology, they transform their rolling hills into a self-sustaining economy—complete with community food boxes, thriving bee pastures, and village allotment gardens that have captured the eyes of both tourists and the government.