Milestone 7 - Learning and mentoring report (II) | Mahlathini Development Foundation

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Acknowledgements

The USAID Resilient WatersProgram is fundedby theU.S. Agency for International Developmentand

implemented by Chemonics International Inc. Fixed amountaward No. RWP-G3-MDF is a sub-grant

implemented by Mahlathini Development Foundation.

2 Forresters Lane

Pietermaritzburg, 3201

KZN, South Africa

T (+27)828732289

W www.mahlathini.org

Company Reg. No. 2016/285787/08 (2016)

Non-profit org. Reg. No. 930051028 (2015)

DUNS No. 539 162 399

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Mahlathini Development Foundation (MDF) is a small public benefit non-profit organization consisting of

ruraldevelopment practitioners who specialize in participatory learning and action processes, sustainable

natural resource management and low external input farming systems, including a focusonrainwater

Community based climate change adaptation for increased

water productivity and food security for improved rural

livelihoods in the Lower Olifants basin

MILESTONE 7: Learning and mentoring report (II)

30/09/2021

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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harvesting, conservation agriculture, intensive homestead food production, food security,climate change

adaptation micro finance and enterprise development.

MDF designs and implements rural development programmes and training processes providing learning

processes for adults all the way from semi- literate farmers to post graduate university level. We work in

partnership with government and non-government organisations alike. We are sensitive to and mainstream

where possible gender, disability and people living with HIV/AIDs.

Climate variability and climate change (increased temperature, increased variability in rainfall patterns,

increased intensity of storms and increased drought) have far reaching effects on the lives and livelihoods

of the rural poor.Climate change poses a significant threat to South Africa’s water resources, food security,

health, infrastructure, ecosystem services and biodiversity.

This project intends to effectprocesses for community-based climate change adaptation (CB-CCA) for

improved livelihoods and resilience for project participants through introduction and implementation of

climate resilient agricultural (CRA) practices, building of social agency and stakeholder platforms and

support for alternative income generation opportunities.

The Innovation Systems methodological approach for this project focuses on local level learning groups and

individual and group experimentation to increase localcapacity and agency in building systems forfood

security and rural livelihoods.

As a firststep, avillage level assessment of climate change impacts and general natural resource use

patterns are done. Secondly, an analysis of adaptive strategies and associated practices provides the

platform for implementation of locally derived and prioritized activities and CSA practices. Thirdly, the

learning groups provide the organizational platforms for participatory research and monitoring, improved

governance and agency and collaborative actions around village level water resource management, rainfed

cropping systems, grazing management, village level savings and loan associations and farmer centers for

local input provision and marketing.

Research and development assistance’s key role will beto create and facilitateinnovation platforms for

local action in an environment of increasingly fractured social structures, immense economic and survival

pressures, and where direct government support to ruraldwellers has decreased dramatically over the last

decade. Use of the smallholder farmer level decision support system will ensure a locally motivated and

owned agenda for action, with potential for transformative adaptation that includes local stakeholders and

service providers in the Communities of Practice (CoPs).

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II) 
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Contents
Executive Summary .....................................................................................................4
1 Progress for the reporting period ................................................................................4
Project Objectives ......................................................................................................5
1 Overview of RW Community based CCA Project objectives..................................................5
Milestone Description...................................................................................................5
1 Definition of milestone and purpose ............................................................................5
Visioning, decision support and adaptation plants................................................................. 6
Progress..................................................................................................................7
1 Learning and mentoring...........................................................................................7
2 Natural pest and diseases control continued ................................................................. 10
Progress for main activities ..........................................................................................11
1 Tunnel installation ...............................................................................................11
2 Mametja-Sekororo PGS registration and farm visits.........................................................13
3 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) and enterprise development .............................17
Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) plan..................................................................27
1 Framework & indicators .........................................................................................27
2 Garden monitoring ...............................................................................................28
3 Resilience snapshots .............................................................................................35
Work Plan for Milestone 8............................................................................................36
1 Work plan for October-November 2021. ......................................................................37
Annexes ................................................................................................................37
1 Mametja-Sekororo PGS ..........................................................................................38

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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1Executive Summary

1.1Progress for the reporting period

For the period of Julyto September 2021 several ongoing activities were given attention; namely installation

ofmicro-tunnels and drip irrigation kits (37 newtunnels), alongside practical mentoring in trench beds,

mixed cropping and mulching, the monthly VSLA meetings for the 9 savings groups with annual share outs

for 3 of the groups, water committees and local marketing activities.

Learning andmentoring activities included a continuation of thenatural pest and disease control workshops

(Sedawa, mametja, Bosholozi andMadeira), consisting of a series of 2-day workshops in theoretical and

practical aspects of natural pest and disease control, including liquid manures, brews, garden management

and crop calendars.

We finalized PGS registration for30participants from 3 villages (Sedawa, Mametja and Turkey) for the

Mametja-Sekororo PGS and started onthe farm visits for certification of individual participants under this

banner.To date the PGS committee, with MDF assistance has undertaken 8 farm visits with certification

documentation and submitted these to PGS-SA for certificates. In addition, Betty Maimela has now been

brought on board into the PGS-SA pollinators programme.

Garden and progress monitoring has been undertakenfor a selection of participants, specifically from

Santeng, Mulalani and Willows, as these are newer areas in terms of implementation. Resilience snapshots

have been compiled for 10 participants from Turkey 1 and 2, as animpact case study and final learning

group reviews are in progress.

With regards networking and stakeholder engagement during thisperiod,MDF has initiated a partnership

process with Meat Naturally and CSA for anintervention in designing conservation agreements in 4 villages

and starting to set up a process of local livestock auctions for these participants. We have joined in a series

of 9 learning webinars under the EU Climate Champions banner, provided through a consortium of partners

which include Indigo, AFRA and the INR. We havecontinued our relationships with AWARD (for

implementation of the Tala Table Network) and K2C (for marketing through their FRFR platforms) and have

initiated a collaboration with Zingela Ulwazi for a participatory research enhancement process in the

Research 4 Climate Justice process through UCT and Coventry University (UK). We have joined in the RW

CoP and theory of change webinar processes.

PARTICIPANTS THIS PERIOD

MAHLATHINI: Erna Kruger, Betty Maimela, Thembhani Mabunda (Intern)

CHEMONICS: Sitha Mvumvu, Palesa Letsapa, Mayford Manika, Lindela Mketeni and Steve Collins.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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2Project Objectives

2.1Overview of RWCommunity basedCCAProject

objectives

GOAL: Increased adaptive capacity and resilience to the impacts of climate change for poor, rural

households involved in agriculture.

This goal is aimed specifically at Objectives 3 and 4 as set out in the 2019 Resilient Waters Program APS:

Objective 3: Strengthened ability of communities and key institutions to adapt to change,

particularly the impacts of climate change; and

Objective 4: Conserved biodiversity and ecosystem services.

OBJECTIVES:

Reduced vulnerability to climate change by supportingand strengthening collective action,

informed adaptation strategies and practices and tenable institutional arrangements at a local

level, including all relevant service providers and sectors.

Increased sustainability and efficiency ofCSA systems in the study areas giving specific attention

to the value chain, using an IS approach.

Adaptation and scaling out ofsustainable CSA systems in selected areas using livelihoods and

environmental criteria and

Building and strengthening of different innovation platforms and networks for financing,

awareness and implementation of community level Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)."

3Milestone Description

3.1Definition of milestone and purpose

Milestone descriptions have been developed for the RW CB-CCAproject for the period starting January 2020

and ending November 2021.The tablebelow summarises the activities against the present milestone

description and budget.

Table 1: Mahlathini Development Foundation Milestone 7: 30 June-30 September 2021

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Payment

No.

Milestone Title

Milestone Verification

Target Due

Date

Milestone

Payment

Learning and

mentoring

report(II)

The grantee will submit to Chemonics a Review and Networking

report detailing the following:

The grantee will submit to Chemonics a Leaming and

Mentoring report detailing the following:

i. Number Leaming group and Local facilitator (LF)training and

mentoring (in soil andwater conservation, intensive homestead

food production, Conservation Agriculture and livestock

integration) for each of the leaming groups.

ii- Number and demographics of people trained.

iii. Demonstrate how the training benefits the Resilient Waters

Programme.

iv. Number of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAS)

formed.

v. The type of savings mechanisms initiated in the communities.

vi Number of farmer centres initiated.

vii. Number of Business development provided and details

on which organization this was provided to.

The grantee will also submit to Chemonics a final report on

monitoring detailing the following:

i. Initiatives designed.

ii. Experimentation Implemented.

iii. Progress of the experimentation.

iv. Community response from the awareness campaign initiated.

Annexes:

i. Attendance registers from training conducted.

ii. Photographs from the trainingconducted

September

2021

R 287 417,80

4Visioning, decision support and

adaptation plants

This activity has largely already been completed and reported upon in prior deliverables.

Table 1: Learning groups and participant numbers for the RW programme: June 2021

CoPs: Village based learning

groups

Existing

New

TOTAL

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Sedawa

Mametja

Finale (inactive)

Willows

Turkey 1,2 ,4 (Nsthabaleng)

Botshabelo (Inactive)

Lepelle (inactive)

Worcester

Madeira

Santeng

Lorraine (inactive)

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Mulalani

Bosholozi

147

165

322

144

TOTAL

211

255

466

Subtract inactive groups

414

5Progress

5.1Learning and mentoring

Overall,MDF has engaged 414participants across 9 villages, who are still active in theirclimate resilient

agriculturelearning groups.

The process followed by MDF is to work at individual homesteads and with small very localised groups of

participants tocontinue thelearning and implementation in CRA.This has been necessitated by the ongoing

COVID-19threat. Attendance at learning and mentoring workshops and planning sessions has thus been much

lower and the sessions are repeated for a larger number of small gatherings.

During this period learning and mentoring focused onnatural pest and disease control, conservation

agreement and livestock production and sales,organic certification and marketing.

In total, 99 participants across 7villages have received learning and mentoringsupport between July and

September 2021.

Table 2:Summary of CCA learning group progress and planned activities: July to September 2021

Learning group

(no of active

participants in

the reporting

period)

CCA

planning

Practices to focus on,

from CCA and review

workshop sessions

Progress with activities

(September 2021)

Planned activities

(October-November

2021)

Turkey 1 (24),

Turkey 2(18)

and

Turkey 4 (34)

(76

participants)

Done

Seedling production,

processing (chilli,

Marula, beetroot and

achar), tower gardens,

organic mango

production and mango

grafting, eco-circles,

seed saving, composting,

markets, nurseries

-Natural soil fertility and liquid

manure (24)

-Mandala bed and permaculture

training (36)

-Tunnel construction (15,14)

- VSLAs monthlymeetings and

mentoring for Turkey 1(19)and

Turkey 2 (14)

- Tower garden training, Turkey 4

(18)

-Trenchbeds training workshop

turkey 4 (34)

- trench bedsrecap and eco-

circle training Turkey 1,2 (24,18)

- Organic marketing - PGS

training sessions 2 (12), 3(16)

- Enterprise development

training (17)

- Water committee meetings and

monitoring of water scheme

implementation (18)

-CA training; experimentation

and follow-up (18)

-Seed saving (18)

- Finalgroup review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

-Resource

Conservation

agreements and

livestock auctions

-PGS assessments and

Tala tablenetwork

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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-PGS 4; follow up on visioning,

tala table, household maps – fruit

trees (10)

-Value adding and food

processing (27)

-PGS 5: Registration and garden

assessments (26)

-PGS:Farm visits for

certification

-Seedling production training

and support (Isaac Malatji)

-Livestock production and local

auctions

Sedawa (34),

Bosholozi (29)

and Mametja

(63

participants)

Done

Liquid manure, natural

pest and disease control

workshop, shallow

trenches, eco-circles,

mandala garden,

irrigation management,

soil conservation (stone

lines, check dams,

terraces),tower

gardens, livestock

integration, seed saving

review and storage,

organic mango training,

compost, value adding to

crops, examplebasil

pesto, tomato jam

- Mandala bed and permaculture

training (28)

-VSLAmonthly meetingsand

mentoring for 3 groups in Sedawa

(13,19,15)

- Water committee meetingsx3

and monitoring of water scheme

implementation (19)

- Organic marketing –PGS

training sessions 2 (16), 3 (17)

- Enterprise development

training (11)

- Water committee meetings (x 3)

and monitoring of water scheme

implementation (21)

CA training; experimentation and

follow-up (21,29)

-Seed saving (34)

-Drip irrigation (29)

-PGS 4; follow up on visioning,

tala table, household maps – fruit

trees (10)

- CCA workshop Bosholosi (16)

-Value adding and food

processing (23)

-PGS 5: Registration and garden

assessments (8)

- Natural pest control, liquid

manures (22)

- Finalgroup review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

-PGS assessments and

Tala tablenetwork

Willows (18

Participants)

Done

Bed design, seed saving,

seedling propagation,

Conservation

agriculture, drip kits,

trench beds, mulching,

furrows and ridges,

banana circles,

rainwater harvesting,

organic mango

production, tower

gardens, liquid manure,

natural pestand disease

control.

- VSLA monthly meetings and

mentoring for Willows(17)

-Tunnel construction workshop

and follow-up (10)

- Organic marketing; planning

and implementation

-Enterprise Development training

-Livestock health with State vet

(12)

- Poultry production: follow up

and support (4)

-Seed saving (

-Tower gardens (18)

-Value adding and food

processing (22)

-Natural Pest and disease control

liquid manures, crop calendar –2

days (26)

-Soil and water conservation (21)

- Livestock production and local

auctions (18)

- Finalgroup review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

-Resource

Conservation

agreements and

livestock auctions

-Tala Table network

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Finale(9

Participants)

INACTIVE

Done

Poultry production, field

cropping practices,

marketing,

- Organic marketing; planning

and implementation

Santeng (25

Participants)

Done

Drip irrigation, diversion

ditches, greywater

management, rainwater

harvesting, ridges and

furrows, stone bunds,

keyholeends, banana

basins, crop rotation,

mixed cropping,

mulching, conservation

agriculture, targeted

fertilizer and lime

application, liquid

manure, trench beds,

legumes, compost, eco-

circles

-Tunnel construction training and

follow-up(18)

- VSLA monthly meetings and

mentoring for Santeng (13)

- Enterprise development

training (25)

-CA training; experimentation

and follow-up (16)

-Seed saving (22)

-Tower gardens (16)

-Value adding and food

processing (13)

-Natural Pest and disease

control liquid manures, crop

calendar – 2 days (24)

-Soil and water conservation (7)

- Finalgroup review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

- Tala Table network

Worcester (18

Participants)

Done

Seedling production, drip

irrigation, greywater

management, tower

gardens, natural pest

and disease control,

growing herbs, seed

saving

- CCA introduction, 5 finger

principles (13)

- VSLAs monthlymeetings and

mentoring for Worcester (14)

- Tower garden training (15)

-CA training; experimentation

and follow-up (18)

-Seed saving (17)

-Tunnel construction (7)

-Tower gardens (16)

-Value adding and food

processing (13)

-Natural Pest and disease control

liquid manures, crop calendar –2

days (19)

-Soil and water conservation (13)

- Finalgroup review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

- Tala Table network

Madeira (14

Participants)

Done

Drip irrigation, mulching,

keyholebeds(grey

water), furrow and

ridges, banana circles,

rainwater harvesting,

tied ridges, targeted

fertilizer and lime

applications, liquid

manure, trench beds,

eco-circles, seed saving

- VSLA introduction training and

monthly meetings and mentoring

for (14)

-Meeting with water committee

(9)

-Seed saving

-Value adding andfood

processing (5+)

- Natural pest and disease

control (20)

-Final group review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

Mulalani (36

participants)

Done

Tunnels, underground

tanks, and bigger

rainwater harvesting

structures more

generally, drip kits,

growing fodder for

livestock, conservation

agriculture, diversion

ditches, mulching,liquid

manure, tower gardens,

furrows and ridges,

shallow and deep

trenches, natural pest

and disease control, new

winter e.g. crop options,

seed saving, savings

groups

- CCA introduction workshop in

September 2020 (22)

-Trenchbed training workshop

September 2020 (25)

-Seed saving

-Trench beds (25)

- Tunnel construction (6)

-CA introduction workshop (5)

-Tower gardens (22)

-Value adding and food

processing (12)

-Soil and water conservation (17)

-Natural Pest and disease

control liquid manures, crop

calendar – 2 days (21)

-Final group review

and planning session

-Monthly VSLA

meetings

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5.2Natural pest and diseases control continued

These were conducted in Sedawa, Mametjaand Bosholosi for a total of 22 participantsand in Madeira for

20 participants. These workshops wereundertaken over twodays, one for theory and one forpractical

demonstrations. Below a summary isprovided of some ofthe practical demonstrations, as the theory is

similar to that reported in Milestone 6.

Practical discussions and demonstrations

This workshop was held for participants from Sedawa, Mametja and Bosholosi (22), on the 21st and 22nd of

July 2021. A practical was done with participants, where they made an enriched spray for pest & disease

management, soil enrichment and weed control in their gardens. Ronny Sekgobela, at whose home the

workshop was held, collected fresh cow manure, weeds, water and wood ash. Betty brought along 5l of

milk, 2kg of sugar, 2kg of bone meal and 5kg of agricultural lime. Betty also recommended substitutes for

materials that farmers find hard to add to the brew, such as

milk and sugar. Farmers can add in 15kg of sugar cane if

they don’t have sugar, they also can add eggshells for

substituting bonemeal and can substitute milk with urine.

Figure 1: Farmers practically made an enriched brew. Their only

worry was that they had to use milk and sugar, which they

consider food not to waste.

These sprays build up the immunity of plants, assist with

minor nutrient and mineral deficiencies, balancing the

nutrient uptake of plants as well as the microbial

populations on the plant and in the soil around the plant.

Reflection of the workshop

Mpelesi Sekgobela – She was very happy about the

knowledge gained, most especially because she has

forgotten some of the sprays, this helped a lot. She

appreciated receiving handouts that she will be using for

referral, meaning she will never forget from now on.

Esinah Malepe – Workshops like this are very important, she

struggles with pests and she has been doing the spray

wrong, but from now she will add green bar soap to the

spray and will be able to give feedback. She was also happy

about the handouts.

Nora Tsetla- The workshop was very productive, adding to

the knowledge she has and she will keep the handouts for

more referral and trying out other sprays.

Thamara Malepe – The fact that she has been trying

remedies that were not working and got a chance to sit in

the workshop to be taught and be given ideas to go and try,

she is very happy.

Flora Popela – One of the expensive things in her farming

experience is the buying of chemicals and fertilizers. She

appreciates options where this is not needed. She loved

knowledge shared most especially of making composted

manure, liquid manure and enriched spray, but she also felt

these practices are for small garden not for big gardens.

Betty advised that it can be done in bigger fields, if they

are divided into smaller areas and the enrichment is done

systematically for the different plots.

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Anna Mogale– She didn’t know that manure of chicken, goat and cows can be used to make brews that

help with pests and disease control, while fertilizing the soil at the same time.

Triphina Malepe – Learning groups like this are very productive and resourceful, as farmers get to share

ideas and learn from eachother. She also suggested to the group to invite even more farmers that they

know toworkshops.

Pauline Thobejane – The workshop was very fruitful, they have learned a lot, most of their questions were

answered and they also understand that they have to learn to adapt and change their ways of doing things

to go along with change in climate change, as these changes require different solutions.

6Progress for main activities

6.1Tunnel installation

The second round of 37 tunnels were installed for participants between July and August 2021.

Tunnel construction continued with

assistance from the tunnel construction

team, consisting of 10 members from

different villages. The team was

selected in2020 to assist Mahlathini

field workers with constructing tunnels

to the awarded farmers. The team is

made up ofactive farmers from five

villages, Turkey, Willows, Santeng,

Worcester and Sedawa. The group is

composed of unemployed small-scale

farmers. The group works in a team of

five members per one tunnel.

Figure 2: Five of the tunnel team

members, having just completed

construction of a tunnel in Bosholosi.

Table 3: Names of tunnel participants for the second round of installation (August 2021)

Willows

Santeng

Mulalani

Bosholosi

Mametja

Selena Moruwane

Linet Moholobale

Sekgobela Maria

Maria Khoza

Sophia Moloto

Ratshoshi Doctor

Salome Shai

Mmamorake Lehlwane

Ratshoshi Francina

Odinah Maebela

Mahlako Masight

Zondi Masete

Maebane Mmapule

Sipho Maebane

Esther Mosoma

Khumalo Orpa

Letebele Rebotile

Selete Julie

Monyamane Mparu

Morema Mmaphefo

Letebele Fatty

Sekgobela Listeria

Rebecca Shai

Shai Dallas

Susan Moropane

Malepe Susan

Efotia Komane

Malepe Gloria

Sophie Malepe

Mametja Mmakgomo

TOTAL

30 tunnels

Last 7 tunnels??

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Most farmers were interested inhaving tunnels intheir gardens to protect theircrops fromthe extreme

heat, wind and birds. Farmer experiments are always supported, anda number of the farmers have used

the tunnels for propagating seedlings and then replanting these in their gardens or selling to other farmers

in their villages.Farmers are awarded tunnels once theyhave dug and completed four trench beds (4,5m

long x1m wide x1m deep), with 3 trench beds inside the tunnel and one outside. This is to facilitate

experimentation, which consists of comparisons of watering requirements inside and outside the tunnel,

observations of pest and diseases issues inside and outsidethetunnel and observation of growth and yields.

Figure 3: Above: Clockwise from top left: A view of bending the metal arches for the tunnels using a jig, putting the

final touches on the sewing of the netting onto the frames and 4 views of different tunnels upon completion. Not the

planted trench beds, inside and outside the tunnels. These are pre-requisites to being awarded a tunnel.

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Farmers with tunnels have all beenactive and havebeautiful gardens and good-looking crops. These farmers

also implemented different practices like eco-circles (some made with rocks build up), shallow trench beds

made with cementbricks, planting in furrows, tower gardens, mulching, bucketdrip kits, banana basins and

mixed cropping.

Figure 4: Above Clockwise from top left: raised beds, keyhole beds, mixed cropping in a tower garden, eco-circle,

tower garden, Drip irrigation for trench beds and banana circles.

6.2Mametja-Sekororo PGS registration and farm

visits.

The required documentation for registration of an organic farmergroup with PGS-SA was compiled, over

time, with several meetingsand workshopswith the participants, to fine tune their vision, their operating

principles, processes and forms for farm assessments, committee membersand the rules for the group.

These were submitted with the annual fees and the Mametja-Sekororo PGS is now registered.

The next step is to do the farm visits for certification of the 30 individual farmer members of this PGS. The

5-person committee (which also consists of field staff from Mahlathini and AWARD) is to be present at each

farm visit as are 2-3 other members of the PGS in the village where the assessment is to be done.

This is a reasonably slow process, as arrangements need to be made forall committee members and assessors

to be present. To date the certification visits have been completed for 8 participants.

Below is anexample ofa narrative report written during the farm visit / certification assessment for Triphina

Malepe in Mametja.

PGS assessment for Triphina Malepe

Introduction

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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The Participatory Guarantee System is a peer review assessment for organic certification of a farm.The

Mametja-Sekororo PGS has recently been set up. It developed through and within a broader local marketing

initiative called the Tala Table network.The PGS has been registered underPGS-SA and has chosen

committee members towork on garden assessments with the help ofMahlathini Development Foundation

and AWARD. Members have signed the pledge and have the assessment forms in order.The first assessment

with the committee was done in the last week ofMay,forthecommittee to familiarise themselves with

filling inthe forms and doing the assessments.

On the 13thof July2021,the second assessment was done atTriphina Malepe’s homestead/farm. With 8

assessors in attendance, 3 committee members, 2 staff members form MDF and AWARD and 3 members of

the PGS.

Triphina is65 years of age andhas been part of the learning group, since the project started. She resides in

Sedawa. She is also one of the farmers whobenefits from the borehole waterscheme. She has afenced

garden in her homestead. The assessment broadly follows the themes of water management, soil

management, crop management,

livestock managementand natural

resources management. Within water

management it was noted that Triphina

does not do roofrainwaterharvesting

and that due tolarge open areas in her

yard, there could be a danger of run-off

and soil erosion.

Figure 5: Water management measures for

Triphina. Right: Drums and basins for

storing water for irrigation and Far-Right: A

JoJo tank for storing her water allocations from the borehole water scheme.

She has however implemented a number of measures in

controlling water run-off in her homestead, by constructing

stone lines both in the yard andaround the garden as the

slope goes down.

Figure 6: Right Above and below: Stone lines constructed by

Triphina below her garden fence and further down in her yard,

above her field to control run-off.

Triphina also implemented trench beds and diversion ditches

with raisedbeds, where she planted tomatoes and mulched

using dry leaves. She also added chicken manure for

increasing soil fertility. Shealsoconstructed basins around

her fruit trees using stones for more water filtration. In terms

of tree management she prunes the trees, constructedthe

water holding basins and mulched very well for reduced

evaporation and keeping the soil moist.

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She also collected a pile of dry material to make a compost. The committee suggested that she tidy up her

composting process a little, either by making a pit orbuilding a structure within which to make the compost

and that she pays attention to the layering and inclusion alsoof green materials, manure, wood ash and

water.

Figure 7:Clockwise from top left: Trench beds inside Triphina’s tunnel, planted to a mixture of crops and mulched,

Bags of chicken manure collected for use in her beds and compost, A pruned mango tree with the water basin, well

mulched, her slightly untidy compost pile and a diversion ditch leading into furrows and ridges planted to tomatoes.

Under crop management Triphina isimplementing different practices in hergarden: She planteda diverse

number of crops in her garden, she also inter-crops veggies with herbs and flowers like marry-gold that act

as pest repellents, she harvests andsave seeds from her gardento usethem in the next season and she

plants mixed crops in her beds. Because her garden is small, she doesn’timplement crop-rotation coherently.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Figure 8” Clockwise form Top-left: Mixed cropping (spinach, beetroot and basil) in a mulched bed, propagation of

English spinach and tomatoes in her tunnel, a bed planted to herbs including mint, lemon grass, thyme and geranium.

A mixture of fruit trees (mangos, avocados, oranges and bananas) all planted in basins with mulching and mustard

spinach and spring onions, planted from her own seed planted in furrows and ridges.

In her garden she has planted indigenous plants like Marula, Lebipo (a type of Morogo that is indigenous and

is grown in most houses and also grows in the bush) and Mogogoma trees. Triphina uses tools like spades,

hand hoes, and garden forks. Sheharvests by hand, uses the borehole water for washing and processing and

packs her vegetables in plastic packets She doesn’tuse or buy any chemicals for her gardening or processing

or cleaning.

The committee recommended that Triphina should be organic endorsed by theMametja-Sekororo PGS. They

were impressed with how Triphinaimplemented practices in her garden, and they are working very well.

She has shown dedication and improvement in her garden. The committee also recommended that Triphina

should pay attention to the following issues and that they would be assessed again for improvement in the

coming year:

1.Paying attention to installing gutters to do roof rainwater harvesting.

2.Improving crop rotation.

3.Keeping records of all receipts of seeds or input bought.

4.Building an enclosure for compost.

Water committees progress update

Summary for July-September

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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•In Turkey, a difficulty in allocations was resolved through assistance from MDF, who bought a few

additional valves to make the policing of water allocations on a particular day easier for the

committee and to removethe problem of some people not receiving enough water. A decision was

also made by the group to return contributions made by members and to request monies for

specific activities as needed, instead. There was some unhappiness as a few people who had

originally contributed could not be part of the scheme in the end and this was seen as unfair.

•In Sedawa the mention of potential contribution of further JoJo tanks by RW has caused

considerable trouble. The group conveniently forgot that these were not “promised” yet, but it

was only still a proposal and started agitating against MDF providing any of the tanks to people in

othervillages. Considerable rumor mongering by the Sedawa LF, Christina Thobejane and a few

members of the group cam to a head with the group threatening to destroy any tanks, as they felt

they all deserved them and if not, no-one could have them. They also reported MDF to the TA.

This has been resolved as the TA recognized the personal agendas involved in the accusations. In

addition, Ms Thobejane has been relieved from her post as LF, as she abused the power inherent

in this position for her own again, forgetting her role was one of fostering participation and

collaboration between farmers and not overseeing them.

6.3Village Savingsand Loan Associations (VSLAs) and

enterprise development

VSLA Progress

VSLAs Progress Summary

The following are general updates of the VSLAs groups in the Lower Olifants Basin:

•Generally, the groupsare progressing well,and members are using their savings and loans for a

range of activities, including their small enterprises.

•5 VSLAs have no completed their first saving cycle and conducted their annual share-out.

MDF has supported 10 VSLA groups across 6 villages (173 participants) for the last 18 months. The groups

were formed between march and August 2020. As such all have now completed their first annual round of

savings and share-outs and have started on their 2nd year. The graph below indicates the fullw value of the

VSLA groups to date, with present loans thathave been taken.

Figure 9: VSLA summary of value of the group savings and loans between March 2020 and August 2021.

Worcester SantengSedawaTurkeyWillowsMaderiaTotal

VSLA value (2020-2021)R98,558R104,232 R300,389 R239,382 R119,844R90,534R952,939

Members 19 13 76 33 19 13173

New laonsR62 100R84 500R308 365R181 980R57 080R42 800R736 825

R200,000

R400,000

R600,000

R800,000

R1,000,000

R1,200,000

VSLA performance 2020-2021 (12-18 months)

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Despite the difficult prevailing financial conditions for most of these participants, that they are able to

save small monthly amounts and take out small loans for consumption smoothing and small business

activities.

Annual share-outsfor VSLA groups

Tswelepele and Refentse Group Share Pay-out Summary

The Tswelepele and Refentse groups in Turkey

village in theLower Olifants basin had their first

Share-out after a 12-month saving cycleat the end

of July 2021. The total group fund after 12 months

forTswelepele group was R54 221 with 358 of shares

which isequivalent to R35 800 of savings. Twenty-

one (21) shares in theTswelepele group were sold to

pay back the debts of owing members.

The Refentse group had atotalgroup fund of R33810

with R24 400 of savings. All loans for the Refentse

group were paid in full and no shares were sold for

repaying the debts.

A summary oftotal shares ofeach member, share

pay-out, total number of savings group shares, total

number ofgroup fund, number of members and the

new share value are shownon the tables below.

Total number of Savings Group shares = R35 800 (21 shares were sold to pay back debts)

Total number of Group Fund = R54 221

New Value of Share = R151,46

Book No

Initials

Surname

Total Shares

Share pay-out

S.A

Machimane

16 (R1600)

R 2 423

Ratshoshi

20 (R2000)

R 3 029

N.P

Shai

9 (R900)

R 1 363

M.S

Mohlala

35 (R3500)

R 5 301

M.E

Mogofe

34 (R3400)

R 5 149

M.O

Mogale

31 (R3100)

R 4 695

R.M

Makgobatlou

8 (R800)

R 1 212

S.N

Modera

28 (R2800)

R 4 241

E.F

Malatji

12 (R1200)

R 1 817

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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I.H

Malatji

0 (R0.00)

R -

N.J

Shai

30 (R3000)

R 4 544

N.E

Tshehla

17 (R1700)

R 2 575

M.F

Shaii

11 (R1100)

R 1 666

M.R

Mokgahla

15 (R1500)

R 2 272

Mafogo

20 (R2000)

R 3 029

Tshehla

16 (R1600)

R 2 423

Baeleng

18 (R1800)

R 2 726

M.L

Malepe

19 (R1900)

R 2 878

M.L

Mogofe

19 (R1900)

R 2 878

TOTAL

358

R54 221

Total number of Savings Group shares = R24400 (No shares were sold to pay back debts)

Total number of Group Fund = R33 810

New Value of Share = R138,56

Book No

Initials

Surname

Total Shares

Share pay-out

Mogale

22 (R2200)

R 3 048

Motseo

30 (R3000)

R 4 157

Masete

42 (R4200)

R 5 820

Shayi

12 (R1200)

R 1 663

Shai

13 (R1300)

R 1 801

Mkhawane

13 (R1300)

R 1 801

Mankgele

50 (R5000)

R 6 928

Malepe

21 (R2100)

R 2 910

Mafogo

22 (R2200)

R 3 048

Shai

2 (R200)

R 277

Thsehla

17 (R1700)

R 2 356

M.S

Shai

0 (R0.00)

R -

T.P

Tsehla

0 (R0.00)

R -

M.J

Ramoshaba

0 (R0.00)

R -

TOTAL

244

R 33 810

Hlalokang Group and Ikukeng Group Share Pay-out Summary

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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The Hlalokang group in Madeira village and the Ikukeng group in Sedawa village in the Lower Olifants basin

had their first annual share-outs in August 2021. The total group fund after 12 months for Hlalokang group

was R53 761 with 402 of shares which is equivalent to R40 200 of savings. No shares in the Hlalokang group

were sold to pay back the debts of owing members.

The Ikukeng group in Sedawa villagehad a total group

fund of R40 271 with 274 of shares equivalent to R27

400. All loans for the Ikukeng group were paid in full

and noshares were sold for repaying the debts. A

summary of total shares of each members, share pay-

out,total number of savings group shares, total

number of group fund, number of members and the

new share value are shownon the below tables.

Figure 10: Right: A view of the Hlalokang VSLA share-out

and Far-right: A view of the Ikukeng VSLA share-out.

Total number of Savings Group shares = R40200 (NO shares were sold to pay back debts)

Total number of Group Fund = R53761

New Value of Share =R 133,73

Book No

Initials

Surname

Total Shares

Share pay-out

Shai

64 (R6400)

R 8 559

S.R

Magolela

32 (R3200)

R 4 279

Thobejane

41 (R4100)

R 5 483

M.M

Tsakane

18 (R1800)

R 2 407

N.D

Moeng

19 (R1900)

R 2 541

M.M

Moraba

23 (R2300)

R 3 076

M.B

Mangena

12 (R1200)

R 1 605

Mashume

77 (R7700)

R 10 298

Popela

46 (R4600)

R 6 152

Lewele

2 (R200)

R 267

M.F

Popela

14 (R1400)

R 1 872

Mohale

29 (R2900)

R 3 878

Moraba

25 (R2500)

R 3 343

TOTAL

402

R53 761

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Total number of Savings Group shares = R27400 (No shares were sold to pay back debts)

Total number of Group Fund = R40271

New Value of Share = 146,9744526

Book No

Initials

Surname

Total Shares

Share pay-out

N.A

Malepe

9 (R900)

R 1 323

E.S

Malepe

27 (R2700)

R 3 968

R.V

Modupi

10 (R1000)

R 1 470

Nyathi

21 (R2100)

R 3 086

M.M

Mmola

11 (R1100)

R 1 617

M.F

Mahlako

12 (R1200)

R 1 764

M.D

Maphori

33 (R3300)

R 4 850

Masete

18 (R1800)

R 2 646

Malepe

15 (R1500)

R 2 205

M.M

Malepe

13 (R1300)

R 1 911

M.M

Malepe

13 (R1300)

R 1 911

T.L

malepe

8 (R800)

R 1 176

Malepe

1 (R100)

R 147

M.S

Malepe

12 (R1200)

R 1 764

M.A

Malepe

4 (R400)

R 588

Mongadi

17 (R1700)

R 2 499

Mokgotho

9 (R900)

R 1 323

M.L

Sekgobela

27 (R2700)

R 3 968

Mogale

14 (R1400)

R 2 058

TOTAL

274

R40 271

Enterprise development

Mentoring case studies have been compiled for more for 10 members who undertook small businesses.

These are presented below.

Freddy Mankgele

Freddy Mankgele, a 59-year-old man residing at Turkey village, is one of the farmers who benefited from

the Enterprise Development training provided by Mahlathini Development foundation (MDF). Freddy

decided to start a poultry business early this year. He took loans from his savings group and started his

business, purchasing 100 broilers that cost him R800. The next batch was 600 broilers and currently he

purchased 200 broilers. Freddy is applying the record keeping skills he got from the training. The following

tables provide some insight.

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Figure 11: Right: Mr Mankgele’s record

keeping book including purchases, deaths and

sales.

Table 4: Record keeping for Mr Mankgele

Purchased

100 for first Round

600 for Second Round

200 for third round

Died

8 so far

Sold

547

100 so far

Total cash made

R4 860

R32 820

R6 000 so far

Number of loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R2 000

R2 500

R2 000

R3 000

R5 800

R400

R15700

Challenges for Freddy Mankgele:

•Mortality rates are a bit high, and Mr Mankgele doesn’t know what is causing this. He feels that he

may not know how to properlycare for his birds as he did not receive any training.

Next business ideas for Freddy:

•Freddy wants tostart a pig farming business and he does not have knowledge about pig farming

hence he needs training.

•He also wants to start to an egg layers business.

Winnie Makgotho

Winnie Makgothp is a 40 years old famer, she is a

multi-talented business woman who reside Sedawa

village. Currently, Winnie started a sewing

business in thecommunity called T.T.T Sewing and

Dress making.

Figure 12: Right and far Right: Winnie’s sewing and

dressmaking business, which she runs from her home.

She specialises in school uniforms,traditional

dresses, wedding dresses, and decorations. Winnie started this business through the help of the savings

group that she belongs to. Her first stock for her business was bought using money from thesavings group.

The electricity that she uses at her business was made available by her savings group since she borrowed R4

000 topay Eskom expenses in the installation forthe electricity. Winnie’s business is progressing; she is able

to make a profit of R8 000 per monthon her sewing business alone.

Number of loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R800

R1 500

R1 400

R4 000

R7700

Challenges for Winnie:

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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•Supply vs Demand. Winnie is struggling with supplying customers because she does not have enough

materials.

•Customers who are helped oncredit take time to repaytheir debts and this becomes aproblem to

Winnie’s business.

•Her building is small to fit all her equipment.

Isaac Malatji

Isaac is a 62 years old man residing in Turkey village and his currently running a nursery business around his

community and the surrounding communities. Isaac Malatji sells seedlings to thefamers in the learning

groups and the neighbouring communities.He started this innovationearly this this year with the help of

loans from the savings groupand also from MDF. He managedto purchase the nursery net worth R10000

and 60 seedlings trays worth R24

each. Malatji started his nursery

business with 15 trays of

seedlings: 5 trays of Onion, 5

trays of Tomatoes, and 5 trays of

Beetroot. Currently, hehas 7

trays of seedlings in his nursery

ready for market.

Figure 13: Mr Isaac Malatji next to

his extended tunnel used for

seedling production for sale to

learning group members and

members of the community.

Number of times loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R200

R300

R3 400

R3 900

Challenges for Mr Malatji;

•Record keeping. Isaac Malatji is struggling with record keeping and does not know how much money

he is making in a month or what his profits are.

Mashilela Matene

Mashilele Matene, a 40 year old woman residing in theSedawa

village, started her salon business early this yearwith help from

the savings group. Mashilele is running profitable business and she

is able to make a profit of R4 000 per month from hersalon

business. Mashilela mentioned that she started thebusinesswith

R8000 that she took from the savings group. She was able to buy

her first stock with that money and other hair materials.

Figure 14: Mashilele in her hair salon, with some of her products on

display.

Number of loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R780

R2 600

R2 800

R5 000

R11 180

Challenges for Mashilela:

•There are not rest rooms for customers, the space is very limited and Mashilele also has a challenge

in terms of equipment.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Nomsa Mafolokgelo

Nomsa Mafologelo is a 50 yearold woman residing in the Santeng village. Besides her business of selling

vegetables around the community and in bigger marketssuch as khaya-Ndlhovu and Kamogelo market, she

is a multi-business owner. She is currently selling Avon products which includes; perfumes, bags, and lotions.

She also sells sunlight liquid around the communities which she personally mixes herself and packages into

5 litres bottles. Recently Nomsa

bought 20 (50kg) bags of Mopani

worms which she sells around

the communities; she sells one

bag at R2 500. Nomsa is able to

make a monthly profit of R5 000

to R10 000 from all her

businesses.

Figure 15: Right and far right:

Nomsa showing her 50kg bags of

Mopani worms and a selection of

her Avon beauty products.

Number of loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R1000

R1400

R2000

R1300

R2000

R17 100

Challenges for Nomsa:

•Customers take long to settle their debts, and this becomes a hurdle to Nomsa’s business.

•Some customers do not meet some of Nomsa’s prices especially on the Avon products, stock stays

longer since customers do not usually buy.

Machikgo Shaai

Machikgo Shaai (Turkey), is a 46-year-old

farmer whois active in the learning group and

has takenthe enterprise development

training to heart. She opened her spaza shop

on the 06thof August 2021, where she sells

her spinach, tomatoes and onions as wellas

snacks, popcorns, eggs, chips, and kotas.

She also has a fridge and freezer (bought

through the savings group), from which she

sells meat and cooldrinks in her community.

Figure 16: Right: Machikgo’s spaza shop

Machikgo’s used loans and herfist VSLA

share-out to set up her spaza shop. She

bought a popcorn machine(R2 200)and a

deep fryer(R1500) from small loans and used a portion of her share-out (R1 500) to stock her spaza shop.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Figure 17: Machikgo’s fridgeand

freezer which she stocks with

meat and cooldrinks, sold in the

community

Challenges of Machikgo Shaii

•Record Keeping-

Machikgo does not

keep records,

mentioning that she is

too busy to do so.

•Allowing Credit- Machikgo gives hercustomers credit, and they tend totake time to repay their

depts which then inconveniences her.

Number of times loans taken

Total

Share pay-out

Total amount of loans

R1000

R1600

R2000

R1000

R5600

R1666

Next Business Idea of Machikgo

•Broilers- Machikgo is interested in poultry farming and will undertakethis soon, despite not having

much knowledge of managing broilers.

Anna Mafogo

Anna Mafogo isa poultry farmer in Turkey Village. She started her poultry business early this year with 100-

day-old chicks. She achieved her goal of running a poultry businessthrough the help of the savings group.

Anna has been buying feed for her broilers with theloans that she took from her savings group. Anna

purchased 300 broilers in June 2021, but unfortunately lost most (250) ofthem due to illness. She mentioned

that she now believes she needs training, to avoid such a situation again.

Figure 18: Right:

Anna Mafogo

with her broilers

and Far Right: An

example of her

record keeping

book

Challenges for

Anna Mafogo

•High

mortality rate- She was not aware enough of the issues to deal with the outbreak of disease.

•Poultry farming knowledge- Anna does not haveknowledge of poultry farmingand requires training.

•Broilers feeds- She also has a problem with feed. She sometimes run out of feed, as it is difficult to

access and transport feed.

Number of times loans taken

Total

Share pay-out

Total amount of loans

R400

R1000

R2000

R1700

R400

R5500

R3029

Next business ideas for Anna

•Egg layers- Anna is keen to open an egg layer business although she mentioned that she does not

have knowledge of operating an egg layer business.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Makgele Malepe

Makgele (Sedawa) is a livestock farmer currently

focusing on pig farming tomakea living. He

started his pig farming business in January 2021

with fourpigs, which increased to 10. He could

however not afford to buy pig feed for this

number and sold off theyoung pigs as a

consequence.He presently has three pigs. It was

difficult forhim to manage the cash flow

required for buying pig feed despite the small

loans taken form his savings group. He will

continue with the smaller number.

Figure 19: Right: Makgele’s 3 pigs.

Challenges of Makgale Malepe

•Pig Feed- He finds it difficult to buy feed for the pigs.

•Housing facility-His pen is not well constructed and sometimes the pigs escape and get lost. He has

also had a few piglets stolen due to this lack of security.

•Knowledge of pig farming- Makgele does not have much knowledge and feels he needs training

Number of times loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R2000

R1000

R1500

R2000

R1000

R7500

Next business Idea

•Goat farming- Makgele is currently planning to start a goat farming business and has already

bought 2 goats..

Esina Malepe

Esina Malepe is one ofthe active farmers

in the learning group in Sedawa village

who has been selling her vegetablesboth

in her surrounding community as well as

the more formal markets atKamogelo and

Khaya Ndlovu in Hoedspruit. Recently

(January2021)Esina decided tostarta

goat farming business. She initially bought

2 goats and presently has 7.

Figure 20: Esina in front of her goat pen

Challenges of Esina Malepe

•Goat sickness- Esina’s goats

are sick, and she does not know the cause.

•Goats getting lost- She lets them out to graze, but some wander off and do not return. She has

lost 3 goats thus far.

•Goat farming knowledge- Esina does not have much knowledge of goat farming. She mentioned

that she needs proper training to be able to improve the care of her goats.

Number of times loans taken

Total

Total amount of loans

R600

R1200

R2000

R1500

R5300

Next business idea of Esina

•Pig farming- Esina is interested in pig farming, but also feels that she would need some more

knowledge before attempting this.

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Agnes Popela

Agnes is a poultry farmer in Maderia Villageand has used her VSLA savings and loans to setup this business

and to alsosupporther spaza shop where she sells onions, tomatoes and oranges that she grows in her

homestead.

Figure 21: Right: Agnes

with her broilers and

Far Right: her spaza

shop.

Challenges for Agnes.

•Broiler feed-

Agnes has

issues with

procuring

broiler feed,

due to access,

cost and

transport.

•Record Keeping- She does not keep record of her businesses.

•Allowing credit- Agnes allows people to buy on credit in her business and people take a long time to

repay this money.

Number of times loans taken

Total

Share pay-out

Total amount of loans

R1000

R500

R1500

R2000

R1500

R6500

R6152

Next business idea for Agnes

•Bakery- Agnes is planning on opening a bakery to supply bread and cakes to her community,aiming

to supply spaza shops around the community and to events such as weddings.

Conclusion

The value of the VSLA’s in providing small loans for enterprise development is clearly demonstrated in the

above small case studies, as is the use of the information and learning from the enterprise development

training and mentoring conducted. The initiation of these small businesses is ongoing and as participants

see others in their groups succeeding, they gain enough confidence to venture into new enterprises

themselves.

7Monitoring, evaluation and learning

(MEL) plan

7.1Framework & indicators

Below is a summary of implementation according to our indicators for July-September 2021

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Indicator

Overall target

Actual (July-

September 2021)

No of participants in learning groups

370 (449)

265( 92+173)

No of learning groups

9-12 (13)

No of local facilitators

Percentage of participants engaged in CC adaptation

responses

1-2 (45%)

2-3 (25%)

>3 (10-15%)

86%

No of participants experimenting with new

innovations:

-local

-co-designed

15%

45%

65%

No of participants showing increased knowledge

35%

Percentage ofparticipants engaged in collaborative

activities (water committees, marketing, VSLAs)

35%

65%

Percentage of participants with improved livelihoods

-increased availability of food

-increased income

-increased diversity of activities and livelihoods

options

40%

46%

13%

Qualitative assessments:

-stakeholder engagement

-Increased understanding and agency to act towards

increased resilience

- Adaptation and innovations into local context

-Potential for increased resilience

-Social engagement

Stories, case

studies (5-6), CC

impact summaries

(4), best practices

booklet

1 PGS assessment case

study: Triphina Malepe

2.Enterprise development

case studies x 5

3. Garden monitoring case

study

7.2Garden monitoring

Introduction

Besides the PGS based monitoring for the 26 participants, intensive garden monitoring has also been

undertaken for 20other participants, especially for the learning groups that have come on board more

recently. Resilience snapshots have been undertaken for 10 participants in Turkey viallges, as a start. This

process will be undertaken for all villages by November 2021. In addition, narrative monitoring case

studies have been compiled for the villages.

Garden monitoring at Santeng and Mulalani

The local facilitator Nomsa Mafologela, is the one helping the two villages Santeng and Mulalani, making

sure that farmers have crops in their gardens and implement new practices, encouraging them to do more

and to sell to make an incomeand not wait for the market to cometothem. Most farmers implemented

trenchbeds, tower gardens, eco-circles and tunnels in their gardens. Most farmers alsoincreased their

garden size and planted more crops to sell around the villageand atsocial grantpay-points. Farmers like

Fenita Phokane,whois a hawker selling brooms, tomatoes and Mopane worms at social grant pay-points and

at home, decided toincrease her garden size and planted tomatoes in her garden so she cansell crops from

her garden. Fenita uses borehole waterfor irrigation andher children are also assisting in the garden as she

has to go out and sell.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Figure 22: Right and far

Right: tomatoes in Fenita’s

garden. She planted two

different types, according to

demand and which ripen at

different times.

Fenita alsoplanted other

cropslike Swiss chard,

spring onions, curly leave

parsley, leeks, onionsand

mustard spinach.

Mmanawe Shai also uses borehole water for irrigation in her homestead.She hasbeen farming since she

stopped working for making an income. People in the community already know the kinds of crops they will

find from her,and they support her. In a week shemanages to makearound R300 from selling tomatoes,

Swiss chard spinach, beetroot, mustard spinach and onions. She alsoplants sweet-potatoes and sugar beans

to sell locally.

Lethabo Malepe has no water and collects water using a wheelbarrow from a community borehole that was

installed by an NGO, Working for Africa from Hoedspruit. Shecollects water for both consumption and

irrigation. In her garden she planted lots of crops and shealso mentioned that she would like toincrease

her garden but cannot do so due to lack of water. She is one of the hard-working farmers and she isalso

one of the tunnel team constructers from Santeng. Inside her tunnel she planted carrots, mustard spinach

and beetroot. Outside the tunnel she planted crops that birds don’t like eating for example onions, tomatoes

and sugar beans. She farms for bothconsumption and forselling, but she sells most of the crops. She harvests

and go around the village selling, where she makes around R300 in a day by selling Swiss chard spinach and

mustard spinach. She propagates her own seedlings and transplants them to prepared beds.

Figure 23: Above clockwise form Top left: Views of Lethabo’s garden, a bed with green beans, a mixture of mustard

spinach and beetroot, a bed in her tunnel planted to mustard spinach, a seedling bed and one of her beds with

tomatoes.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Florence Mashegois also one of the hard-working farmers who appreciates being part of the learning group.

She explained that she was not involved in anything, plus she is unemployed depending on social grants to

take care of the family. Now thatshe is part of the learning group,she can make income from farming.She

used to plant sweet-potatoes and cassava for house-hold consumption, now she added diverse crops in her

garden and not only for household consumption, but also for selling to make an income. She collects water

from the community borehole for bothconsumption and irrigation. She propagates her ownseedlings and

transplants to prepared beds. Thisyear she increased her garden size where she implemented furrows and

shallow trench beds.

Figure 24: Clockwise from Top left: Views for Florence’s garden, showing water drums for water collection, tubs for

seedling production, expansion of furrows and ridges, with seedlings planted, trench beds with mixed cropping in her

tunnel, traditional medicinal plants, planting of mango tree seedlings procured with help from MDF and a bed of

tomatoes.

The Santeng learning group works hard and appreciate sharing and learning together.Both farmers in

Santeng and Mulalani share crops and seeds freely with each other, for example lemon grass, hibiscus (tea),

cassava, sweetpotatoes and fennel.They try harder than most others tomake a success of their farming

and to produce an

income from their

produce.A lot of this is

due to the spirit and

enthusiasm of their LF,

Nomsa.

Figure 25:A few more

pictures from Santeng

garden depicting clockwise

from Top Left: trench beds

with mustard spinach and

fennel, a bed of carrots,

liquid manure, netting to

protect seedlings and a

tower garden planted to

spinach.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Mulalani is also new and is a village with a high rate in unemployment. The learning group members are all

women,whoare either new to farming or have been farming primarily for household food supply. Now, they

are focusing also on producing supplementary incomes to support household expenditure.

Farmers collect water from municipality tanks, which

are pumped from a municipality borehole and they

get water three times a week. They collect water for

both irrigation, consumption and household use.

Figure 26: Two views of different gardeners’’ drums and

containers for collection of water.

Participants in the learning groupimplemented

trenchbeds in their gardens afterseeing theresults

from otherfarmers at Santeng. Some farmers have

tunnels that were awarded after they implemented

trench beds in their gardens.

For those who found the labour and inputs for trench

beds onerous, shallow trenches were introduced as an

aternative.

Maria Sekgobela from Mulalani is one of the hard

working unemployed mothers leading herhousehold

by selling Zimbas, ice cream and traditional mats that

she makes. She used to work at theHlokomela herb

garden, prior to it’s closure due to COVID-19 and

understands farming and the use of herbs, which she

shares with the learning group. She also shared seeds

of herbs and crops from her garden with other farmers.

Figure 27: Clockwise from Top Left: Maria Sekgobela’s tower garden, planted to coriander, drying herbs in her home,

liquid manure and beds in her garden with herbs planted in between her vegetables

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Simon Malepe has been farming with his grandmothersince he was young and continues to do so. Their yard

is very organized and crops look good.He also collects water from a nearby municipality tap on the main

raod for both irrigation and household consumption.In the garden theyhave planted indigenous and fruit

trees.Simon has added some of the practices learned from thelearning group worshops in the garden;

trench beds, shallow trench beds, eco-circles, stone lines and a tunnel.

Figure 28:

Clockwise form

Top Left:

Practices in

Simon’s garden

including an eco-

circle, small

nursery for

mango trees,

tunnel with

mixed cropping,

liquid manure

drum and further

shade netting structure with more trench beds.

Garden monitoring in Willows

Garden visits were done at Willows with Moses Mogofe the local facilitator at Willows. During garden visits

a monitoring form is filled and farmers are also assisted where they might need help or where they can

improve in implementing other practices in their garden. Most farmers implemented trench beds in their

gardens with a view to having tunnels. Most of the farmers at Willows have their own individual boreholes.

Farmers who have no water like Maria Pako who lives close to theriver collects water from the river for

irrigation and buys water for household consumption. Other farmers farm both at the clinic and at their

households.

From Moses’s garden it was clear that he uses more water for irrigation than he should. He is not a fan of

mulching, despite a number of attempts to motivate him to doso. He also likes planting common vegetables

that he will be able tosell locally, which means that his variety is a bit limited. What he noticed in the

previous winter season was that more people preferred buying kale than mustard and Swiss chard spinach.

This year he planted a lot of kale in his garden, which from he makes R200,00 a week.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Figure 29: Right: Moses

Mogofe’s tunnel where

runoff from over

irrigation and lack of

mulching is visible. The

variety of crops is also

somewhat limited. Far

Right: a view of his

garden where he planted

primarily in furrows and

ridges. Below is a view of

an extension of his

garden, planted to kale

and tomatoes.

In Willows, the learning group consist of both

men and women and is a mixture of pensioners and unemployed

people. They focus on gardening and livestock, such as

cattle, goats, pigs and indigenous chickens in their households.

Farmers Like Elias Thete,one of the oldest group members has

been farming fora long time and is focusing on homestead

gardening, now that he can no longer manage the larger fields.

He is well known in the community and hasregular customers,

sellingspinach and beetroot for R10,00, chilli powderfor R120.00

in a mayonnaise bottle and sweet-potatoes for R25,00.

For him and a number of other Willows participants, the traditional practice of monocropping in furrows

and ridges, without mulching hasremained theirmain focus ontheir gardens. A number have seen the value

of trench beds and also the shallow trenches and the need for adding organic matter to the soil,which is

depleted and very low in organic matter. Farmers like Mr Pako now include layer of dried organic matter

and manure into their ridges prior to planting, in his large (1500m2) market garden.

Farmers plant kale,

kale, mustard

spinach, beetroot,

carrots, onions,

tomatoes,Swiss

chard spinach and

spring onions.They

also plant fruit trees

like mangoes, guava,

paw-paw,

pomegranate,

oranges, lemon and

Naartjie.

Figure 30: Views of

different gardens in

Willows, showing the

emphasis on furrows

and ridges and mono-

cropped blocks of

crops, without

mulching.

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Gardening case studies

Maria Tselane, Madeira Village.

Maria Tselane is a farmer in the lower Olifant’s’ Basin residing in Madeira village. Maria has been a farmer

for over 20 (Twenty) years now. In the years that she has been a farmer, the DepartmentOf Agriculture in

the area assisted her to be a better farmer. Maria has been working with the Department of Agriculture for

over 6 years now. Mma Tselane has also been working with Mahlathini Development Foundation (MDF) for

over 2 years now, attending all workshopsprovided by MDF and applyingher knowledge acquired in the

trainings in her

everyday farming

activities.

Figure 31: Maria

Tselane, Madeira

village, the JoJo

tank and drip

irrigation

equipment provided

by the Dept of

Agriculture

Maria is also a

member of the Savings Group in the community,implemented and supported by Mahlathini Development

Foundation. Maria recently asked for assistance with the connection of drip irrigation System(5 250L Jo-Jo

tank and irrigation Drips) that she received from the Department of Agriculture.

Betty,Thembani and Moses Mogofe (Willows

LF) assisted Maria with connecting the drip

kits to the jo-jo tanks, as seen in the figure

alongside.

In thecommunity there are households,

grouped according to sections who came

together and contributed money for pipes to

collect water from themountain for

consumption. Maria is one of these

households. Sheis an active farmer, whohas

currently planted most of her garden to

tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

Figure 32:Right and

Far Right: tomatoes

and sweet potatoes

planted in Maria’s

homestead garden

In madeira, farmers

also have access to

large fields in the

irrigation scheme

adjacent to the village.Although old and in disrepair, parts of this old scheme are still operation, using

traditional furrow irrigation. Maria is one of a group of farmers in Madeira who has alsoreceived support

from the Department of Agriculture including access to tractors for ploughing, seed (both vegetables and

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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maize seed), smallholder COVID-19 vouchers worth R2 000 for production, farming equipment such as JoJo

tanks and drip irrigation and training.

It appears that thedepartmentis focusing in the few villages in the region wherethese old irrigation

schemes still exist and pay very little attention to homestead food production or villages where there is no

access to water for irrigation.

7.3Resilience snapshots

A methodologyfor measuring resilience impact was developed and piloted through a WRC research

process, finalized in 2020. The methodology is explained in detail in the report: Climate change

Adaptation for Smallholder farmers in South Africa. Volume 2 Part 1: Community Climate change

Adaptation Facilitation: A Manual for facilitation of Climate Resilient Agriculture for Smallholder

Farmers. WRC report no:TT841-2-20(https://www.mahlathini.org/dss/resources/wrc-cca-facilitation-

manual/)

The resilience snapshots are individual questionnaires that provide an in-depth assessment of the impact

of the implementationof CRA practices on a person’s livelihood. They are called snapshots as they provide

n indication of progress towards resilience at a particular moment in time, understanding that resilience is

an ongoing process.

The table below summarizes the resilience snapshots for 10 participants from Turkey Village, taken in

August 2021.

Table 5: Resilience snapshots for 10 participants from Turkey 1 and 2 villages, Lower Olifants’ basin, Limpopo

(August 2021)

Resilience indicators

Increase for Turkey 1

and 2(Sekororo,

Limpopo

Comment

Increase in size of farming

activities (Cropping areas

measured, no offruit trees and

no of livestock assessed)

Gardening: 200%

Gardening has increased substantially and gardens have been

more fully planted and expanded.

Field cropping: -17%

Dryland cropping has reduced substantially due to lack of rain

and infertile soil

Fruit and other trees: 80%

New varieties planted for sale: mango (Tommy, Kiet), pawpaw,

bananas, peaches, oranges, avocados. Other: Moringa,

macadamia nuts, sugarcane

Livestock: Poultry: 98%

Cattle: -37,3%

More poultry kept (broilers and layers) for marketing. Regarding

cattle, families have halved their herd sizes due to recent

drought and lack of winter fodder, to ensure they can buy fodder

Increased farming activities

Yes

A number of participants have re-initiated gardening activities,

and all are also involved in fruit production, field cropping and

animal husbandry

Increased season

Yes

For field cropping and gardening- autumn and winter options

Increased crop diversity

Crops: 19 new crops

New crops include: Coriander, parsley, lettuce, kale, mustard

spinach, chilli, spring onions, leeks, fennel, yarrow, lemon grass,

basil, Sun hemp, sunflower, lucerne, sorghum, Dolichos

New trees include: Mangoes (Tommy, Kiet), paw-paw

New livestock include: Broilers, layers

Practices: 22 new

practices

Practices include; Mulching, trench beds, liquid manure, raised

beds, mixed cropping, inter-cropping, crop rotation, tunnels,

drip kits, eco-circles, composting, greywater use and

management Conservation Agriculture, cover crops, inclusion of

legumes, pruning of fruit trees, irrigation basins, picking up

dropped fruit, pest and disease control, feeding livestock on

crops and stover, JoJo tanks, RWH drums,

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Increased productivity

Gardening; 277%

Based on increase in yields (mainly from tunnels and trench beds

for gardening) -Overall Kgs of a range of vegetables and herbs

produced in aseason

Field cropping: -26%

CA for field cropping - Overall kgs of a range of field crops -

mainly maize, beans,cowpeas

Fruit trees: 178%

Increase in no and types oftrees -Mangoes (Tommy, Kiet),

pawpaw, oranges, peaches

Livestock: 159%

Increase in no and types of livestock; broilers, traditional

chickens, layers,

Increased water use efficiency

Average: 6,6

Access, RWH, water holding capacity and irrigation efficiency

rated. Scale:0= same or worse than before; 1= somewhat better

than before, 2= much better than beforex 4 criteria (values of 0

to 8)

Increased income

Average: R471,43

Based on average monthly incomes, mostly though marketing of

produce locally and through the organic marketing system

Increased household food

provisioning

Vegetables; 9,7kg/week

Increase in food produced (overall Kgs per week) and consumed

in the household

Fruit; 5-10kg/week

Dryland crops (maize,

legumes, sweet

potatoes); 0-5kg/week

Increased food security

Average: 4 food

types/2,8xperweek

No of food types/ no of times/week

Increased livelihood diversity

options

Average: 1

Social grants, remittances, farming incomes, small business

income, employment. Increase in no of livelihoods options used.

Primarily from farming and small business income

Increased savings

Average: R135

Average increase in monthly savings (Rands)

Increased social agency (no of

collaborative actions)

Participantsgenerally belong to church groups and stokvels. New

group collaborations include learning groups, farmers'

associations, village savings and loan associations, other farmers

and local water committees

Increased informed decision

making (no of information

sources)

Own experience, local facilitators, other farmers/community

members, facilitators, extension officers, radio, written

information

Positive mindsets

SCALE: 0=less positive about the future; 1=the same; 2=more

positive about the future; 3=much more positive. More to much

more positive about the future: Much improved household food

security andfood availability.

These snapshots indicate a strongly positive on Climate Resilience for the participants through

incorporation of new crops (19) and climate resilient agriculture practices (22) in gardening and small

livestock. Participants have improved their productivity, water use efficiencies, household food

provisioning and incomes (inclusive of savings) and have improved their social agency and informed

decision making. They feel positive to much more positive about the future.

Due to broader constraints in access to water for household use and farming and due to overall

degradation of the catchment resource base as a consequence of ongoing drought conditions and over-use

of resources increase in resilience in terms of field cropping and livestock 9cattle0 production could not

be realized.

8Work Plan for Milestone 8

Below a brief assessment of progress for each of the activities mentioned for the previous work plan is

provided.

1.Installation of 37 tunnels for second round

Completed between July and August 2021

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2.Continue monthly VSLAsupportfor the 9

groups initiated

Done

3.Continuation with fertility and natural pest

and disease control re-cap and learning

sessions

Done for the remaining 5 villages

4.Registration of the Mametja-Sekororo

PGS with PGS-SA,soil and water

testing.

Finalised in Early July. And farm visits started for organic

certification

5.Local marketing activities, including the

Tala Table

Marketing has been slowandhaphazard. Enterprisesupport

has been provided to a small number of active individuals and

5-6 casestudies were compiled

6.Exploration of mobile livestock auctions

with CSA and Meat Naturally

A MoU has been developed, livestock auctions attended

meetings held and the first planning workshops with livestock

associations have been undertaken

7.Seasonal review and planning sessions for

5-8 learning groups

Still to do

8.1Work plan for October-November 2021.

Below a brief work plan is presented:

1.Seasonal review and planning sessions

2.Finalisation of monitoring

3.Finalisation of organic certification farm visits

4.Local marketing activities using the Tala Tables

5.Planning for local livestock auctions and conservation agreements to continue

6.Final report preparation

9Annexes

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9.1Mametja-Sekororo PGS

1.Background

Both Mahlathini Development Foundation (MDF) and the Association for Water and Rural Development

(AWARD), have been working with smallholder farmers inthe Lower Olifants (Mametja-Sekororo) to improve

their adaptation to climate change and agroecological farming practices to provide for integrated water

resources management, improved productivity and livelihoods and livelihood diversification towards

improved resilience. The programme has been ongoing for around 3 years and has been supported financially

by USAID, DKA and the WRC.

Participants are organised into village-based learning groups, where they learn and work together and

undertake collaborative activities such as water access, resource management, erosion control and

marketing. Presently there are 12 learning groups and around 280 active participants. Organic marketing

options, primarily for vegetables, herbs and fruit have been explored on an ongoing basis.

In the last year, after exploring veggie boxes, sale to restaurants and lodges, sale to health shops, farmers

markets and supermarkets in partnership also with the Hoedspruit Hub and the Hoedspruit PGS, the

emphasis has shifted more towards the “Tala table” (green table) concept. This has been in recognition of

the loss of marketing opportunities due to COVID19 and the aim of developing more sustainable localised

marketing options. The idea is that community members use the tala tableto sell and market organic produce

in and around their villages, at pension points, taxi ranks, clinics etc alongside their marketing at the farmers

markets in Hoedspruit. Thusthat the participants take ownership of and provide for innovation in local

marketing initiatives.

Adaptive strategies to climate change and climate resilient agriculture (CRA) practices have formed the

backbone of the interventions and theactivities of the learning groups. A basket ofpractices has been

introduced for farmer level experimentation and implementation. The table below outlines the main

practices.

1.Table 6: CRA practices being implemented by participants in the learning groups

Intensive homestead food production

Field cropping

Livestock integration

Shade cloth tunnels and bucket drip kits; for microclimate and irrigation

management

Conservation Agriculture;reduced

tillage, soil cover and crop

diversification

Fodder production for

cattle and poultry

Bed design for improved organic matter and water management: Trench

beds, furrows and ridges, shallow trenches and eco-circles.

Intercropping, crop rotation and

multispecies cover crop mixes

Nutrition

supplementation and

making of hay

Mixed cropping and natural pest and disease control, including garden

management for promotion of natural enemies, planting of pest repellent

crops and plants, home- made organic brews and mechanical control

measures

A focus on inclusion of legumes

Composting of manure

Mulching, use of manures, composting, green manuresand inclusion of

legumes

Inclusion of drought, heat and pest

tolerant crop varieties

Crop diversification, inclusion of drought,heat and pest tolerant crop

varieties. Inclusion of multipurpose species, seed saving, nurseries for

propagation of fruit and indigenous species, seedling production

Organic fruit production; focusing on composting, appropriate irrigation

and judicious pruning awa organic pest and disease control options

Soil andwater conservation practicesincluding: Greywater management,

tower gardens, keyhole beds, filtration of greywater, stone lines, contours,

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check dams, furrows and ridges, small dams, banana circles, diversion

ditches, windbreaks etc

These practices and thesocial process are in line with theorganic production principles as outlined by SAOSO

and form the basis of the development of this group-based PGS.

2.Vision

Improved and sustainable production in mixed smallholder farming system (incl ofcrops, livestock, fruit,

natural resources) to improve availability of healthy and nutritious food locally and allow for marketing of

good quality organic produce. Working together towards continual improvement of the farming system

and creation of sustainable local value chains.

The intention is thustoconvert the whole farm, including livestock to organic management practices over

time, to gain the synergies possible in mixed farming systems, but within the limitations of a communal

tenure land management system, to ensure an ongoing commitment to organic management practices, and

learning and implementing more and new practices over time.

A more detailed outline of thoughts going into the vision is presented in the table below for the three village-

based learning groups (Sedawa, Mametja and Turkey) who are the founding members of this PGS.

2.Table 7: Visioning for the village-based learning groups for the Mametja-Sekororo PGS.

Vision Classes

Village Names

Process of achieving the vision

1.Organic

farming

Sedawa & Mametja

Using mulching, liquid manure, trench beds, andothertechniques of

organic farming

Turkey 1&2

Using organic compost and manure. Also using liquid manure

2.Working

together

Sedawa & Mametja

Conducting meetings and teaching each other to plant crops.

Turkey 1&2

Understanding and respecting each other, sharing ideas and discussing and

solving problems around farming. Working together to produce healthy

organic food.

3.Access Market

Sedawa & Mametja

Teaching customers about organic produce. Following principles of organic

farming for good and healthy crops and harvest andtakecrops to pension

pay-outs. Access to specific markets through our PGS certification.

Turkey 1&2

Creating a group and working as a group to access themarket. Contributing

money as a group for transport to access the market. Individuals will provide

different crops to the market.

4.Tools for

farming

Sedawa & Mametja

Selling our organic produce and use the profit to buy farming tools. Starting

small when buying the tools.

Turkey 1&2

Take a loan from the savings group and buy tools like wheelbarrows,

watering cans and spades.

5.Identity

Sedawa & Mametja

Creating a name for ourgroup as a form of identityand teach people the

benefit of organic farming. Beingcertified and being able to label our

produce and have advertising and communication strategies. Using smart

phones and the internet to assist.

Turkey 1&2

Using the tala table as a form of identity and letting people around the

community known that they are farming and selling organic produce.

6.Money

Sedawa & Mametja

Harvesting crops and sell them in local markets.

Turkey 1&2

Plant and sell vegetables to make money and Selling seeds that they save.

7.Farmers inputs

Sedawa & Mametja

Going around asking capital for the inputs.

Use our savings and group processes to enable buying of larger needs such

as JoJo tanks and shade structures and to start other organic activities such

as seedling production, nurseries and fruit production

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Turkey 1&2

Asking organizations such as MDF and award, and also department of

agriculture to help with inputs.

8.PGS Vision

Sedawa & Mametja

Making sure that we follow PGSprocedures as a group, Working together

to fight poverty and involve youth for a strong future in organic farming. In

future want to be able toproduce our own organic seed and also toinclude

livestock such as poultry and cattle in an organic marketing system.

Turkey 1&2

Doing ourown field visit as a PGS group to insure that we everyone is

following the rules.

3.Principles

The basic principles as listed below have all been centrally incorporated into this participatory peer managed

assessment process.

4.Basic Principles

•Shared Vision–the members of the PGS share a common goal and collectively embrace the

principles of organic agriculture.

•Participatory– the members participate in the development and management of the

process and procedures of the PGS which is “owned’ and controlled by the collective.

•Transparency – the system is open to public and peer scrutiny at all levels.

•Trust -“integrity -based approach” – trust and integrity form the basis of the system.

•Learning Process–the assessments and theprocess focus on skills and knowledge exchange.

•Horizontality–the group has a flat organisational structure, it is developed and managed by

peers and not by a top-heavy management. All are responsible, all are accountable.

5.Principles of organic agriculture and expected practices

Overall, zero use ofsynthetic fertilizers, GMOs, pesticides, herbicides and chemical disease control agents.

Minimal use ofcommercially available seed, but if required focus on OPV and untreated seed forboth

annuals and perennials. Soil based propagation techniques and seedling production and zero use of post

harvest chemicals and treatments.

In addition the following principles are to be promoted and adhered to within the network and the PGS.

a.Principleof health:Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance the healthof soil,

plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible.

b.Principle of ecology: Organic Agriculture should be based onlivingecological systems

and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.

c.Principle of fairness: Organic Agriculture should build on relationships that ensure

fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities

d.Principle of care: Organic Agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and

responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future

generations and the environment

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This group has developed, through a participatory learning and implementation process and with assistance

fromAWARD and MDF a process for implementing, monitoring and managing their organic production –

called Five Fingers

The Five fingers are and includes a list of practises under each are as follows:

1.Water management: reduce run-off and erosion, improve water holding capacity and organic

matter, soil and water conservation structures e.g. diversion ditches, contours, furrows and ridges,

check dams and swales , greywater management,irrigation management and scheduling,

microclimate management

2.Soil erosion and fertility management: Erosion control measures including above as well as minimal

tillage, soil cover, close spacing, composting, manure, green manures, integration of legumes, liquid

manures, mulching andbed design(e.g. trench beds, shallow trenches furrows and ridges, eco-

circles, banana circles)

3.Crop management:diversification, intercropping, crop rotation, varietal selection for local

adaptation

4.Maintain indigenous resources and ecosystems: sustainable management of watersources and

natural vegetation, planting and propagation of indigenous trees, fruit and shrubs, windbreaks,

hedges and multipurpose species.

5.Livestock management:Local fodder production, feed supplementation in winter, composting

manure, improved housing and sanitation measures, organic feed options.

These are assessed using a traffic light system – An e-survey has been designed for garden monitoring for all

individual farmers including all these elements as well as the questions in the PGS assessment form (Shown

in appendix 1 below)

For each ofthe assessment categories, a score is developed to show the level of implementation for each

participating farmer- indicating where they need to improve and also providing an assessment score for PGS

endorsement. The practices and development of the score are shown in the table below.

3.Table 8: PGS assessments categories and scales linked to the “traffic light” colour coded assessment process forgarden

monitoring andPGS organic endorsement.

Assessment

category

Practises assessed

Infiltration / soil

management

No runoff, diversion ditches, stone lines, mulching, dedicated beds, planting flowers, hedges

and trees/windbreaks (6 practices:2=red, 3-4=yellow and 5-6 =green)

Organic matter /

soil management

Manure, compost, Conservation Agriculture, beds (trenches, eco-circles), liquid manure,

legumes naturalminerals (lime, bonemeal etc) (7 practices: 2=red, 3-4-5=yellow and 5-6-7

=green)

Greywater

use, ash, tower gardens (3 practises: 0=red; 1-2 =yellow and 3=green)

RWH & storage

drums, Jo-Jo tank with gutters, run-on, underground tanks, small dams, basins

(6 practices:2=red, 3-4=yellow and 5-6 =green)

Irrigation

Home-made watering cans, pipes, drip irrigation, deep watering (4 practises: 0=red; 1-2

=yellow and 3-4=green)

Water quality

Boreholes, rainwater, spring water piped from the mountains, municipal water, no over

exploitation of water sources (5 practises: 0=red, 1-3 =yellow, 4 -5 =green)

Improved crop

management

Mixed cropping, diversification (incl newcrop types), crop rotation (3 practises: 0=red; 1-

2=yellow and 3=green)

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Continuity

Seedling production,seed saving, nursery and propagation (3 practises: 0=red; 1-2 =yellow

and 3=green)

Natural pest and

disease control

Mixed cropping, pest repellent species, pest controlbrews, biodiversity management (4

practises: 0=red; 1-2 =yellow and 3-4=green)

No of crop types

Veg, field crops, herbs: No of crops: 1-5= red, 6-10=yellow and >11=green

Fruit

Types and no of fruit trees, management (pruning, composting) ( ≤3 types and ≤10 trees=red,

3-5 types 10-20 trees=yellow, ≥5 types and ≥20 trees=green)

Indigenous plants

and ecosystem

management

Natural vegetation balanced with production, no cutting and burning, protection of wetlands,

forests and indigenous trees, wild products collected sustainably for use and sale (4practices:

0=red, 1-2 =yellow, 3-4 =green)

Livestock

Poultry, goats, cattle, housing managed, feed managed, manureused, fodder crops planted

(No livestock=red, 1 type inclusive of managementand use of manure= yellow, more thanone

type inclusive of management and use of manure=green)

Food availability

1-2 crop types 1-2x/week= red; 2-3crop types 2-3x/week= yellow and 3 crop types >3 times

per week=green

Sale

locally, farmers markets, schools and events (3 practises: 0=red; 1-2 =yellow and 3=green)

*Ecosystem management outside ofhomesteads is a complicated process in communal tenure areas and

something that participants doconsciously undertake, but they have little control over what othersdowithin

the system. In these systems, this activity is largely beyond the scope of individual smallholder farmers.

6.Assessment preparation and readiness

Before participants make the decision to be assessed to be organically endorsed, they work with the learning

group for a minimum period of 1 year implementing the agroecological and organic practices promoted in

the group. They are monitored by the local facilitators and implementation team from MDF and given a score,

using the traffic light system, togive them an indication of how ready they are for certification and what

steps they still need to take.

This ensures that all prospective PGS members are well versed with organic principles and production before

applying and have implemented a range of specific practices towards this end.

Below is an example of how these monitoring forms have been summarized for visits to 26 participants in

the group.

The farmers who have obtained a green assessment are ready for their PGS assessment, those with yellow

need to undertake specific actionsas noted in the categories where they underperformed and those with

red are not ready. As the 26 monitoring forms were filled in for farmers who wanted to be eligible for organic

endorsement, most ofthe scores were good and 18farmers are to be assessed for organic endorsement

going forward.

PGS and Garden monitoring categories and assessments.

Assessment

Name and Surname

Infiltration,

crusting, runoff

Organic matter

Greywater

RWH & storage

Irrigation

Water quality

Improved crop

management

Continuity

NP&D control

No of crop types

Crops assessment

Fruit types and no,

Fruit ass, incl

management

Livestock

integration

Food availability

Selling

Green

Yellow

Red

Mohlala Sara

Magalangake

Mogale

5;1

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Sara Madire

4;2

Shadrack Masete

5;6

Christina

Thobejane

5;3

Daphney Maphuru

8;2

Moses Mogofe

5;2

Isaac Malatjie

2;5

Mmatshego Shai

7;3

Malepe Lethabo

3;1

Maanawe Gladys

Shai

3;8

Meisie Mokwena

6;1

Magdalena

Malepe

4;2

Joyce Seotlo

6;1

Makibeng

Moradiye

4;6

Martha Moloto

5;1

Trona Morema

9;1

Sophy Moloto

2;1

Mmaditiro

Moradiye

9;4

Norman Mashinye

8;2

Rackson

Makgobatlou

3;6

Alfred Machimane

5;4

Norah Tsetla

4;5

Norah Malepe

4;1

Esinah Malepe

2;1

Priscilla Sekgobela

5;6

7.Management system and procedures

We are a network of farmers, which we have called the ‘Tala Table Network” who farm organically andusing

agroecological principlesand are committed to continue to do so and to produce high quality produce,

vegetables, fruit and field crops that are nutritious, healthy and free from any artificial substances. We work

together as learning groups and support each other in our gardens and in our marketing activities.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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8.Committee, membership, fees and rules

9.Membership

Members of the Tala Table Network who want to be organically certified can apply to become members of

the Mametja-Sekororo PGS. They pay their annual membership fee of R50/ farmer when they are ready to

be assessed and sign the farmer pledge as confirmation of their membership. The chairpersonwill keep a

record of all paid up members.

The chairperson will pay the annual PGS-SA membership fee of R500and keep a bank account. Any extra

funds from memberships will be used towards assisting committee members’ transport to do farm

assessments.

Members will attend an annual group meeting to discuss progress and issues for the PGS.

10.Committee

The membership agreed to set upa PGS committee consisting of anadministratorfor each learning group

involved and a chairperson and vice chairperson.

Administrators are chosen to be literate, able to understand some English and willing to undertake

documentation and coordination for the group. In addition, as they will be central to doing the assessments,

they are trusted members of the learning groups who are well versed in the organic production principles.

Role

Village

Name and

Surname

Contact details

Chairperson and administrator.

She will keep the main file for all PGS

assessments, membership and will manage

the finances

Mametja/

Mabins

Drona Morema

Stand 226, Mabins Village.

PO Box 191 Trichardsdal, 0890

Cell: 0799107186

Vice chairperson and administrator. He will

assist with logistics and documentation for

assessments and finances for the PGS

Sedawa

Ronnie

Sekgobela

Stand C0004 Sedawa Village

Cell:0721302417

Administrator: She willorganise and

manage assessments for farmer, coordinate

any samples for soil and water assessments

and work with the chairperson to finalize

documentation

Turkey 2

Matshego Shaai

PO Box 300 Trichardsdall, 0891

Cell:0712272176

Administrator: She willorganise and

manage assessments for farmer, coordinate

any samples for soil and water assessments

and work with the chairperson to finalize

documentation

Turkey 1

Makgalangake

Mogale

Stand No 10128 Turkey 1 Village.

PO Box 234 Moetladimo,0891

Cell: 0729147880

Members of the network who want to beorganically endorsed, will become part of the Mametja-Sekororo

PGS, fill in the “PGS farmer pledge, confirming their knowledge and understanding of the organic principles.

They must already beimplementing a range of organic practices and must have done so for aminimum of at

least 12 months prior to their on-site assessment.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Assessment committees will be villagebased and consist ofthePGS committee, 1 outside member from

either MDF or AWARD and 2 farmers from the village who are part of the PGS.

11.PGS assessment process

1.A farmer who wants to be assessed will contact the administrator in theirvillage andpay R50 as a

membership and assessment fee.

2.The fees will be passed on to the chairperson to be placed in the PGS bank account.

3.These requests will be tabled at the bi-monthly PGS committee meeting – (first Wednesday of every

second month) and a date will beset for the assessment and conveyed to the farmer and assessment

committee members. In addition, thetwo farmers to beinvolved in the assessment will becontacted

and informed. Preferably these will be farmerswho have already been through the assessment

process.

4.The chairperson will arrange petty cash from the PGSbank account fortransport of committee

members to the assessment site and ensure that receipts are kept for expenditure.

5.Each administratorwill have an assessment kit consistingof the farmer pledge*, PGS assessment

forms in siPedi, soil sample boxes and sterile glass bottles for water samples – which are to be taken

during the assessment. These samples will be passed on to MDF for submission and analysis.

6.Photographic records of the farming practices will be taken alongside collection of farmer records-

their map and inputs and marketing records. Again, photographs are to be taken of these records.

Photographs will be presented to MDF or AWARD for printing, to be provided to the chairperson for

filing.

7.The farmassessment form is to be completed jointly by the farmer and the assessment team and

passed on to the administrator and chairperson for compilation.

8.A walkthrough of the farm/production premises is conducted, and Q&A will take place during this

walkthrough.

9.After the walkthrough, all comments, suggestions, or further queries are handled in a short meeting

before concluding the assessment. The aim is to limit further off-premises, or long-distance

discussion to the absolute minimum. Ideally, the assessment process can be finalised up to

provisional acceptance stage at that meeting. This meeting is an open forum. All participants are

expected to give their comment openly at this meeting. A prospective applicant has the right to hear

these comments first-hand and is given the opportunity to respond to or clarify any

misunderstanding.

10.Results are collated, further verification conducted (ifnecessary) and actions and/or remedies

requested.

11.Timelines for all the above are recorded.

12.Assoon as the applicant has compliedwith these requests, all results are collated and a final report

issued.

13.The committee reviews the approval documentation at their bi-monthly meetings

14.The assessment will be concluded on the day and the form will be passed on to the chairperson who

will place the form on file for annual submission to PGS-SA.

15.Farmers who will be organically endorsed will be provided with a PGS certificate and 100stickers

with the PGS logo that they can use for marketing.

16.MDF and AWARD will initially assist with emailing and printing as committee membersdo not have

access to these facilities.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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17.The administrators and the chairperson will keep attendance registers and minutes of meetings and

will also compile the list of farm attendance for assessments, to be submitted annually to PGS-SA

Note; * The farmer pledge, along with payment ofR50 membership fee, is taken as the individual

membership application.

12.Reporting and Acceptance/Rejection

1.The following certificates may be issued:

•PGS Endorsed: (Pending application for approval to use the SAOSO Organic PGS Endorsed

logo and the signed licensing agreement between our PGS group and SAOSO)A

farmer/producer must demonstrate compliance with the SAOSO Standard for Organic

Production and Processing.

•Not endorsed:Any farmer/producer not complyingwith the Basic Production Principleswill

not be approved. If there is a possibility that resolving non-compliances could change the

status of the product, such information will be given to the applicant, and a resubmission may

be made.

All documentation regarding the assessment will be filed and administered at our PGS office

13.Mechanisms to verify compliance.

All producers will be assessed annually, based on the same procedure, as outlined above.

14.Random or unannounced assessments:

Our PGS reserves the right to carry out random or unannounced visits to production premises underthe

following circumstances:

a.If a complaint, is received regarding the product of anyfarmer/producer, an unannounced

visit may be scheduled. (see section on dealing with non-compliance)

b.Several random visits can be undertaken to members prior to annual assessments as part of

quality management.

15.Non-compliance and discipline:

PGS is at its most effective when all members operate according to its rules and inthe spirit of organic

principles. The first action, prior to any formal action to be taken in anycase of ill-discipline or transgression,

is the path of informal counselling, mentoring and practical assistance. It needs to be understood that all

members should conduct themselves according to the signed pledge and comply with the Standard

Operating Procedures and produce theirgoods incompliance with the Basic Production Principles. If there

is any reason to believe that any member is operating outside the stated guidelines and the first action (if

applicable), of inter-member guidance or counselling is ineffective, formal action may be taken.

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16.This will be done according to the following guidelines:

1.Type of complaint:

a.If the complaint is regarding unacceptable production or farming practices, a visit to the

production premises will precede a complaint hearing. This visit may be unannounced, and

must include at least theadministrator, a committee member and one other unaffected

member ofour PGS. During this visit, thesame procedures will be followed as with a

scheduled assessment, withspecific focus onthe natureof the complaint. After the visit, the

procedures as described below will be followed.

b.If the complaint is regarding member conduct only, (a.) above will be deemedunnecessary

and procedure (c.) will be followed.

c.A minuted meeting will be called with the following persons present:

i.The member against whom the complaint is levelled.

ii.The administrator of our PGS.

iii.A committee member of our PGS.

iv.At least one additional group member or PGS SA member not involved in the

complaint.

v.A person to record the proceedings.

vi.The complainant or authorised representative

2.The member will have an opportunity to answer or explain their actions and supply evidence or

prooftosubstantiate their reply. If deemed necessary, the complainant may be present or be

called to respond.

3.The meeting will rule on the validity of the complaint, after hearing both parties’ submissions,

and may rule as follows:

a.Rejection of complaint: If the complaint is deemed invalid, both partieswill be informed and

the decision recorded. The decision will be communicated in writing to affected parties.

b.Acceptance of complaint: If the complaint is valid, action will be taken against the concerned

member; the meeting will assess the levelof misconduct and implement the appropriate

action.

17.Actions:

a.First warning:If this is the first time a member hastransgressed a non-critical requirement,

the member will receive afirst warning. The warning will be activefor one calendaryear.

Any action not described below in paragraph (c.) is deemed a non-critical transgression.

b.Second warning: A secondwarning for a similar transgression during one calendar yearwill

result in cancellation of membership.

c.Serious misconduct:If the transgression is deemed to be serious misconduct, membership

will be terminated immediately without a warning.

Examples of serious misconduct are:

i.Public abuse (physical or otherwise) of fellow PGS members and/or customers.

ii.Any action that brings the PGS into disrepute.

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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iii.The use or application of any substance or additive specifically prohibited bythe

SAOSO Standard for Organic Production and Processing or by the Basic Production

Principles.For example, any production practices that could change the organic

nature of the end product, i.e. the addition of unacceptable inputs, intentional use

of GMOs, contamination of the product with pollutants, chemicals etc.

iv.The failure to implement corrective actions marked as critical as required during a

PGS assessment visit.

v.Any criminal action as described inthe Statutes and Laws of the Republic of South

Africa.

vi.The sale of any unassessed product bearing ourPGS endorsement logo or otherwise

marketed as a PGS endorsed product.

c.Termination ofmembership will be seen as a last resort. The committee is required to take

into account mitigating circumstances.

18.Termination of membership:

a.If membership is terminated due to a critical transgression, the right to market theirproducts

bearing our endorsement and logo will be forfeited.

b.If membership is terminated due to a non-critical transgression, membership and the right

to use our logo will not be revoked, but the member will be under probation for one calendar

year following the ruling.

19.Reinstatement of membership:

Any member whose membership was terminated due to a non-critical transgression, may, after one calendar

year from the termination, re-apply for membership. All previous transgressionswill be deemed nullified,

and the application will be assessed and treated as a new application.

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I/We: ____________________________________________ (Farmer/Farmer Group

Name) hereby solemnly declare and affirm that we support and actively pursue the principles oforganic

agriculture as described by IFOAM-Organics International and the Basic Production Principles, and that these

principles have been explained to us.

I/We further declare that:

•The information submitted is correct and accurate, and I/we will keep all information current,

complete and up to date to reflect any changes.

•I/We have read and understood the Basic Production Principles and our growing methods adhere to

the requirements listed therein.

•I/We understand that our PGS group reserves the right to remove us from the group and deny us the

use of the logo and marketing materials for any reasonincluding concerns that we have violated

listed growing practices, or have missing or misleading information on the application.

•I/We will only represent products asorganically grown when they actually meet the assessment

standard and were produced on land that has been endorsed by the PGS.

•All the land for which I/we are applying for PGS endorsement has been free of prohibited pesticides,

herbicides and fertilisers for at least 12 months before sowing or planting in the case of annual

production; 12 months before grazing or harvest for pastures and meadows and/or 18 months before

harvest for other perennials from the date of our first harvest this year.

•I/We have applied for In-Conversion status.

oI/We don’t use any prohibited pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers now, but we are still within

the 12 months or 18 months (select) in-conversion period

______________________________________________________________

Date Place

______________________________________________________________

Farmer/Farmer Group(s)’ Signature(s)/distinctive marks

I, ____________________________ duly mandated by ourPGS group, declarethat I have witnessed the

pledge by the member/group as recorded above.

1Mametja-Sekororo PGS Farmer Group

Pledge

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Name: ______________________________Designation: ___________________

Signature: __________________________________________

I/We: ____________________________________________ hereby solemnly declare and affirm that we

support and actively pursue the principles of organic agriculture as described by IFOAM-Organics

International and the Basic Production Principles and that these principles have been explained to us..

The IFOAM-Organics International definition:

“Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains thehealth of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies

on ecological processes, biodiversityand cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with

adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared

environment andpromote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved.”

a.Principle of health: Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant,

animal, human and planetas one and indivisible.

b.Principle of ecology: Organic Agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and

cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.

c.Principle of fairness: Organic Agriculture shouldbuild on relationships that ensure fairness

with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

d.Principle of care: Organic Agriculture shouldbe managed in a precautionary and responsible

mannerto protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the

environment.

I/We agreed to abide by the processes described in the PGS documentation.

______________________________________________________________

2Mametja-Sekororo PGS Member Pledge

(farmer)

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Date Place

___________________________________________

Signature

20.Assessment form: Mametja-Sekororo FARMER

NAME:________________________

MILESTONE 7: LEARNING AND MENTORING REPORT (II)

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Criteria

Size of area under crops

1.Water management

Poor

Good

a)Is water managed carefully and conserved?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

No over exploitation of water

small dams

tower gardens

infiltration pits

run-on

banana circles

rainwater storage

water recycled and reused

b)What is the source of water?

Use of rainwater

municipal water

borehole water

mountain springs

c)Is the water quality good for farming?(clean and no chemicals).

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

is borehole or springwater?

water clean

no chemicals near water

no cattle manure

contamination

d)Is water movement controlled?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

no run-off

diversion ditches

contours

stone lines

check dams

sacks with sand

water not allowed to leave the land

bed designs (e.g. trenches,

furrows and ridges, mandala

garden)

e)Is water conserved by reducing evaporation?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

mulching

planting windbreaks

dedicatedbeds

hedges and trees

planting for afternoon shade

natural shade cover/ plants

tunnels

bed placement

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f)Is there irrigation management?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

watering cans (home-made)

drip irrigation

pipes

deep watering

Irrigation management/over irrigation

2.Soil management: Erosion control and fertility

Poor

Good

a)Is there high organic matter in the soil?

NOTE: Manure from industrial/factory farming is NOT permitted.

Soil sample analysis is not required unless there seems to be a problem

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

Manure

compost

Conservation Agriculture

large bedsor trenches,

furrows and ridges, mandala

beds etc

liquid manure

eco-circles

legumes

soil analysis done

3.Crop management

Poor

Good

a)Mixed cropping

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

crop diversification (number of crop

types, herbs)

intercropping

crop rotation

fruit production

fruit tree management (pruning,

composting)

Multi-purpose plants

b)Is there a plan for continuity and future production?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

seedling production

seed saving

nursery

propagation

c)Are pests anddiseases controlled?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

NOTE: Chemical pesticides and herbicides may not be used

Mixed cropping

pest repellent species

pest control brews

seasonal planting

NOTE: Make a list of P&D control products used:

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d)Are seeds harvested and banked for future use?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

seed storage

seed drying

plants left to make seeds

seed exchanges

Where do get seeds:

Are they treated

Type of seeds bought?( traditional,

OPV, hybrid, GM)

4.Indigenous plants and ecosystem management

Poor

Good

a)Is there an attempt to include indigenous vegetation and products?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

natural borders

Indigenous vegetation along

fence lines

place for birds

indigenous trees protected

leaves/fruit used for mulch cover

wild products collected for use

& sale

no cutting and burning

Other: production management, packaging and cleaning

Poor

Good

5.Toxic chemicals and contamination control

Poor

Good

a)Are toxic chemicals controlled and kept away from products?

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

Proper cleaning and rinsingof all

equipment, containers, packaging

materials and tools. What is used?

Separate storage of

chemicals, suchas diesel,

petrol, paints, oil cleaning

agents

6.Containers, harvesting and packaging

Poor

Good

a)Is packaging acceptable to organic production

NOTE: Packaging materials, storage containers, or bins thatcontain a synthetic

fungicide, preservative, or fumigant are prohibited.

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

no poisonous packaging

recycled andrecyclable

packaging

packaginglimited to absolute

minimum

glass, carboardandpaper

where possible

7.Cleaning, disinfecting and sanitation

Poor

Good

a)What cleaning and disinfecting agents are used?

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Cluster/village:_____________________

Date: ________________________________ Assessment team

leader:_______________________

Decision of assessment team:

_______________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________

Conditions to be met:

_______________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________

Time for correction:

NOTE: General household cleaners such as Jik, barsoap areallowed. Dishwasher liquid not

allowed

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

Bar soap, Jik,

no dishwasher “Sunlight”,

Domestos

Which cleaning agents are used?

8.Documentation and records

Poor

Good

DO YOU SEE THESE PRACTICES?

Mapor sketch of the farm

Records of all

developments/donations

(tunnels etc)

Receipts for inputs

Organic endorsement

letters for purchases

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_______________________________________________________________________________________

________

Signed: (PGS team):