MAHLATHINI
An Overview Natal
Midlands
By Temakholo Mathebula
OUR FOCUS AREAS
We work with smallholder farmers in
KZN (Bergville, SKZN and Midlands).
EC (Matatiele)and Limpopo
(ametja/Sekororo)on Community
based Climate Change Adaptation,
natural and water resources
management and conservation, Local
food systems( including seed,
traditional foods and local
marketing0 and microfinance support
(Village saving and loan associations
–VSLA’s and small business
mentoring.)
NATAL MIDLANDS
The Midlands covers the following areas:
oOzwathini
oMayizekanye
oGobizembe
Crops commonly grown: maize, beans, amadumbe, sweet potatoes, potatoes, vegetables
Majority of participants are females between the ages of 40 and 70
Most are breadwinners in their homesteads
Over 90% have no formal employment and depend on social grants, remittances, pension and disability
grants
All are smallholder farmers who farm mainly for consumption smoothing and selling surplus
CLIMATE
RESILIENT
AGRICULTURE
–How do we provide support that speaks to the needs to
farmers but also drives them to improve their current
practices?
–How can we improve the farming system without causing
excessive damage to the environment?
–What are the best options for water and soil conservation in
smallholder farming systems?
–Is agro-ecology a viable option for long term food security?
What we have been doing:
–Agro-ecology
–Conservation Agriculture
–Livestock production
–Marketing & Value Adding (in the pipeline)
Project description
CRITERIA (140 participants)
–EC: 5-8 Villages per year x 2
–Linked to spring protection
–Linked to village savings and loan associations
–Linked to resource conservation efforts
–KZN: 4-6 Villages per year x 2
–CRA learning group members already implementing CA, intensive
homestead food production and livestock integration
–Intention is to “double” production and support and set up localised
marketing options
–Learning group of ACTIVE farmers
–Womenheadedhouseholds
–Unemployed
–Loss of jobs and income
–No grants/ pension
–Must have some access to water and labour
ACTIVITIES
–Climate change analysis and choice of CRA practices
–Learning sessions in CRA practices
–Farmerlevelexperimentationwithabasketof
options in
–Intensive gardening –tunnels plus
–Field cropping –conservation agriculture and livestock
integration
–Small livestock – broilers, layers, traditional poultry
–Marketing options and ideas to try out
–Mam’Nene sells green maize, cabbages, beans,
amadumbe and sweet potatoes to street traders
in Pietermaritzburg. The produce are collected by
bakkie owners.
–She also sells her produce in the small close-by
town of Wartburg ondays whenthegovernment
old age pensions are paid out.
--------------------------------------------------------
Observation of COVID impact on labour
–These elderly women farmers do not employ
labour, which they say is unaffordable. They work
the fields themselves with the assistance of adult
children when they return from the cities, where
they work and live. During lockdown, children
were not able to return home, creating additional
labour burdens.
Impact of COVID: Casemam’Nene, Swayimane
§Minimal soil disturbance
§Diversified cropping
- Intercropping
- Mixed cropping (multi-species)
- Crop rotation
§Keep living roots in the soil
- Extension of season – late season
cover crops
§Permanent organic soil cover
- Inclusion of cover crops
- Crop residues and mulching
•Integrate livestock
- Fodder production, grazing of
Conservation Agriculture: Five principles
CA implementation in KZN
Category
Description
Bergville
SKZN
Midlands
Socio
-Economic information
Gender
% women
77%
48%
85%
Age
31
-39yrs
40
-49
50
-59
60
-69
>70
10%
17%
37%
30%
7%
6%
6%
33%
50%
11%
5%
10%
15%
35%
15%
Income
Farming
40%
13%
50%
Ave monthly farming income
R1
585,71
R933,33
R3 750
Grants
90%
87%
90%
Ave monthly incomefrom
grants
R2 648,21
R1 906,41
R2
655,88
Ave overall monthly income
R3 241,07
R1 956,06
R3361,76
Percapitaincome(monthly)
Average members per
household ( )
R463,01 (7)
R391,21 (5)
R480,25 (7)
VSLA membership
53%
30%
10%
Averagenumberofyears
saving
5
3
2
Saving for farming inputs;
annual amounts
Min
Max
Ave
R200,00
R3 000,00
R1 275,00
R1 000,00
R2 000,00
R1 050,00
R1 200,00
R5 500,00
R2 900,00
Bulk buying
33%
13%
45%
Active in learning groups
43%
65%
90%
Collaborative working
43%
52%
60%
No of years of CA
implementation
Average
Range
4
1 to 7
3
1 to 6
3
1 to 4
Area, (No of villages
No of participants
1000m2
trials
(10x10 ’s)
400m2
trials
Strips
Fodderspecies
Seed
Poultry
Tworowplanter
Short season maize
Actual planted
(hectares)
Bergville (12)
172
71
69
79
12
5
5
9
29
14,01
Midlands (10)
98
22
61
22
17
3
12
6
11
6,64
SKZN (9)
80
0
72
15
0
0
0
7
4
4,8
TOTALS
350
93
202
116
29
8
17
22
44
25,45
Zodwa Zikode
Unemployed. Woman headed household, looking
after 1 orphan.
–0,14ha, mostly under CA; Maize, beans, cowpeas,
SCCs, potatoes, pumpkins
–Able to supply her own annual staples and
vegetables from her farming
–Sale of crops in community, pension points,
selling of sweets and snacks at schools and local
loan shark. Monthly income ~R1200/ month
–Pigs (8); slaughters and sells locally.
–Livestock stolen
Case study
–Agroecological practices
including; composting, deep and
shallow trench beds, mulching,
mixed cropping, natural pest and
disease control, crop
diversification, grey water
management
–Microclimate management;
shade cloth tunnels
–Improved irrigation practices; drip
irrigation, irrigation scheduling
(chameleon sensors)
Intensive homestead food production practices
–Learning workshops and
experimentation:
supplementation, nutrition, and
conditionscoring
–Manual balers; for veld grass,
lab-lab, cowpea, Teff and maize
stover
–Poultrymanagementworkshops
and implementation
Foddersupplementationandsmalllivestock
CRA pictures
Programme
Target
Climatechange
adaptation production
methodsthatimprove
yields(qualityand
quantities)while
rehabilitating and
conservingthe
environment(soiland
water resources)
SmallholderFarmers
Trainingand
supervision of Farmer
Learning Groups
PromotionofCRA
§Improved soil
fertility
§Climate change
adaptable financial
planning habits
§Cooperative buying
§Increased yields
§Functional farmer
institutions
§Improved market
access
§Farmer centres
Results
Methodology
Goal
§CRAfarming
methods
§Financial Education
(Focused Savings
Groups)
§Entrepreneurship
Education (Street
Business School)
§Research (M&E)
Philosophical
underpinnings
Adapt financial
education and
enterprise
developmentto
meetthe
development
objectivesof
ClimateResilient
Agriculture (CRA)
Principles of
social Justice and
solidarity
economies woven
into the model
VSLAs
•The intention is to provide farmers with cash flows to be
able to do consumption smoothing, pay off loans and
undertake small businesses and farming
•Meet once a month to save and borrow, share out is
done once a year.
•Majority based in Bergville
•Established to create a pool of money locally which
participants could also borrow from and repay at 10%
interest rates
•Money is from participants and fully managed by them
•Groups include both agricultural participantsand
general community members
•Looking to set up VSLAs in Midlands. Farmers currently
part of stokvels and burial societies
Pillars of a VSL Association
§Manageable size of the group (up to 19)
§Trust, neighbourly, care for one another
§Strong social bonds
§Transparency, commitment and democratic principles
§FocusedsavingstosupportCRAobjectives
§On-goingtrainingandsupervision
LESSONS FROM VSLAs (Bgvl, SKZN)
–The VSLAs make a huge contribution to peoples’ livelihoods, assisting them to continue farming and stabilizingtheir
small incomes
–It assists them also to save jointly for larger items such as fencing, Jo-Jo tanks
–In the first few savings cycles, people tend to prioritize immediate needs, therefore most of the money goes towards
consumption smoothing. After2-3 years they start to use the VSLAs actively for their enterprise development
–Great space to create a strong network, most participants in savings groups are also in the same learning groups
(which have now diversified from CA to agro-ecology) and often start other social ventures such as water committees,
calf rearing groups, jointly run farmer centres, mechanization committees etc.
–These VSLAs do however have a reasonably low ceiling in terms of how far savings can go in improving livelihoods.
New farmer bank model being developed to enable larger amounts for savings and loans and longer savings cycles
including banking and investment options.
–Groups which do not follow the group constitution have fairly high levels of inter-group conflicts, however they have
been surprisingly resilient, mostly surviving these upheavels tocontinue with theirgroup based activities.
MARKETING
MARKETING: OZWATHINI