Where GardenAfrica Works

Countries GardenAfrica Operates In

Maluti Hospital Training Gardens in Maluti, Lesotho.

Lesotho

Maluti Hospital Training Gardens, Maluti, Lesotho

Maluti Crop Share (MCS) Maluti Hospital assists interested communities to access communal land on which to produce - both for its crop share programme (maize for storage and distribution) and for fruit and veg cultivation. The primary healthcare team at Maluti Hospital co-ordinates 4 further clinics - where there are also basic gardens, that support AIDS orphans, and HIV, and TB support groups.

The Primary Health Care Team presently supports:

100 AIDS orphans within its target area.
264 villages
An estimated population of 100,000.

So far the project has trained 176 community healthcare workers who in turn support 5-10 households. There are 132 garden assistants who also support the healthcare workers.

Food Provision from Maluti Crop Share (MCS).

At Maluti Hospital itself, there are approx 20 acres planted to maize. In addition, the project has assisted other community members to access a further 174 acres - for which they provide maize seed. In return the community farmers keep 30%, and Maluti Crop Share (MCS) receives the remaining 70% - which is stored in the newly constructed grain store for all year round feeding for orphans and others living with HIV.

GardenAfrica Training with the PHC Team

GardenAfrica will assist the primary healthcare team to increase the number of beneficiaries to 500 HIV affected households and 1,720 vulnerable households, by improving the quality of training. We will do this by training their trainers in the intensification of cultivation and land-use practices, relating these specifically to HIV/nutritional needs, as well as providing viable plant-based livelihood opportunities.

The project has also engaged 2 dietician from the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maluti, who will tailor and deliver the nutritional components within our training manual to ensure that they are both locally appropriate and accessible. We will also be training agricultural extension officers from the Dept of Agriculture to improve their extension practices, particularly with a view to increasing knowledge of food values, dryland cropping, water harvesting, conservation and irrigation.

We will achieve this by:

Expanding the existing nursery to service increased requirement of start-up materials - including vegetable seedlings, herbs and medicinal plants, and grafted fruit trees.

Emphasising appropriate systems - promotion of indigenous plants, herbs and medicinal plants, organic farming systems, integrated pest & disease management systems, run-off catchments systems, live fencing & barriers, inter-cropping systems, fruit and small livestock production.

Our training programme will introduce simple water conservation techniques. This implies the introduction of contour planting, mulching and promoting plant diversity around existing pumps and wells.

Other focal areas include:

Training teams in construction of water tanks and other simple technologies for extension.
Intensification of multi-purpose planting systems (for continuous production) to correlate with dietary needs, and productivity for income.
Promotion of a hospital market, through small business management training.
Introduction of small livestock systems (chickens & rabbits).
Linking food security with nutritional development (with a specific focus on HIV/nutrition).
Value added production - both to increase income for the project, and for transfer to beneficiaries for livelihood development.
Bee Keeping - honey production (income, and pollination for increased productivity).
Assessment and cultivation of alternative fuel crops.
Promotion of planting systems to reduce soil erosion & improve permeation of rainwater.

Project Collaborators