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Food Security in a Changing Environment in Hhohho, Swaziland.

Swaziland

Food Security in a Changing Environment, Hhohho, Swaziland

The northern, and largely rural Hhohho district is the second most populace of Swaziland's 4 districts, hosting 27% of the population. The district has 2 tar roads, making access to and distribution of health and training inputs difficult. There are 20,000 people currently living with full blown AIDS and only 2000 hospital beds in the national hospitals.

Affecting over 40% of its 1 million population, Swaziland has the second highest per capita HIV prevalence in the world today, exacerbated by poverty and extreme vulnerability. Whilst anti-retroviral treatment is available from the State, effective treatment requires that medication is taken with food, enhancing absorption of life saving treatment. Approximately 25% of the population depends on food aid, representing a serious challenge to health and the provision of effective treatment.

There are already 70,000 orphans in Swaziland. NERCHA, the body tasked with overseeing Swaziland's HIV/AIDS strategy estimated that over 25% of children have already been orphaned. When including vulnerable children, whose parents are either too ill or destitute to care for them, this figure rises to 130,000. Approximately 15,000 households are already headed by children. With male and female mortality as low as 36 and 39 respectively this figure is due to increase sharply.

70% of Swazi live in rural areas ravaged by drought and the resulting food crisis that constantly threatens hundreds of thousands with hunger. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought and invasive species are persistent problems, and exacerbate the ability of many to provide for and support those in their care.

GardenAfrica's Response:

GardenAfrica is developing a rural training programme which will support and enhance the sustainable management of natural resources to boost the cultivation of food, and enable the establishment of plant-based livelihoods to combat extreme poverty. We will achieve this by selecting and training 50 rural people to develop and manage local resource gardens across the Hhohho district of Swaziland, from which to train others to build health and security in a rapidly changing environment.

Bonginkosi Mndzebele - Moya Centre Trainer

We have now selected two pilot communities at Emfasini and Hhelehhele, for their distinctive ecologies. People within these communities have been offered the opportunity to receive training in sustainable resource-use and cultivation techniques, and will be supported to establish small nurseries at their own homesteads, from where they can transfer their newfound skills to others in their area, whilst earning an income.

Progress on this pilot year will inform the roll-out across a further 16 communities over the next three years. On this note, a full application has now been submitted for EC funding, having had the first concept phase accepted with flying colours. If successful, the grant will constitute 90% of the funding we need. So we will still need to find the remaining 10% to make this happen.

The simple garden demonstration site, which will drive this training initiative, is under development with the kind permission of the Lutheran Farmer Training Centre (LFTC) near Ngonini, where GardenAfrica’s local partner, Vusumnotfo, is based. Our 25 successful candidates will come to this site for intensive training over the coming months, whilst continuing to implement what they have learned at home.

GardenAfrica’s approach highlights the need to find and train people who are not only willing to learn, but who are enthusiastic about teaching and assisting others. So from this point, we began by explaining the task ahead, and identifying those who we would be training.

Community mobilisation took place with the two pilot communities and their leaders in May, hosted by Vusumnotfo, along with trainers from the Moya Centre. 119 potential candidates turned up for a presentation, illustrating the growing need and desperation felt by so many. The names of 50 people were then chosen to come back for the selection task.

This month has seen the 'fence building task' unfold. GardenAfrica’s Permaculture partner Ukuvuna worked with the Swazi team to teach low-cost fence building techniques which the 50 candidates can apply at home. This is an important step for any rural gardener, due to the constant threat from grazing animals. The task also encourages participants to use whatever materials may be at hand, such as scrap metal or thorn trees, and is an opportunity for them to illustrate their ingenuity and commitment. Each were then visited at their homestead, to give the team an opportunity to assess their site, and map their location.

Candidates have until July, when GardenAfrica will also be on hand to visit their homesteads to assess their fence building and capture baseline data with the local team. By late July, we expect to have selected 25 strong candidates to move into the full training in August.

Vistory Mkhonta, One of the Candidates

One of the candidates the team visited was Vistory Mkhonta, from Emfasini. Having already begun a rudimentary fence in her own garden, Vistory would seem to be a strong contender for one of the 25 places. We wish her well, and hope to keep you informed of her progress in future newsletters.

Beneficiaries:

Direct - 50 rural gardeners trained to develop & sustain 50 garden resources from which to earn an income and transfer skills in sustainable resource management, food & nutrition to others.

Indirect - With a population of just over 1 million a project of this nature will have a significant impact. Given conservative estimates over a 5 year period:

50 trainers influence the creation of a further 100 productive home gardens.
5000 home gardens would be producing nutritious food for their families.
At an average of 5 people per household, this equates to 25,000 positively affected people.

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