LIMA-SocialEmploymentFund(SEF)trainingUmzumbe
28 – 31 August 2023
Esperanza Illovo Sugar Hall
Introduction
Lima Rural Development Foundation has focused their efforts in organising trainings to
empower their supervisors and field staffto establish flourishing household gardenskills to
adapttothe climate changes. With the help of MDFfield staff the second two-day trainingtook
placeattheUgu District Municipality: where uMdoni and uMzumbeparticipants gotthe
practical and theoretical skills of adapting to the changes brought by increasing temperatures
and erratic rainfalls. They gainedinsights into garden interventions and practices, nutrition,
and value-adding in response to climate change. The skills gained in the trainings will be used
for their day-to-day production livelihoods where they can also use value-adding for potential
income.
Site viewing and preparaons
Prior the two-day training, preparations take place a day before where the trainers view the site,
assess where all the trainings would be held and plan out the practical demonstrations. On
Tuesday the 28thof August 2023 MDF field staff made their way to uMdoni for site viewing
and preparations for the training. The team was welcomed by theLima facilitators namely
Nomthandazo and NosiphepheloNgcobo along with interns aswell as participants where
introductions were done before preparing the demonstration stations. The garden site used isa
garden that uMdoni agriculture and healthsupervisors use to plant vegetables thatare harvested
for needy households, schools, or clinics. With limited space available in the garden, prepping
started with a discussion with the group which led todigging a trench bed, an eco- circle, and
a cut- off drain. Next, soil, manure and wood ash was mixed for the tower garden, also sewing
the shaded net, and putting together the drip kit pipes and opening of the drip holes while others
collected organic material and drove nearby for manure. After garden preparations, a quick
discussion was held to concludeall the arrangements for the trainings and what needed to be
available the next morningand howthe trainings stationswill bestructured and what other
materialis required.
Day-1: CCA introduction and Intensive homestead food production
The training started at the garden site for a climate change adaptation introduction and
demonstrations of the climate resilience adaptation practices. Aquick introduction and a brief
background of Mahlathini Development Foundation was shared before the impacts of climate
change were discussed andwhat principles and practices can beimplementedto adaptto the
changes. With the available space in the garden and the changes thatthe Limaparticipants have
experienced in their gardens they were looking at practices that can help manage their crops,
water, and ways to use the available water effectively, how they can control soil water and
erosion and how todeal with any pest and diseases. These impacts helped the trainers organise
the 3 training stations according to thepracticesthat needed to be demonstrated. The first
station was the soil and crop management station consisting of the trench beds, check dams,
cut-off drains, the eco- circle, mixed cropping, and mulching. The second stationwas the water
and greywater management station consisting of the tower garden, drip irrigation, mixed
cropping, and mulching. Lastly, was the third station with pest and disease brews, an immunity
foliar spray and the fruit fly traps.
1.Soil and Crop Management
•Trench beds
Participants have workedmainly with raised beds before, since they currently have themin
their gardens but for the benefit of the group introduction of trench beds was important. The
trench beds are intensive garden beds, dug out 80cm deep and filled with materialto create
compost. In the trenches the participants saw the different layers of organic matter that is
buried. The bottom layer is filled with tins for iron and water holding, the next layer is bones,
added for phosphorous and wood ash added for potassium, then a range of organic matter is
added such as fresh manure, dry material, green material, and the soil. The organic matter
layers are repeated and watered at every layer to keep the bed moist. The bed is built up into a
smallbasin, planted with a variety of crops and mulched to save water, reduce soil
temperatures, and increase soil health. The three groups weretaken through the process and
did the practical filling of trenches in stages giving each other turns. In planting the trenches,
Figure 1: Field sta along with Lima parcipants preparing garden
the importance of spacing and mixing of crops for variety, efficientuse of space, insect pest
repellent and water use was discussed.
•Eco-circle
The eco-circle has a similar concept as the trench bedbut is way smaller than a trench bed. The
eco-circle is a small circular, dug bed packed with layers of manure, organic matter, and soil
with a 2Lbottle with holes on the body placed in the centre of the circle for irrigation. This
planted garden is 1m in diameter and
60cm deep appropriate for small
gardens and also as a practice to
introduce the benefits of increased soil
depth for rooting, organic matter,
mulch, and irrigation management.
The circle is bordered by a row of
stones that can help trap heatduring
the day releasingit during thenight.
The eco- circle is planted with a
mixtureof crops and layered with a
layer of dry grass, mulch tokeep the
soil moist.
Figure 2: Parcipants at the trench bed staon
Figure 3: Filling in and planng the eco-circle
•Cut-off drains
Due to the steepnessof the garden
site, the trainers noted the
importance of acut off drain across
the garden. Due to the steepness a lot
of water runs down the surface of the
garden during rainy days taking
along with it the rich top soil losing
the healthy soil at the top that
sediments at the bottom ofthe
garden. The cut-off drainalongthe
garden was constructed to help stop
water from flowing down the garden,
allowing it to infiltrate deep into the
ground. The groups were able to see
the dug-up drain, 40cm deep and
50cm wide which they later
supported the furrow with rocks and
planted it with herbs such as parsley,
thyme, and coriander.
•Check dams
To manage the soil, erosion control is one of the important factors needed to be controlled in
the garden. Constructing check dams across drainage ditches is one of the ways that reduce the
water flow velocity and allows sedimentation of silt in the garden. Stones were used, and keyed
into the slope on the dug ditches to reduceerosion caused by overland flow of water and help
divertthe water into the raised garden beds. The participantshelped dug theditches and packing
of stones from the largest to the smallest. Theditches were planted with rosemary trees so they
can help absorb some of the run-off water, while helping it grow.
Figure 4: Planng on the moundbelow cut-o train to stop water
running down the garden
Figure 5: Check dams strategically placed as steps down the garden to disrupt and stop erosion, channelling water in
walkways around beds
2. Water and Greywater Management
•Tower Garden
In efforts to improve adaptation to climate change, the tower garden is one of the practises
implemented for adapting to climatechangeand also to provide food while using less resources
and working less. The tower garden was built up from the ground using four poles, 80% shade
cloth around the poles, astonecolumn builtup using a bottomless bucketas a ringin the centre
of the bed and a pre-prepared mixture of soil, manure, and ash. To build the tower garden, a
4m long shade-netcloth was measured and sewn together using intertwined nylon string. The
poles were placed in a 1m x 1m square and wrapped around in the shade net. With the netrolled
to the floor, in the centre a stone channel was built up using a bottomless bucket as a ring. The
bed was filled in with the mixture of soil, manure and ash around the stonecolumn while adding
more stones as the mixture filled thenet moving it up. The bed was filled in levels andthe
mixture was neatly tucked into the net. After filling the bed small holes were made in the side
of the bag using the pinkie and thumb method to separate the holes. The seedlings were planted
vertically into the holes making sure that mostly the leafy vegetables such as spinach, mustard
spinach, Chinese cabbage, and herbs are planted on the side. The top of the bed was planted
with leafy vegetables and beetroot since it grows into a huge bulb. The top can also be used to
plantonions, chillies, peppers, and tomatoes as they can bestaked to the poles. Thetower
garden was then watered by pouring water onto the stone column in the middle and also on the
sides to keep the soil moist and for the seedlings to hold onto the soil.
Figure 6: Packing and planng tower garden
•Drip -kit irrigation
Drip irrigation adds on to deep trenches, mixed cropping, and mulching which does not only
protect the soilfrom erosion but retains water, regulates temperature, and increase soil health.
Drips further reduce the watering frequency and allows for theuse of grey water.Since water
continues to be an everyday challenge, the use of grey water can play a vital role in stretching
the little available water we have. Wood ash and a sand sieve helps remove dirt from the water
as it goes down the pipes and also avails the water in littledrops for a long period of time.
Drips will continue providing water to the crops every second of the day for as long as there is
water in the bucket. Even when participants are away from the garden. Drips are left to do the
business of providing water day and night, its slow but consistent levels of water provision.
3.Natural Pest and Disease Controland Fruit production
•Brews: Chilli, onion, garlic
Pest and diseasesare significant to farmers because of the damage they cause to plant andplant
products. The farmers tend to use chemicalsto control the pest and diseases which iscostly
and poisonous to humans and beneficial insects. With theparticipantsat the pestand disease
controlstation they looked atthebeneficial insects and theroles that each of the insects play.
The insects included thepraying mantis, ladybug, lacewing fly, bees, white spider, and the
wasps. There were three brews demonstrated that can be used in the garden to help with the
spread of pests and diseases. The brews were made of chillies, garlic, and onion and allthese
Figure 7: The groups witnessing drip kits gradually releasing water to crops
brews have a strong, stinging tasteand smell that helps repel insects like aphids, mosquitoes,
mites, ants, ticks, worms, cutworms etc and they can also treat some fungi and viruses.
•Enriched foliar spray
After the brewsthe participants helped mix the immunity enriched foliar spray in a 20l bucket.
In the bucketa mixture with 2 spades of manure, 20l of water, green matter, chopped banana
stem, 2l of milk for fermentation, 1kg of sugar, 1kg of bonemeal, 1kg of lime and wood ash
was mixed together to make the spray. The spray assists with both the fertility and immunity
of the crops protecting them from any pest and diseases. The mixture was leftto be stored for
10-15 days before itcould be strained and diluted on a 1:5 litre ratio before application.
•Planting fruit trees and making fruit fly traps
The area of uMdoni is coastal and is home to many fruittrees that were visible along the way
to the site. The area had sugar cane fields, banana trees, mango trees and citrus trees. With fruit
production not being talked about when looking at the climate changeimpacts as trainersit
was importantto bring up thetopic to make the participants understand producing a rangeof
fruit at homestead level is an important aspect ofboth diversification and resilience. The
participantsunderstood thatfruitcan beproducedfromseed, cuttings, root, and grafting.
Choosing the rightsite and preparing the planting site or hole is very important. Watering and
fertilising the trees is important to help with their growth and to also protecting them from the
wind.
As vegetation is treated against pest and diseases also does the fruit trees. Organicremedies
can be used to control pests and also are physical traps such as the fruit fly trap, barriers, and
artificial guards. Fruit flies spoil fruit later inthe season by stinging them and laying eggs inside
the fruit. Small worms hatch in the fruit and makethem rotten.Afruit fly trap can be used to
controlthe flies. Thefruit fly trap is madeout of a cut in half 2L plasticbottle, hung on a tree
brunch, filled with some water that is mixed with fruit or sugar which will attract the flies and
they will fly into the trap to feed and will not find away out.
Day 2: Nutrition and value adding
Climate change (Recap)
The second day started with a wherewe recapped whatwas demonstrated the previous day,
specificallylooking atthe positive impacts practices can play in improving adaptivity to
climate change. This was done after a discussions on climate change where participants said to
understand it to be changing of weather patterns over decades and are mostly unfavourable to
communities. They further made examples of these recently prevalent unfavourable weather
changessuch as hailstorms, flash floods and unprecedented drought spells. Participants then
further gave in examples of theeffects that climatechange has in society, one being the effect
in agriculture especially in gardens. They stated issues around plants not growing to their full
potential because of poor soil quality and water shortage. One participant stated that climate
changealso affects society economically in such a way that people who practise agriculture
will not get the desired yields therefore cannot sell their produce to their desired prices toget
reasonableprofit. The facilitator furthermore explained that since climate change is a global
issue, it has affected awhole lot morethan just the agricultural industry but infrastructure as
well which is a contributing factor to climate changeaffecting the world economically.
Figure 8: Groups taking turns at the natural pest and disease staon
Rainwater harvesting and mulching
were raised as potential responses to
dealingwith increased temperatures
but participants werenot so clear on
crop and soil management as well as
dealing with pests. Thefacilitator
further went onto give examples of
the practices that can be practised to
adaptto the effects of climate change
where she referred to the garden that
we had done with the participants on
the previous day where she further
elaborated ontrench beds,tower
gardens, eco-circles, run-off ditches
and check dams. Discussions were
around howthese practices assist in
saving water, improving soil, plants
and managing beneficialand
destructive pests and insects.
Participants werevery excited with
practicesand are going to try them out in their own household gardens and respective teams
they work with, more especially the tower garden since some of them strugglewith planting
space.
Nutrition
To start of the conversation around nutrition, participantswereasked what they understand
nutritionto be and replied; “a healthycombination food, nutrients, vitamins, carbohydrates,
protein, fats, and minerals for productive bodies”. Thepoint of a healthcombinationand
balance of intake of the different types offoods is important forvarious bodily functions, so in
essence we are what we eat. Different people eat differently, for example, children and old
people, whatwe eat also influences ability to fight off illness and to also recover from it, protect
the human body from chronic diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer. The group
was then asked to list the different foods they normally eatdaily alongwith the drinks. The list
is was follows:
Table 1: Foods we normally eat
•Bread
•Porridge
•Rice
•Fat cakes
•Fried chips
•Steam bread
•Meat (beef, pork, and chicken)
•Cereal
•Beans
•Juice
•Tea
•Potatoes
•Banana
•Chips
•Mine
•Beer
Figure 9: Presentaon on climate change and nutrion
•Eggs
•Cheese
•Cold drink
•Samp
•Shwarma
•Tomatoes
•
The purpose of this exercise was to make the participants see if their daily diet is healthy or not
and what they can change aboutit to make it more nutritious. She explained which foods are
good for the human bodyand which are not from the list and whatnutrientsthey must serve
the human body. She then asked them to list some of the healthy food they can add to their diet
and amongst the list they mentioned fish, greens, water, fruits, and vegetables. Participants said
it is sometimes hard to get the nutritious foods thebody needs because they cannot afford, so
they are obliged to eat what is available in their homes. It was further explained that a nutritious
meal does not have to be expensive hence why we even assisted them in their gardens because
they can also eat food from their garden to save on costs and try to sacrifice the unhealthy foods
for nutritious ones in terms of buying.
The discussion moved on to the three different food groups which are go, grow, and glow foods.
These food groups were further broken downinto simple terms because the participants did
not know about these food groups. Go food group gives the body heat and energy and amongst
themwe can include foods such as potatoes, cereal, bread, avocado, bananas, and a whole lot
more which were included in the handout participants took. We then moved on to discuss the
Grow food group which repairs andbuilds ourbody cells and listeda few foods that are
considered grow foods which are chicken, beans, fish, eggs, etc. Lastly, we moved on to the
glow food group which regulates and protect our bodies, glow foodsinclude fruits and
vegetables, and drinking lots of water.
After the food group discussion, there was a shortactivity whereby the participants were
divided into three groups and the first group had to propose a meal/full platefor a healthy
grown adult, the second group had to propose a meal for a sick adult, and the last group had to
propose a mealfor a developing child. Themeals had to clearly be inclusive of go, grow and
glow foods. The three proposed meals were as follows.
Table 2: plate designs for a healthy adult, a sick person and a toddler
A healthy adult
A sick adult
A 6-year-old child
•Carrot
•Butternut
•Beetroot
•Chicken
•Grilled fish
•Peas
•Brown rice
•Potato wedges
•Beetroot
•Butternut
•Lettuce
•Fish
•Peas
•Eggs
•Banana (snack)
•Milk (to drink)
A sandwich consisting of:
•Bread
•Lettuce
•Butter
•And cheese
To snack
•Boiled eggs
•Corn
•Banana
•Banana & apple
(snack)
•Grapes
To drink
•Milk
•Fruit juice
Each group had a chance to present their plate andwhy they decided upon that place. This
exercise was to see if theparticipants understood the 3 different food groups and the nutrients
that the foods in these groups have and servethe human body with. During their presentations
the groups werecriticked on some of their food choices based on practicality and reality (it
does not make financial sense to have so much food in one plate of which some of the food
serve the same purpose), a healthy balanced diet doesnot have to have foods from the same
food group in one platerather have different nutrients that serve different purposes in the body
specifically forthe scenario that the group was assigned (a healthy adult,a sickadult, and a
child). After these exercises participantswere more comfortable with the concept of nutrition
and what food combinations make up a healthy diet.
Figure10: Groups busy with their plate designs
Value adding.
The value adding session comprised of three stations of different processed food. The stations
were headed by the MDF team. The three stations were as follows:
Table 3: Value adding station and personel
Station 1
(Sphumelelo)
Station 2
(Noxolo)
Station 3
(Mazwi)
➢Pesto
➢Atchar
➢Sweet potato bites
➢Blanching and drying
➢Sweet chilli sauce
➢Jam
The three groups ofparticipants all had a chance to visit the three different stations where they
were taken through the different activities in eachstation. Theteamclearly explained the
process of value adding, and its importance. We then movedon to the different methods of
making the processed food in each station, and the nutritional value found in theproduct. The
participantsfoundgreat interestinthe different station and said they wouldtry out the different
processed foods in each station. They want to start businessand sell all the products locally for
example they want to sellthe sauces and atchar to shisanyamas in thearea, sweetpotato bites
to their community members and colleagues, and jams to local spaza shops. The participants
also found blanching and drying to be a very useful, practical and cheap method to preserve
their food. They did mention that they do experience problems of their vegetables rotting so it
would bevery convenient for them to blanch them. Some participantswere shocked that
vegetables can be preserved just by boiling them in lemon water, up until it was explained to
them how the process works.
Figure11: Sphumelelo pulling out the pesto tasng samples
Figure12: Sweet potato bites and blanching with Noxolo
Figure13: Explanaon of the jam and sweet chilli sauce process
